The Toni Morrison Society cordially invites you to attend the following Bench by the Road Placements

Bench by the Road In Honor of the 100th Birthday of Margaret Walker Alexander

Friday, April 10, 2015

11am. Front of Ayer Hall
Jackson State University
Lynch Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39217
Sponsoring Organization: Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University

Bench by the Road in Honor of Delaware Underground Railroad Conductor Samuel Burris and Bench by the Road in Honor of the family of Emeline and Samuel Hawkins who escaped to freedom through Delaware with the help of Samuel Burris

Friday, April 17, 2015

Noon. Middletown High School Auditorium
120 Silver Lake Road
Middletown, Delaware 19708
Sponsoring Organizations: Middletown Historical Society and The Appoquinimink Friends Meeting

Bench in Honor of Cynthia Hedsra, Underground Railroad Conductor in Nyack, New York and Successful Business Entrepreneur

Monday, May 18th 2015

Depew and Hudson Avenues
Nyack, New York 10960
Sponsoring Organization: Nyack Commemoration Commitee

Schedule
2:30pm	The Bench dedication ceremony begins at the Nyack Center. The Nyack Center is located at 58 Depew Avenue (corner of South Broadway and Depew). Speakers will include Village of Nyack Mayor Jen Laird White, Nyack Commemoration Committee Chair Bill Batson, Toni Morrison Society Chair Dr. Carolyn Denard and Cynthia Hesdra Scholar Dr. Lori Martin. (Dr. Martin will also be speaking about Cynthia Hesdra to an assembly of the Nyack High School at 8a on May 18th.) The Nyack High School Chamber Orchestra and the Nyack High School Chorale will perform.
3:45pm	Assembled guests and students will walk to Memorial Park, led by gospel voices, in a procession that is reminiscent of a West African Maafa ritual that commemorates the loss of freedom and life caused by African slavery.
4:15	Procession arrives at the upper level of the park, greeted by a drum circle. The area where the bench is being placed is on Piermont Avenue between Depew and Hudson Avenues. In 2010, this section was renamed Cynthia Hesdra Way. The bench sits 400 yards from where Cynthia Hesdra owned property from 1837 through 1859, the period when Underground Railroad activity was most intense. Nyack was considered the half-way point between Underground Railroad stops in Jersey City, NJ and Newburgh, NY