Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) is set to present the exhibit “’Never Was a Slave’: Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th-Century New Paltz” at the DuBois Fort Visitor Center, June 1 through July 14, 2019.
Wynkoop was born in New Paltz, New York, in 1829, the child of two former slaves, Thomas and Jane Deyo Wynkoop. He had an exceptional and varied life for any man of his times. Among the first African Americans to buy land in the community, he also served in the Union Army during the Civil War, organized politically on behalf of people of color, and built a series of homes in the late-19th century that helped define a neighborhood in the village of New Paltz.
Wynkoop and his family’s story are illuminated by historical documents and photographic materials from the HHS Archives, the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at the Elting Memorial Library, Town of New Paltz Records, and the Records of the Reformed Church of New Paltz. The exhibit is curated by Josephine Bloodgood, HHS Director of Curatorial and Preservation Affairs.
The DuBois Fort Visitor Center is located at 81 Huguenot St, New Paltz.
For more information, click here.
Photo of Jacob Wynkoop ca 1908 courtesy Haviland Heidgerd Historical Collection.
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