Albany’s vital role in the Underground Railroad

Today in The 518

• A look at Albany’s historic role in the Underground Railroad

• Schenectady’s new pool opens early; free 🎬️ 🍿 at Albany’s Palace Theatre

• Plus, Top 5 Weekend Picks & best discounts around the Capital District!

Albany’s vital role in the Underground Railroad

Most of us know the history of Frederick Douglass, but fewer people know about Stephen Meyers, the leader of the Underground Railroad in Albany.

From their home at 194 Livingston Avenue, Stephen and Harriet Myers helped thousands of enslaved people seek freedom as they made their way from the antebellum South to the free states of the North and Canada.

Each year, they hid hundreds of Black men and women from police and “slave catchers” sent to retrieve runaways. Although New York abolished slavery in 1827, federal fugitive slave laws still honored the “property rights” of southern slave masters.

Prior to the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery in 1865 under the 13th Amendment—an achievement in human rights we celebrate today on Juneteenth—Albany played a huge role in the Underground Railroad.

In 1844, the antislavery publication The Liberator described the Albany Underground Railroad as having “the reputation of being the most efficient organization in the state of New York, in the business of aiding the way-worn and weather-beaten refugee from slavery’s shambles.”

Today, the Meyers residence serves as the Underground Railroad Education Center, which has been tirelessly maintained by UREC founders Paul and Mary Liz Stewart. Last year, the UREC landed a $2 million grant to create a new Interpretive Center next door—the largest grant for a Capital Region nonprofit in recent memory.

Rescued by the Stewarts from certain demolition, the Meyers home still needs a lot of work. The organization relies solely on private donations and grants to keep telling this story, which is not just an integral part of the Black experience, but the story of America itself.

You can make a donation here.

“More murders are committed at 92° F than any other temperature. Over 100—it’s too hot to move.”—Ray Bradbury, Touched with Fire

The Capital Region continues to cook under an oppressive heat wave, but it looks like records won’t be broken this time. Here’s how to stay cool 😎 

Schenectady’s pool opens early to beat the heat

Schenectady’s spanking new $10.1 million Central Park Pool is opening today at 12:30 pm—three days earlier than planned, in response to the historic heat wave. The state-of-the-art pool can hold 500 people, and includes a dedicated kiddie pool and splash pad. The rush opening was made possible by additional staffing from the Boys and Girls Club, so be sure to say thanks! The Daily Gazette has photos and details.

Russell Sage to welcome largest class in 6 years

Last week, we talked about the era of declining enrollment and closures for Capital Region colleges. Today, we have some better news to report: Russell Sage College is preparing to welcome its largest undergraduate class in 6 years and its largest graduate class in a decade 😲 At least 9% of the incoming undergraduates are transfers from recently closed College of St. Rose. Read more at News10.

Free movies at Albany’s Palace Theatre

The Palace Theatre has released its “Summer in the City” movie lineup. These family-friendly flicks are fantastically free (say that 5x), plus kids 12 and under get a free 🍿 The films run on Tuesdays at noon throughout July and August, beginning with Disney’s Wish on July 9. See the full lineup and reserve your tix here.

VIA Aquarium hatches baby green-keel bellied lizards 🦎

Randolph T. Duncan Jr., the reptile keeper at VIA Aquarium, is beaming like a proud new papa. That’s because the aquarium is celebrating the birth of its first captive-bred animals: baby green-keel bellied lizards—a near-threatened species native to the forests of East Africa. The Times Union has the baby photos and the full story.

🎩 WEIRD NEWS WEDNESDAY

Did you know that on the night he was assassinated, President Abraham Lincoln—the Great Emancipator—was sitting next to a couple from upstate New York?

The story goes… Clara Harris, daughter of senator Ira Harris, and her fiancé, Major Henry Rathbone, were invited by the Lincolns to sit with the First Couple at Ford’s Theatre. When John Wilkes Booth shot the president, blood splattered across Clara’s dress.

A year after Lincoln’s untimely death, Clara awoke at her family’s summer cottage in Loudonville to the sound of laughter and the creaking of a rocking chair. She reported seeing an apparition of the late president sitting in the chair as if watching a play, looking in the direction of the closet where her blood-stained dress still hung 😱 

Read the full story here.