Sunday, February 25, 2018
2:00 p.m.
Edgell Memorial Library, 3 Oak Street
Storyteller Libby Franck will portray Edna Dean Proctor as an abolitionist and journalist who published Aunt Sally Williams’ story just 5 years after Uncle Tom’s Cabin was released. Born in New Hampshire and buried in Framingham, Edna Dean Proctor spent many years in Brooklyn, NY at the home of Henry Bowen, publisher of The Independent. When Aunt Sally showed up at the offices of the paper in January 1857, Edna was asked to record her story.
After being enslaved on a North Carolina rice plantation, Sally was sold to a more lenient master and was able to work as an independent entrepreneur with her children living with her. But the jealousy of her neighbors, both black and white, forced her back into the cruelties of slavery in Alabama. How Sally’s son bought her freedom through a network of literate slaves, and her delivery to Brooklyn is a tale as compelling today as it was in antebellum days.
Songs of the period will be sung by Adrienne Williams.
$5/FHC members, $10 for non-members. Tickets can be purchased at framinghamhistory.org or mail to PO Box 2032, Framingham, MA 01703. Questions? Call 508-626-9091.