Vanessa Johnson Presents at the Emancipation Day Festival in Peterboro

Vanessa Johnson shown above at far left.

Griot writer, and artist Vanessa Johnson presented at the annual Emancipation Day Festival at the Gerrit Smith Estate and the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in Peterboro, NY on August 1, 2026. Post-Standard (7/28/26) carried a beautiful photo of our colleague Vanessa Johnson, announcing her presentation at the annual Emancipation Day Festival at the Gerrit Smith Estate and National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in Peterboro, NY on August 1, 2026, 2pm. Storyteller extraordinaire, historian, and artist spoke about the underground railroad and stories of those who escaped from the shackles of slavery. Peterboro's event commemorated Britain's Slavery Abolition Act of August 1, 1834.

Johnson was featured in a recent article in the Syracuse Post Standard.