09/16/2024 -
The Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) organized a visit Friday, Sept, 13, 2024, to the Petaluma grave of the Rev. Adam Rankin, an abolitionist whose family helped more than 2,000 enslaved people reach freedom.
Hardy Brown II touches the headstone of Margaret Rankin while kneeling next to her grave as well as that of the Rev. Adam Rankin, left, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, at Cypress Hill Memorial Park in Petaluma.
The visit to Cypress Hill Memorial Park, attended by SCOE staff, local educators, and community members, was led by Hardy Brown II, the managing principal of Footsteps to Freedom, which organizes educational tours of the Underground Railroad.
A group of 15 Sonoma County educators participated in the program in July, including Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Amie Carter and other SCOE employees.
Joanna Paun, SCOE’s Foster & Homeless Youth Education Services Coordinator, learned of Rankin’s connection to Petaluma while she was on the tour. She, Petaluma City Schools Superintendent Matthew Harris, and their families located the graves of Rankin and his family members after she returned to Petaluma.
Rankin’s family home in Ripley, Ohio, was the first stop for people seeking freedom as they crossed the Ohio River. Rankin’s father, the Rev. John Rankin, and his 13 children helped more than 2,000 people escape to freedom.
After the Civil War, the family dispersed and the Rev. Adam Rankin settled in Sonoma County. He and his wife, Margaret, as well as their son, Lowry, and his wife, Kate, are buried at Cypress Hill.
During the Friday cemetery visit, which Paun organized, Brown explored the history of the Rankin family as well as the connection of the family’s Ohio home to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s seminal abolitionist novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
Hardy Brown II holds up a first edition German copy of Hariet Beecher Stowe’s seminal abolitionist novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, at Cypress Hill Memorial Park in Petaluma.
Later Friday, Brown presented about 200 of the 15,000 historical freedom artifacts that he has collected during two events at SCOE. The items included a first-edition copy of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” translated into German, and mother-child shackles from Maysville, Kentucky.
Hardy Brown II of Footsteps to Freedom gives a presentation to educators and community members on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 at the Sonoma County Office of Education in Santa Rosa.
Hardy Brown’s presentation Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, at the Sonoma County Office of Education included the opportunity to interact with about 200 historical freedom artifacts.
The Press Democrat and NorCal Public Media each covered Friday’s events.
