During Black History Month 2025, the African American Historical Society of Rockland County hosted Frederick Douglass and February: A Legacy of Love and Liberation, a virtual program examining Frederick Douglass’s enduring influence and the ways his ideas continue to shape movements for justice today.
The program opened with reflections from Jamila Brathwaite, President of AAHS, who explored Douglass’s historic visits to Nyack between 1865 and 1879—visits that drew some of the largest recorded crowds in the town’s history. In her presentation, Douglass: Reclaiming Identity and Shaping Public Influence in Rockland, Brathwaite connected Douglass’s presence in Rockland County to a broader legacy of African American civic engagement during Reconstruction and beyond.
The evening also featured a presentation by Dr. Kymberly S. Newberry, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Richmond, titled The First Drafter of History: The Transformative Potential of Photography. Dr. Newberry examined Douglass’s deliberate use of photography as a form of self-representation and resistance. Today, scholars recognize Douglass as the most photographed individual of the nineteenth century, while her presentation emphasized that Douglass himself understood the power of photographic representation to challenge racist visual culture, assert Black dignity, and shape public perception.
A panel discussion followed, moderated by Dr. Elias Rodriques of Sarah Lawrence College, and featured Dr. David Lucander, Professor of Multicultural Studies at Rockland Community College; Rev. Earl S. Miller, pastoral counselor; Willie Trotman, President of the Spring Valley NAACP; and L’Tanya M. Watkins, Esq. Panelists reflected on Douglass’s commitments to love, resistance, moral courage, and advocacy, and considered how his legacy continues to inform contemporary struggles for equity and justice across education, faith, law, and civic life.
Grounded in both local history and national significance, the program reinforced Douglass’s relevance to Rockland County and affirmed the enduring power of Black history as a living resource for community reflection and action.