The New York and New Jersey metropolitan area hosts several leading higher education institutions, ranging from elite Ivy League and public research universities to specialist technological schools. Three of those belong to the historic group of nine pre-Revolutionary colonial colleges. [Read more…] about Rutgers, Race & The Hardenbergh Legacy
Slavery
25 New Netherland Biographies Published
In the spring of 1613, a sailor named Jan Rodrigues arrived at the shore of the Hudson River from a Dutch trading ship, likely the Jonge Tobias. Identifying himself as a free individual, he became the earliest documented Black man in New Netherland. Jan Rodrigues is the subject of one of 25 new, peer-reviewed biographical sketches published by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society in August, part of the NYG&B’s New Netherland Settlers initiative. [Read more…] about 25 New Netherland Biographies Published
Manhattan in Flames: Arson, Rebellion, Conspiracy, & Sabotage
Early British colonists brought English common law to the colonies and adapted it to frontier conditions. Formally known as Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, “Dale’s Code” was a legal system enacted in 1610 (published in 1612) by the Deputy-Governor of colonial Virginia, Thomas Dale.
It mandated the death penalty for a range of misdeeds, from stealing grapes to trading with Indigenous populations. Arson too was a capital crime. [Read more…] about Manhattan in Flames: Arson, Rebellion, Conspiracy, & Sabotage
Slaveholders’ Mutiny: Frederick Douglass & The Southern Insurrection
In a July 4, 1862 speech to an audience of about 2,000 people in Himrod’s Corner, in Yates County, NY, Frederick Douglass described what we now remember as the American Civil War as a “slaveholders’ mutiny.”
As a recent New York Times op-ed pointed out, naming that war is very much a political decision that shapes and is shaped by our view of the past and American history. During the war it was usually referred to as an “insurrection” or a “rebellion.” Civil War is a more neutral term that avoids placing blame for ripping the country apart or branding the Southern actions as treasonous and ignores the future of slavery in the United States as the fundamental cause of the war. [Read more…] about Slaveholders’ Mutiny: Frederick Douglass & The Southern Insurrection
The Christopher Yates Papers Reveal Revolutionary Details
Christopher Yates (1737-1785) of Schenectady was a surveyor by trade, a job that brought him into the frequent employ of Sir William Johnson. When the French and Indian War began in 1755, Yates joined the Second Albany Militia, serving under Johnson at some of the most crucial battles.
He was among the British troops defeated at Ticonderoga early in the contest during the July 8, 1758 Battle of Carillon, the bloodiest event of the war, with over 3,000 causalities. He later participated in the successful siege of Fort Niagara in July 1759. [Read more…] about The Christopher Yates Papers Reveal Revolutionary Details
Hudson Valley Loyalists and the Violence of Revolution
In many respects the American Revolution was a civil war pitting Americans loyal to the Crown against other Americans loyal to the vision of a new nation they sought to create. Neighbor fought against neighbor, brother against brother, father against son. One of the epicenters of this desperate struggle was New York’s Hudson Valley.
Suffering for the Crown: The Hudson Valley Loyalists and the Violence of Revolution (University of Virginia Press, 2026) by Kieran J. O’Keefe details the extreme violence, persecution, and displacement experienced by white, Black, and Native American Loyalists during the Revolution. [Read more…] about Hudson Valley Loyalists and the Violence of Revolution
The Invention of Rum: Quintessential Atlantic World Commodity
Jordan B. Smith’s The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025) is a complex history of distilled alcoholic spirit made from sugarcane byproducts, from its production to its consumption, and from its origins in the Caribbean to its impact on the Atlantic World.
It was strong. It was cheap. It was ubiquitous. Fermented and distilled from the refuse of sugar production, rum emerged in the seventeenth-century Caribbean as a new commodity. [Read more…] about The Invention of Rum: Quintessential Atlantic World Commodity
John Brown Farm: Abolitionist Vision to Memorial Site
North Country writer Sandra Weber recently joined the ADK Talks podcast to discuss John Brown Farm: From Abolitionist Vision to Memorial Site (Purple Mountain Press, 2026), is a book devoted entirely to the history and meaning of the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in North Elba, Essex County, NY. [Read more…] about John Brown Farm: Abolitionist Vision to Memorial Site
How Race Shadows the America’s Anniversaries
America, USA: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries (Crown Publishers, 2026) details a heart-wrenching exploration of America’s legacy. It is a complex combination of lessons and voices — from W.E.B. DuBois and John Dos Passos to Herman Melville and Martin Luther King, Jr.— that, together, paint a sprawling and honest tableau of the United States, its complicated past, and ever more tenuous future. [Read more…] about How Race Shadows the America’s Anniversaries
The Escapes of David George: Slavery, Freedom & The American Revolution
When most Americans think of slavery, they do not picture the colonial or revolutionary eras. Yet, in fact, one of six inhabitants of the thirteen original colonies was enslaved.
The Escapes of David George: an Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution (St. Martin’s Press, 2026) reveals a remarkable, untold experience of the American revolutionary period ― a Black man’s quest for the freedom espoused by our Founders, but denied him and other enslaved people. [Read more…] about The Escapes of David George: Slavery, Freedom & The American Revolution
Coffee History: Enlightenment, Industry, Slavery & War
We brew it at home, we drink it at work, we socialize over a cup, or stop in at a café for its energy boost—never once reflecting on how the popularization of coffee literally changed the world.
