LAKE PLACID – Civil rights, immigrant rights and worker rights are among the most pressing social justice concerns of this era, and John Brown Lives! will recognize three leaders in the struggle to achieve each at its annual John Brown Day celebration on Saturday, May 4, at 2 p.m.

Barbara Ransby, an award-winning author, historian and political activist at the University of Chicago; Lewis Papenfuse, former executive director of the Worker Justice Center of New York; and Janet McFetridge, who has provided warm clothing and toys to countless refugees crossing into Canada at the border in Champlain, will receive Spirit of John Brown Freedom Awards Saturday at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid.

The event is free and open to the public.

Taina Asili, an Albany-based Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and social justice activist, will perform at the event. Asili has performed for more than 500,000 people at the Women’s March on Washington in 2017 and has shared the stage with artists including Alicia Keys, Janelle Monae and Tom Morello; her songs, which propel listeners to seek social change, focus on themes of love, resistance and ancestral remembrance.

A fundraising reception will be held after the ceremony at the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex Base Lodge. Tickets are $30 each.