Toni Morrison Will Dedicate Memorial Tomorrow to Nyack Underground RR Conductor

Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning writer Toni Morrison will dedicate a “Bench By The Road” May 18 to the 19th Century Underground Railroad Conductor Cynthia Hesdra.

• The Bench by the Road project sprang from an interview where Toni Morrison “spoke of the absences of historical markers that help remember the lives of Africans who were enslaved… .”
• Nyack’s bench will commemorate Cynthia Hesdra, a 19th century entrepreneur and conductor on the Underground Railroad. The bench will overlook property that Ms. Hesdra once owned on the west bank of the Hudson River in Nyack.
• This will be the first (and currently only) Bench by the Road in the NYC metro area.
• The ceremony will begin at Nyack Center at 2:30 p.m. At the conclusion of the Nyack Center ceremony, the audience will proceed to Memorial Park for the dedication ceremony.
• Ms. Morrison is scheduled to speak at about 4:15 p.m.
• The Orangetown Police Department will close Piermont Avenue approaching the park from the south.

A complete schedule of all Nyack Bench By The Road events is online.

Artwork credit: ©2015 Bill Batson