Slavery

The First Slave Traders in New York

September 28, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The first direct shipment of enslaved Africans arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1655. The voyage of the White Horse came in the wake of significant changes in the Dutch Atlantic. In this eessay, American historian Dennis Maika outlines how family and business connections shaped the development of a slave-trading center in Manhattan.

New Amsterdam’s residents would have immediately noticed something different about the arrival of the Witte Paert (White Horse) in the early summer of 1655. The stench of human excrement and illness emanating from the newly arrived “scheepgen” (small ship), left little doubt that a slaver had arrived after a long voyage. [Read more…] about The First Slave Traders in New York

NY-CT Border Disputes & The Kidnapping of Freedom-Seeker Peter John Lee

September 27, 2022 by Alan J. Singer 1 Comment

If you’ve driven on U.S. 684 or Byram Road in Greenwich, CT you see signs notifying you that you are crisscrossing back and forth between New York and Connecticut. The border has been a sore point since the British colonies were founded in the 17th century.

In the 1680s Bedford and Rye were shifted from Connecticut to New York leading to a local taxpayers revolt. In 1857, a report by the New York State Senate noted, “Along the whole distance the greatest uncertainty existed, and a distrust and want of confidence in all the supposed lines.” The border was not finally clarified until 1879. [Read more…] about NY-CT Border Disputes & The Kidnapping of Freedom-Seeker Peter John Lee

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

September 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Rev. 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

Swiss Americans, Neuchâtel and the Slave Trade

September 1, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

The earliest Swiss immigrants to North America were religious refugees. This group consisted predominantly of German speaking Anabaptists who began settling in eastern Pennsylvania from the mid-seventeenth century onward following a schism among the Brethren in 1693 which led to a division between Mennonites (named after Menno Simons of Friesland) and Amish (named after their leader Jakob Ammann who was born in the canton of Bern). [Read more…] about Swiss Americans, Neuchâtel and the Slave Trade

Amy & Enid Go To Archeology Camp in Albany

August 30, 2022 by Enid Mastrianni Leave a Comment

During the pandemic, I watched every episode of the BBC reality archeology program, Time Team, which ran for twenty years. The show condenses three days of archaeological exploration of a site into a one hour episode. Not only did I watch every episode, it is fair to say that I became obsessed with archaeology in general.

About halfway into the pandemic, I discovered that my friend Amy had become similarly obsessed. So when I found out that the Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany, New York was offering an opportunity to volunteer to participate in a five day dig they had planned for August, I called Amy and said, “Wanna do it?” She replied, “Hell yeah!” [Read more…] about Amy & Enid Go To Archeology Camp in Albany

Stephen Myers of Albany: Abolitionist Writer, Advocate & Underground Railroad Activist

August 30, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Stephen Myers was a Black activist in connection with the Underground Railroad and African American rights in general. He was born and enslaved in Hoosick, Rensselaer County, New York State and raised when it was a slave state working on progressive abolition. He was the principal agent and a key writer for the Northern Star and Freeman’s Advocate, he was also the editor of The Elevator and The Telegraph and Temperance Journal.

As early as 1831 he was assisting fugitives from enslavement making their way to Canada. He was also active in 1827 with a group of little-known significance called the Clarkson Anti-slavery Society. As time went on he was involved in organizing and serving as a delegate to many of the Colored Men’s Conventions of the 1830s to the 1860s, to secure African American rights. He was involved in voting rights campaigns through the NYS Suffrage Association, was involved in organizing a school, and sued Albany Schools over segregation. [Read more…] about Stephen Myers of Albany: Abolitionist Writer, Advocate & Underground Railroad Activist

Surviving Nat Turner’s Southampton Rebellion

August 24, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Vanessa Holden, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and the author of the award-winning book Surviving Southampton:African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner’s Community (2021), leads listeners through the events and circumstances of the 1831-Southampton Rebellion, a rebellion we tend to know today as Nat Turner’s Rebellion.

During this episode, Holden reveals when and why the Southampton Rebellion took place; The early history of Southampton, Virginia and why it experienced a slave rebellion; And, why we should look at the Southampton Rebellion as a community-wide event. [Read more…] about Surviving Nat Turner’s Southampton Rebellion

Calvin Fairbank: Imprisoned 17 Years For Helping Enslaved People to Freedom

August 9, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Rev. Calvin Cornelius Fairbank was born November 3, 1816 in Pike, Wyoming County, NY. He began his academic studies at a seminary in Lima, Livingston County, NY, and became a licensed preacher in 1840. In 1842 he was ordained an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he graduated Oberlin College in Ohio two years later. At Oberlin he met John Mifflin Brown (1817-1893), a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and an Underground Railroad activist.

Fairbank was a radical abolitionist who not only spoke out against slavery, but actively worked to free as many enslaved people as he could. [Read more…] about Calvin Fairbank: Imprisoned 17 Years For Helping Enslaved People to Freedom

Albany’s Philip Schuyler Statue, Slavery and History Reconsidered

July 21, 2022 by Bruce Dearstyne 4 Comments

A statue of Albany’s Philip Schuyler (1733-1804) has stood in front of City Hall since its dedication by Mayor William S. Hackett on June 25, 1925. The statue was a gift to the city from George C. Hawley, a beer baron whose family owned the Dobler Brewery in Albany, in memory of his wife Theodora M. Hawley.

In 2020, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan ordered it removed because Schuyler was a slaveholder. As Mayor Sheehan noted, removing the statue is one way of acknowledging the enduring legacy of slavery. [Read more…] about Albany’s Philip Schuyler Statue, Slavery and History Reconsidered

Rochester Underground Railroad Novel Gets Updated Edition

July 18, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Until 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