Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery holds a slightly different photograph of the convention, also taken by Ezra Greenleaf Weld.
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Abolitionists gathered at Cazenovia, New York on August 21-22, 1850 to protest the proposed new Fugitive Slave Act then being debated in Congress. Frederick Douglass (seated) and Gerrit Smith (standing, behind table) headlined the gathering. Sisters Emily and Mary Edmonson (standing, wearing plaid shaws, on either side of Douglass) had gained fame in abolitionist circles for their involvement in the attempted mass escape from Washington, DC aboard the Pearl two years earlier. After that escape attempt failed, abolitionists had raised the money to purchase their freedom. Photograph by Ezra Greenleaf Weld.