MAYVILLE — During the fall in 2021, the Historical Society of the New York Courts, in collaboration with the New York State Courts, began a 90-week tour to 45 courthouses across New York State of The Lemmon Case: 1852-1860, A Prelude to the Civil War. This panel exhibit of the landmark Court of Appeals case features a video narration by James Earl Jones with an introduction by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.

The exhibit is intended to educate the public on the role of the New York courts in paving the way for the abolition of slavery. Through the facts of the case, we learn how the courts helped free eight enslaved young women and children who sailed into New York harbor with their owners from Virginia. The New York courts’ ruling was in direct conflict with the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision of 1857, and it represented the most unyielding statement made against slavery by any court in the United States prior to the Civil War.

The exhibit is currently on display at the Chautauqua County Courthouse in the 8th Judicial District and will remain there until it travels to its next stop, the Robert H. Jackson Center, arriving on Monday.

Visit the Historical Society’s website at history.nycourts.gov/the-lemmon-slave-case to watch the film and see the tour schedule.

President of the Historical Society and former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said: “The Historical Society of the New York Courts is proud to highlight this historic case at a time when the nation wrestles with issues of racial bias and access to justice.”

All visitors to New York State Unified Court System courthouses and other court facilities are required to submit to temperature screening and questioning before being granted entrance. All visitors entering a courthouse or court-related facility are required to wear a mask or face covering while inside. Persons without a mask or face covering will not be permitted to enter. The UCS follows and enforces the CDC and NYS DOH guidelines on physical distancing.