The Franklin County Visitors Bureau will be hosting on Aug. 17 "Frederick Douglass in Chambersburg:  More Than A Speech". The presentation will include lunch, a bus tour to showcase Douglass' visit, and the major meeting between Douglass and John Brown. Janet Pollard, Executive Director of the Franklin County Visitors Bureau, says the speech that was made August 17,1859 was really to conceal the true reason he was in Franklin County.

"He was getting off of the Cumberland Valley Railroad, one of the trains of the Cumberland Valley Railroad in Chambersburg. And he was supposed to be there secretly, that so that he could meet with John Brown about Brown's planned raid of Harpers Ferry in the arsenal there. But as soon as he got off that that train, the public recognized him, and they queried him about why he was in Chambersburg. And so there had to be some fast thinking. And it was like, I'm here to give a speech. I'm here to give a speech. And at the Franklin Hall. So, that's really he is one of the most photographed men of his day in his lifetime. And just to think about that in 1859, that he would be that recognized is is really an amazing, an amazing place to be in his life considering how his life started. And so that's why we called it Frederick Douglass in Chambersburg more than a speech, because the speech was actually actually a way to conceal the fact that he had a definite purpose to be in Chambersburg."

When Douglass made the speech Saturday, Aug. 17, 1859 at Franklin Hall to deliver a speech about the inhumanity of slavery and the emancipation. Just like Douglass, John Brown was an abolitionist.

"They may they may have had different perspectives, perspectives on how that abolishing would take place. But they were partners in wanting to move America of 1859 beyond the place it was on with slavery. And, you know, that was John Brown. Many people look at what occurred at in Harpers Ferry as the precursor to the Civil War. It was kind of, a fuze that ignited the reality that we were not going to be able to legislate out of slavery, that we were going to have to more directly confront the issue. And so they both recognized it. I don't know that they necessarily thought the path would be the same."

 

The event will run  from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and including lunch. You can purchase tickets in person at Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center, 15 S. Main St., Chambersburg. Contact Franklin County Visitors Bureau at 71-552-2977.

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets.

 

 

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