Monday, November 5, 11 a.m. to noon at the Penn Yan Public Library.

Come and join author and lecturer, the Rev. Chester Freeman, as he takes us on a journey exploring the life and death of Austin Steward. Mr. Steward was a slave born in Virginia and brought to upstate New York. He is not as recognized as Frederick Douglass or Harriet Tubman, yet made contributions as significant as both of them. The Rev. Freeman has made it his mission to educate the public about the contributions of Mr. Steward and his significance to the history of our state and the country.

Facilitator: The Rev. Chester Freeman

Rev. Freeman is a graduate of Colgate Rochester Divinity School/ Bexley Hall/ Crozer Theological Seminary in Rochester, New York. He is the former chaplain of Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass. He is the author of the children’s book Run Away Bear. He is also a freelance writer and published his research on Austin Steward last year in the Finger Lakes Magazine. He was also an internationally recognized teddy bear artist whose work is highly collectible and can be seen in many of the toy museums in our country. He is one of the first chaplains to lecture on the therapeutic value of teddy bears. He used them during his stint at Hartford Hospital where he counseled patients. He is a world traveler and has spent time in Japan and Europe.