William Walker, Anthony Grice and Kyle Conway were each honored at the 4th Annual Frederick Douglass In Newburgh Day for their service as educators and leaders within the Newburgh Enlarged City School District. The celebration and ceremony were held at Tyrone Crabb Memorial Park on Friday, August 11.

Gabrielle Burton-Hill, co-founder and organizer of the Frederick Douglass In Newburgh Day Project Committee, was grateful for the turnout that evening. The group first met in 2018 and were pursuing a celebration of the 150th anniversary in 2020. However, the pandemic changed their plans but the group still pressed on and were able to celebrate on August 11, 2020.

Frederick Douglass visited Newburgh on August 11, 1870 as part of various speaking engagements on the 15th Amendment which had been ratified in February of that year.

Douglass, a former slave, has been recognized and honored both nationally and globally for his words and actions against slavery, support of social reform and his contributions to literature.

Following the 150th anniversary of that visit, the city council issued a proclamation that every year would be a celebration of Frederick Douglass’s visit and would always be held on August 11.

“Thank you, everyone who supports us, those of you who understand the importance of uncovering our Black history in the City of Newburgh,” Burton-Hill said. “It is important that those stories are told, because Black history is American history and we cannot separate the two.”

In tribute to Douglass, actor G. Oliver King was then called to the podium, dressed in older attire and embodying the spirit of Douglass as he read an excerpt from the first novel of Douglass’ “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”. The novel was said to have been written about seven years after Douglass escaped from slavery at the age of 20.

Walker thanked his mother, his mother’s brother, his grandfather, grandmother and his father who helped him achieve this award.

“They built a life for themselves and for us. And the biggest thing that they did, and I know that we all can relate to this, they put everything into their children, every single ounce of energy so that we could, in their estimate, survive,” said Walker. “They gave us enough energy, and I know you know about this, to even do better than they did. And it came from a spirit that exists not only in Frederick Douglass, but exists in us all, no matter where we’re from.”

Next was Grice, who had no idea that he was being honored, and who thanked several of his past teachers.

“School was tough for me, but I had some people in my life, the teachers that really, really made a difference,” said Grice. “It’s really not for me, and it’s really not for the accolades and all those other things that go along with it, I’m just trying to make a difference and that’s it. It is all a surprise to me and I am so honored and humbled.”

Finally Conway, who was not originally from Newburgh, shared his hope for students to change their narratives and that he would continue dedicating his career to their success.

“I’m thankful for being acknowledged; I don’t do things for the accolades, I do things because I know what it was to be in the streets and feel hopeless,” said Conway. “I’m going to dedicate my career to try to eradicate illiteracy in this district. Every time a Black person graduates, we defeat the notions that we are nothing but objects.”