The Curatorial Department will be opening a new exhibition in the Library this month inspired by Reverend George Hathaway (a family member from the Rancho’s sheep ranching days) and the abolitionist ideals that he instilled in the Bixby family. Freedom West: Resistance and Triumph in California will look at how the Fugitive Slave Act coupled with the admission of California into the Union as a “free state” set the stage for the dissemination of abolition and civil rights in the West. The highlight of the exhibit will be the narratives of African-American activists in California (pictured left to right above): Biddy Mason, Mary Ellen Pleasant, and Mifflin Wistar Gibbs. The exhibit will also present different aspects of the Underground Railroad and touch on Pleasant, Gibbs, and Reverend Hathaway’s involvement in this clandestine network.
Experience the exhibit now through June 2025
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