It all began in Ethiopia, where coffee plants (Coffea) grew wild. It was discovered that the seeds of the coffee plant could be roasted and ground to yield a robust beverage with an unexpected effect. It seems to have become popular in the late-1400s and spread to Yemen quickly thereafter. [Read more…] about Coffee History: Enlightenment, Industry, Slavery & War
New York: Named For World’s Most Prolific Slave Trader
A new book, The Crown’s Silence, The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas by Brooke Newman (Mariner Books, 2026), challenges the myth that Great Britain and its monarchs championed the abolition of slavery and details the royal family’s complicity with and profit from the slave trade and the sale of slave produced commodities.
It also reminds us that New York is named for the world’s most prolific slave trader. [Read more…] about New York: Named For World’s Most Prolific Slave Trader
Apocalyptic Abolitionism & The End of Slavery
In March 1844, Melissa Botsford of Meriden, Connecticut, defiantly left her local Methodist church because it supported slavery and other “sins” that permeated America.
Botsford was among one hundred thousand other abolitionists who abandoned their evangelical churches throughout the decade. These protesters came out with a stern apocalyptic warning: God would soon judge America ― and its churches ― for the sins of slavery and race prejudice. [Read more…] about Apocalyptic Abolitionism & The End of Slavery
The Voting Rights Act & The Great Betrayal of 1877
On April 24, 1877, on orders from President Rutherford B. Hayes, federal troops withdrew from the state house in Louisiana — the last federally defended state house in the South — just 12 years after the end of the Civil War.
This withdrawal marked the end of Reconstruction and paved the way for the unrestrained resurgence of white supremacist rule in the South, carrying with it the rapid deterioration of political rights for Black Americans.
What began with Hayes’s elevation to the Presidency following the disputed Election of 1876, is now having dramatic political consequences 150 years later. [Read more…] about The Voting Rights Act & The Great Betrayal of 1877
Seth Concklin: A Daring, Dedicated New York Abolitionist
Many New Yorkers before the Civil War contributed to the abolition of slavery, and the dangerous work of helping enslaved African-Americans flee their captors. Take Calvin Fairbank, a New York Methodist pastor born 1816, who spent 17 years in prison for his missions to help enslaved people escape.
Seth Concklin, a New Yorker whose name and sacrifice were more familiar in the 19th century, died tragically in 1851 while trying to help a mother and her three children escape from slavery. [Read more…] about Seth Concklin: A Daring, Dedicated New York Abolitionist
Frederick Law Olmsted’s Reports on Slavery in the South
From December 1852 until August 1854, Frederick Law Olmsted, who later gained renown as a landscape architect for designing New York City’s Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, traveled through the American South as a special correspondent for the New-York Daily Times, the predecessor of The New York Times.
His reports published by the Times under the name Yeoman, were included in a 1856 book as A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States; With Remarks on Their Economy. [Read more…] about Frederick Law Olmsted’s Reports on Slavery in the South
Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York
Many of the American Revolution‘s key moments can be traced to New York: city crowds rioted against colonial taxation and George Washington spent one-third of the war in and around the soon-to-be “Empire State.”
Beyond these well-known players and moments, however, lies a trove of new information on New York’s hidden revolutionary stories. Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York (Three Hills / Cornell University Press, 2026) showcases New York’s central role in the revolution and highlights the stories of people and events previously hidden from popular view. [Read more…] about Fire and Freedom: The American Revolution in New York
19th Century Lyceums Debated the Issues of the Day
Between 1830 and 1840 Clinton County, NY, had a population of less than 30,000 and Plattsburgh had approximately 1,000 families. Andrew Jackson was President, the area was humming with new businesses, and local men and women were discussing the news of the day in lyceums, public forums which featured lectures and debates.
In Plattsburgh, the local Academy provided semi-monthly Wednesday evening discussions organized by the Plattsburgh Lyceum. Topics were current, most times relevant, sometimes historical, and sometimes just floating an opinion, like: “Is love a stronger passion than hate?” or “Should marriage be enforced after the age of 30?” [Read more…] about 19th Century Lyceums Debated the Issues of the Day
Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence
The American Revolution wasn’t just a War for Independence. It was part of a wider age of revolutions that reshaped the Atlantic World.
The latest Ben Franklin’s World podcast explore how the Haitian and American Revolutions happened side-by-side rather than separately. The 1763 Treaty of Paris reshaped French and British imperial policy. [Read more…] about Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence
NY State Parks Launches ‘Enslavement to Freedom 1627-1827-2027’ Initiative
In 2027, New York State will recognize the 200th anniversary of the end of legalized slavery in the state (1827) and the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans enslaved in the former New Netherland colony (1627).
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) is working with partners across the state to share new research and resources that explore early Black American history in New York as part of its “Enslavement to Freedom: 1627-1827-2027” initiative. [Read more…] about NY State Parks Launches ‘Enslavement to Freedom 1627-1827-2027’ Initiative