Dreaming of Timbuctoo is dreaming of you.
Help restore this important exhibit – join our crowdfunding campaign today!

For 15 years, the Dreaming of Timbuctoo exhibit has given thousands of New Yorkers an up-close look at a little-known era of Adirondack and African-American history.

In the 19th century, black and white abolitionists worked together to secure equal voting rights for black New Yorkers through a radical land distribution scheme.

This year, for the first time, the exhibit will have a permanent home: A newly renovated barn at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid, where thousands more each year will have a chance to be moved by the story of how a wealthy landowner helped 3,000 black New Yorkers skirt discriminatory voting laws by giving them 40-acre plots.

But after so long on the road, visiting dozens of places including colleges, the State Fair and even a prison, Dreaming of Timbuctoo needs our attention. Tired panels need restoration. Other panels need to be updated with the results of new scholarship. John Brown Lives! has launched a fundraising campaign at Adirondack Gives to raise at least $3,000 to revitalize this crucial tool for civil rights education.

Can you help us make this happen?

Every gift, no matter what size, will help us get closer to our goal. We need your help! Our campaign will only run until the end of March – we need to work quickly to ensure the exhibit is ready for spring, when the farm reopens.

Someday, we want to build a duplicate exhibit, so we can continue to bring Dreaming of Timbuctoo around the state while the permanent exhibit stays at the farm. That’s likely to cost $50,000. For now, though, our goal is to raise at least $3,000 to refurbish the exhibit we have – $1 for each family that received a plot of land. If we raise that much, we’ll aim even higher!

Please help us as we (re)make history, and update Dreaming of Timbuctoo for its next 15 years. Click here to donate to the campaign.