Events
Frederick Douglass Day 2023
Parade – 10am
Due to foul weather the Frederick Douglass Day Parade was cancelled.
Welcome Ceremony – 10:30am
The Frederick Douglass Day Welcome Ceremony was held at the Talbot County Free Library and featured:
Mistress of Ceremonies Autumn Redman
Invocation by The Reverend Keith Beckett, New St. John’s United Methodist Church
Presentation of Colors by Easton High School NJROTC
Pledge of Allegiance led by BAAM (Building African American Minds)
Music Provided by Hip Hop Artist Baba Bomani
Frederick Douglass Recitation by Devon Beck, Facilitator of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Talbot County Board of Education
Speakers include: Childlene Brooks, Vice-President, Frederick Douglass Honor Society,
Annie Mewborn, Assistant Principal – Easton Elementary School,
Mayor Megan J. McLennan Cook, Town of Easton
Keasha Haythe, Talbot County Council
Dana Newman, Director, Talbot County Free Library,
Sharon Pepukayi, Ed.D., Superintendent of Talbot County Public Schools.
Children’s Village – 11am to 3pm
Children received a free “Frederick Douglass In His Own Words” coloring book when visiting the Children’s Village. The Village was located in the Children’s Library in the Talbot County Free Library and featured a variety of hands-on fun and visual experiences. Children and family members were inspired to explore history, activate their creativity, and reap rewards (prizes) for learning about Frederick Douglass. The Village experiences included free games, balloons, bubbles, coloring, face painting, stickers, and a photograph opportunity next to Frederick Douglass. Children always learn with ease when they are having fun.
TCFL Frederick Douglass Room – 11am to 4pm
Featuring Frederick Douglass artifacts, Frederick Douglass paintings by artist and teacher Laura Era, owner of Troika Gallery, readings by Shauna Beulah, Frederick Douglass video, and Douglass panels by Celeste-Marie Bernier. (Talbot County Free Library)
Book Signings
Dr. Robert Levine, author of The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, signed his books at Flying Cloud Booksellers.
Author/Photographer Jeff McGuiness signed copies of his book Bear Me into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass at Vintage Books & Fine Arts.
Geocaching – 12 Noon
Pickup your passport with map and instructions and explore the new Frederick Douglass Geocaching Trail created by Autumn Redman and Girl Scouts #1308. Learn about his life in Talbot County and collect a commemorative coin and photograph at the end of the trail. (Talbot County Free Library)
Keynote Speaker – 1 pm
Dr. Derrick R. Spires is a John and Patricia Cochran Scholar of Inclusive Excellence and Associate Professor of English at the University of Delaware, where he specializes in early Black print, culture, citizenship, and African American intellectual history. This year he is serving as a Just Transformations Mellon Colored Conventions Project Senior Research Fellow at Penn State’s Center for Black Digital Research. His first book, The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), traces how Black writers articulated an expansive, practice-based theory of citizenship through a robust print culture, including Black newspapers, the Colored Conventions movement, and other ephemera.
Entertainment Stage – 12:00 noon at the Avalon Theatre
12 noon – Easton Middle School and Easton High School Bands.
12:30 – Covenant Choir
12:45 – Randall Butler
1:00 – Baba Bomani