- My name is Harriet Gaston and I'm your neighbor from Altoona, PA. (upbeat happy music) I'm an academic advisor in what is called the Division of Undergraduate Studies at the Altoona campus of the Pennsylvania State University.
I got involved in historical research of Black history when a friend who was associated with the Blair County Genealogical Society showed me a tax record of two people being considered as slaves in the Blair County area.
I enjoyed history when I was in elementary and junior high and senior high, and when I got here to learn about the history that exists here, keeps me going.
I think that I wasn't born here.
I didn't have a certain assumptions on what the history was here.
I keep thinking to myself that I was supposed to be here.
The person I love to advocate for people to learn about is William Nesbit.
William came here from Carlisle in 1844.
He traveled, debating other people, and in his travels, he gets to meet Frederick Douglass.
So Nesbit and the Pennsylvania State's Equal Rights League was very involved in the passage of the 15th Amendment, which gave the right to vote.
When Nesbit died, his obituary in 1895 informed its readers that he was an underground railroad conductor.
This county is less than 2% people of color.
So when you go around to events and places and things, you can see that you might be one of however many.
But knowing this is something like I'm not the only one.
There've been people here before me.
They've been successful in what they've done, and so will I.
(soft guitar music) - [Announcer] Support for this program comes from the members of WPSU and from the Blake and Linda Gall Endowment for WPSU, Penn State.
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