The Harrison Library in Westchester County will host “The Hills Community on Stony Hill Road: the History of the Rural, Black Community in Harrison, 1790-1925,” a virtual presentation led by Edythe Ann Quinn, Ph.D, set for Friday, February 11th at 4 pm.
“The Hills Community” crossed the rugged borders of Harrison, North Castle, and White Plains, NY with its largest settlement on Stony Hill Road, Harrison. Family, church, school, and land ownership provided stability in the mid-1800s. The Civil War service of 35 Hills men in three Black regiments of the United States Colored Troops resulted in six deaths, multiple injuries, and illnesses, and, upon the veterans’ return, influenced an increase in emigration contributing to community decline in the 1890s.
Primary sources for this talk include maps, Civil War letters, service and pension documents, census records, and newspaper accounts, some of which can be readily accessed on the “Harrison Remembers” website.
Dr. Quinn was Harrison’s Town/Village historian in the mid-1980s. In 2015, SUNY Press published her first book, Freedom Journey: Black Civil War Soldiers and The Hills Community, Westchester County, New York. She is working on her second book, The Hills Is Home: Origins, Family, Church and School in The Black Community.
This program will be held via Zoom. Registration is required and can be completed online.
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