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Erin Becker-Boris

Erin Becker-Boris is an independent historian from Long Island, NY. Her research interests focus on the convergence of women, labor, and the environment through a global extractive maritime economy. Her work in museums grapples with investing local peoples in their resources as stakeholders through outreach, education, and the development of new public programming. She has written for Gotham Center for New York City History, New York Almanack, Read More Science, H-Net Environment, and the Journal of Urban History. She can be found at @ErinE_Becker on Twitter. You can find more of her work on her profile at Women Also Know History.

Prison In the Woods: Environment & Incarceration in Northern NY

February 26, 2022 by Erin Becker-Boris Leave a Comment

A Prison In the Woods - Environment and Incarceration in New York's North CountyThe Adirondacks in Northern New York covers approximately 5,000 square miles. Widely known for its natural beauty, recreation opportunities and tourism, it may surprise many of those travelers to learn that the Adirondacks’ trails and amenities are intrinsically connected to New York’s carceral history.

In A Prison In the Woods: Environment and Incarceration in New York’s North Country (Univ. of Mass. Press, 2020), Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr. traces the planning, construction, and operation of penitentiaries in five Adirondack communities – Dannemora, Ray Brook, Gabriels, Lyon Mountain, and Tupper Lake – between 1840 and the early 2010s to show the intersections between the environment and mass incarceration.

Hall’s own personal history adds an interesting aspect to his narrative. His father worked for the New York prison system from 1973 to 1998, mostly at the maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. He states that “the rhythms of the prison system became natural to our family, just as they did for so many other families in towns and villages across the Adirondacks.” [Read more…] about Prison In the Woods: Environment & Incarceration in Northern NY

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Books, Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Adirondacks, Black History, Books, clinton correctional facility, Crime and Justice, environment, Essex County, Franklin County, Labor History, Lyon Mountain, Olympic History, Political History, prisons, Ray Brook, Tupper Lake

A Long Islander’s Depictions of Unkechaug Women

October 29, 2019 by Erin Becker-Boris Leave a Comment

William Floyd EstateNative women in nineteenth century Long Island communities integrated work into the daily rhythms of their home. These women persisted – and in some cases, thrived – in the face of severe challenges and tragic conditions. They grew crops in gardens, raised chickens, took in washing, did reproductive labor, kept boarders, and performed vital cultural work.

While their labor is largely absent from census records, evidence can be gleaned from the childhood memoir of an elite white woman from a prominent landowning family. Sunny Memories of Mastic was written by Sarah “Sadie” Floyd Turner in 1886. In her memoir, Turner recounted childhood memories beginning with her arrival at her grandfather’s estate in 1843. [Read more…] about A Long Islander’s Depictions of Unkechaug Women

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Cultural History, Gender History, Indigenous History, Long Island, Native American History, Social History, womens history

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