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Frederick Douglass

O.C. Gilbert: Speaker, Musician, Black Community Organizer in Saratoga

August 28, 2023 by Loraine Wies 2 Comments

OC Gilbert (from ocgilbert.com)In a recent article in the Washington Post, author Sydney Trent narrates the story of Stephanie Gilbert, a descendant of Oliver C. Gilbert, and her quest to learn of her ancestor and visit his place of birth and enslavement. The article briefly discusses O.C. Gilbert’s life in Saratoga Springs, NY,  from about 1860 to 1876, when he moved to Pennsylvania.

Saratoga Springs offered many opportunities for employment, and it was said that while many of the Southern gentleman brought their slaves with them as they took in the season at The Spa, many of the Black men and women serving them were probably former enslaved people who had run for their freedom. Moreover, while Gilbert’s primary legacy is as a lecturer and musician, his political activism both before and while living in Saratoga Springs places him in the company of many prominent abolitionists, businessmen and politicians who continued the fight for racial equality as Jim Crow laws were becoming commonplace in America. [Read more…] about O.C. Gilbert: Speaker, Musician, Black Community Organizer in Saratoga

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abolition, Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith Estate, Henry Highland Garnet, Labor History, Musical History, New Hampshire, Performing Arts, Philadelphia, Political History, Saratoga County, Saratoga Springs, Slavery, William Lloyd Garrison

Beaten & Burned Out: Welsh Anti-Slavery Hero Robert Everett

September 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Rev. Robert EverettRev. Robert Everett was a Welsh-American who came to Oneida County, NY in 1823 from Wales. He very quickly became involved in the anti-slavery movement. In 1835, Utica was selected as the site for the first New York State Anti-Slavery Convention.

The meeting was broken up by an angry mob. From Utica Everett was forced to move several times as his church services were often interrupted by people who continued to support slavery. He was physically assaulted while preaching and had his horse injured and home burned down by pro-slavery activists. [Read more…] about Beaten & Burned Out: Welsh Anti-Slavery Hero Robert Everett

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Civil Rights, Civil War, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Liberty Party, National Abolition Hall of Fame, Oneida County, Political History, Publishing, Religious History, Remsen, Slavery, Stueben, Underground Railroad, Utica, Welsh Immigrants, Whitesboro

Rochester Underground Railroad Novel Gets Updated Edition

July 18, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Special Delivery bookUntil recently when long-lost family mementos came to light, there was very little information about the daily life of Frederick and Anna Douglass in Rochester, New York.

There was even less about their five children. Historian Rose O’Keefe put everything she could find in Frederick and Anna Douglass in Rochester, New York: Their Home Was Open to All (The History Press, 2013). Though it had strong content, the book still left questions without answers. What would it have been like to live on the Underground Railroad? [Read more…] about Rochester Underground Railroad Novel Gets Updated Edition

Filed Under: History, Arts, Books, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Books, Frederick Douglass, HIstorical Fiction, Monroe County, Rochester, Slavery, Underground Railroad

Whose Fourth of July?

February 9, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldOn July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to an anti-slavery society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Christopher Bonner, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland help us explore Douglass’ thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries? [Read more…] about Whose Fourth of July?

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Fourth of July, Frederick Douglass, Podcasts, Political History, Slavery

The Color of Abolition: Douglass, Garrison & Maria Weston Chapman

February 1, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

the color of abolitonBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

The new book The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation (Mariner Books, 2022) by Linda Hirshman tells the story of the fraught alliance among Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Maria Weston Chapman. [Read more…] about The Color of Abolition: Douglass, Garrison & Maria Weston Chapman

Filed Under: Books, History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Frederick Douglass, Maria Weston Chapman, William Lloyd Garrison

‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’: Harriet Jacobs in Orange County, New York (Conclusion)

January 6, 2022 by Paula Tarnapol Whitacre Leave a Comment

Gilbert Studios photograph of Harriet Jacobs 1894“The dream of my life is not yet realized…I still long for a hearthstone of my own.” (Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861).

In 1852, Harriet Jacobs became legally free, but not independent as she yearned. She continued her job as nursemaid for the family of Nathaniel Parker Willis, then editor of the trend-setting magazine Home Journal and one of the country’s most famous authors. The needs of the Willises usually took precedence over her own.

When the family moved to Cornwall, in Orange County, NY, she went too. There, in fits and starts, over the course of more than five years, she wrote the book about her life still read today – Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. [Read more…] about ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’: Harriet Jacobs in Orange County, New York (Conclusion)

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Orange County, Publishing, Slavery, womens history

The Last Days of John Brown: Black Soldiers

August 29, 2021 by John Warren 3 Comments

Kennedy Farm MarylandThe first week of September 1859 at the Kennedy farm, where John Brown (wearing a short beard as a disguise and using the name Isaac Smith) and his growing band were gathering, was a time of indecision and internal conflict. From Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Brown’s previous hideout, arms and supplies were being brought by wagon. Those at the Kennedy farm had known that they were to attack Virginia, but when Brown told them the target would be a federal armory, several balked. [Read more…] about The Last Days of John Brown: Black Soldiers

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Slavery, The Last Days of John Brown

Anna Murray-Douglass: Frederick’s Most Important Ally

August 4, 2020 by Rose O'Keefe Leave a Comment

Anna Murray-DouglassI 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

Filed Under: History, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, African American History, Black History, Frederick Douglass, Lake Ontario, Monroe County, New York City, Political History, Rochester, Slavery, Underground Railroad, womens history

Whose Fourth of July?

July 1, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldOn July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to the Rochester, New York Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, we explore Douglass’ thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?

[Read more…] about Whose Fourth of July?

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Benjamin Franklin, Black History, Fourth of July, Frederick Douglass, Podcasts, Political History

Frederick Douglass Biographer Wins Lincoln Prize

February 19, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

frederick douglass prophet of freedomGettysburg College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History have announced that David Blight, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (Simon & Schuster), is the recipient of the 2019 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.

A noted Civil War historian, Blight is Class of 1954 Professor of American History at Yale University and directs the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the MacMillan Center at Yale University. [Read more…] about Frederick Douglass Biographer Wins Lincoln Prize

Filed Under: Books, Events, History Tagged With: Frederick Douglass, New York City

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