Stories of American Journeys Toward Liberty & Equality
On September 16, 2024 eighty people attended a celebration of the Bicentennial of Lafayette’s visit to Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County at the FDR Presidential Library & Museum, Hyde Park, New York. DCHS Executive Director Bill Jeffway gave a 45-minute talk which was followed by the premier of a short but emotionally powerful play by Bard College’s DN Bashir called Journeys.
Why Lafayette Endures:
Big Moves & Intimate Gestures. A Profound Commitment to Truth
Watch the video of 45-minute documentary talk here:
View or download transcript here:
View visuals from presentation here:
Among the Many American Journeys Inspired by Lafayette: Lafayette Williams
Photos from the short play: Journeys
Through Bard College’s DN Bashir’s play Journeys we overhear the conversation of free Black couple Tom & Jane Williams of the Town of Washington in 1824 as they walk to see Lafayette in Poughkeepsie. The hopeful descriptions of how their soon-to-be-born son Lafayette Williams might live are bittersweet with the knowledge that the actual local, historical character gave his life in the Civil War and is buried, with his and his parents dreams, in a national cemetery in Virginia.
Left to right: Chuck Schwam, Executive Director, American Friends of Lafayette. Aaron Morton as Tom Williams. Bill Jeffway, Executive Director, DCHS. Alexis Braxton as Jane Williams. DN Bashir, lead artist. Michael Halbert as Lafayette. Patti Maclay, National Chair, Franco-American Memorial Committee.
Dedicated to Dutchess County’s Lafayette Williams and his parents, Tom & Jane Williams.