News and Views from the Empire State
Humanities New York’s (HNY) has announced the Amended podcast, a six-part series about the ongoing struggle for women’s voting rights.
Launching on August 26, 2020, Amended travels from the 1800s through to the present day to explore the quest for women’s full equality, one that has been as diverse, complex and unfinished as the nation itself. [Read more…] about ‘Amended,’ A Women’s History Podcast Series
To a highly mobile species like humans, the fact that other animals relocate their families – or entire populations – isn’t a big surprise. We know historical migrations have been the norm, though the fossil record shows that generally these changes happened at a snail’s pace.
The “Great American Interchange” in which northern animals spread southward and South American critters expanded north during the Pliocene Epoch, took a million years. Give or take a few, I assume. [Read more…] about Northern Tree Migrations: Nature on the Move
Northwest Airlines Flight 6231 crashed in Harriman State Park, located in Rockland and Orange counties, on December 1, 1974, just minutes after taking off from Kennedy Airport, on its way to Buffalo.
The Historical Society of Rockland County has invited the public to a Hike through History event, focusing on the crash site and memorial in Harriman State Park, set for Saturday, August 15th. [Read more…] about 1974 Plane Crash Hike In Harriman State Park
DEC’s nine cold water fish hatcheries collectively produce over 6.4 million fish annually. Unfortunately, a significant number of these trout and salmon are lost to a variety of predators in search of a “free meal.”
One predator that causes most fish losses is the great blue heron. At the Caledonia Hatchery it’s not uncommon to have upwards of 40 great blue herons surrounding the ponds during the spring. [Read more…] about Fish Hatcheries Battle Herons
As the first President of the United States, George Washington set many precedents for the new nation. One of the biggest precedents Washington set came in the form of the Cabinet, a body of advisors from across the U.S. government who advise the president on how to handle matters of foreign and domestic policy.
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, we investigate Washington’s creation of the Cabinet and how it became a government institution with Lindsay Chervinsky author of the book, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution (Harvard Belknap Press, 2020).
If you’ve spent any time on trails, particularly on rocky mountain tops or in desert-like environments, you’ve likely come across a cairn.
Cairns are officially-created rock piles that mark a trail. They are often used in areas where there is little vegetation to attach traditional trail markers or paint blazes.
In the Adirondacks, cairns are found most often at higher elevations above tree line. They are extremely important for helping hikers navigate trails and to protect sensitive alpine vegetation by guiding hikers to the most durable surfaces. [Read more…] about Conservation Minute: Caring About Cairns
I offer the following tribute to Anna Douglass, first wife of Frederick Douglass and mother of their five children, on the anniversary of her death Aug. 4, 1882:
Both Frederick Bailey and Anna Murray were born in rural Maryland in the early 1800s and grew up under harsh racist customs that strictly defined roles for men and women by sex, race and class.
By the time Frederick and Anna met in the 1830s in Baltimore, his owner valued him as a slave who was a skilled caulker. Yet Anna, despite being a free woman skilled as a domestic and cook, was not well paid by her white employers. [Read more…] about Anna Murray-Douglass: Frederick’s Most Important Ally
The Underground Railroad Coalition recently announced a major effort to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the New York State constitutional provision that ended slavery in the State on July 4, 1827.
The emancipation provision in the New York State Constitution of 1799 provided for the gradual elimination of slavery in New York, but it did not end the widespread legal race discrimination in the state. The most glaring example of this was the New York State Constitution of 1821, which eliminated property qualifications to vote for white men, but denied black men owning less than $250 worth of property the right to vote. [Read more…] about Real Estate, Philip Payton And The Rise of Black Harlem
In 1776, just six months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington and the new American Army were on the verge of utter destruction at the banks of the Delaware River. The American Revolution was imperil.
Rather than submit to defeat, Washington and his small band of soldiers crossed the ice-choked river and attacked the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey on the day after Christmas in 1777.
The surprise attack was followed by successful actions along the Assunpink Creek and at Princeton. [Read more…] about Battles of Trenton, Princeton Virtual Lecture Aug 6th
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County has announced a series of cooking webinars, focused on making refrigerator salsa, jam, pickles, and dilly beans.
Participants will be able to use their own ingredients and receive step by step instructions from CCE nutrition and healthy living educator MB Mitcham. [Read more…] about Jam, Pickles, Dilly Beans & Salsa Party Webinars