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Voting Rights

Black History in Upstate New York Series Concluding

August 20, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

black history in upstate new yorkThe final programs of the Black History in Upstate New York series created by Colgate University graduate and Upstate Institute Fellow Victoria Basulto will be posted online from August 23rd through 26th.

These short online programs highlight individuals, events, and places in Upstate New York central to movements like abolitionism, civil rights, and women’s suffrage movement. [Read more…] about Black History in Upstate New York Series Concluding

Filed Under: Events, History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Civil Rights, Gender History, National Abolition Hall of Fame, Political History, Suffrage Movement, Voting Rights, womens history

NY’s Voter Suppression History & John Brown’s Farm

July 15, 2021 by Peter Slocum Leave a Comment

John Brown Farm courtesy John Brown LivesThis year we are celebrating New York State’s acquisition of John Brown Farm 125 years ago. And it’s good that we are.

But let us also recall a 200th anniversary linked to the John Brown Farm – a connection that has particular importance this year as we witness a voter suppression spree around our country. Two hundred years ago, that was us – our New York ancestors – enacting explicit rules to keep blacks from voting.

John Brown and his family moved to the Adirondacks as part of an effort to counteract New York State-sponsored suppression of voting rights for black men.

We are now seeing a wave of voter suppression efforts in states controlled by Republican legislators fearful of losing their majority power. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what was going on here in good old New York back in the early 1800s. We New Yorkers apparently were leaders in voter suppression. We even put it into the state constitution! That’s more than the states are doing today. [Read more…] about NY’s Voter Suppression History & John Brown’s Farm

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Black History, Essex County, Gerrit Smith Estate, John Brown, John Brown SHS, Lake Placid, North Elba, Political History, Timbuctoo, Voting Rights

Elections in Early America: The Electoral College (Podcast)

November 2, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldFor four months during the summer of 1787, delegates from the thirteen states met in Philadelphia to craft a revised Constitution that would define the government of the United States. It took them nearly the entire time to settle on the method for selecting the President, the Chief Executive. What they came up with is a system of indirect election where the states would select electors who would then cast votes for President and Vice President. Today we call these electors the Electoral College.

In this final episode of the Ben Franklin’s World series on Elections in Early America, we explore the origins and early development of the Electoral College and how it shaped presidential elections in the first decades of the United States with Alexander Keyssar and Frank Cogliano.

[Read more…] about Elections in Early America: The Electoral College (Podcast)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Podcasts, Political History, Voting Rights

Elections in Early America: Native Sovereignty

October 28, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldWho is American democracy for and who could participate in early American democracy?

Women and African Americans were often barred from voting in colonial and early republic elections. But what about Native Americans? Could Native Americans participate in early American democracy?

[Read more…] about Elections in Early America: Native Sovereignty

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Indigenous History, Native American History, Podcasts, Political History, Voting Rights

Elections in Early America: Elections & Voting in the Early Republic

October 21, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldIndependence from Great Britain provided the former British American colonists the opportunity to create a new, more democratic government than they had lived under before the American Revolution.

What did this new American government look like? Who could participate in this new American democracy? And what was it like to participate in this new democracy?

[Read more…] about Elections in Early America: Elections & Voting in the Early Republic

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Podcasts, Political History, Voting Rights

Memories of Voter Suppression

October 14, 2020 by Lawrence Wittner 2 Comments

CORE baton rouge protest at white house 1962Back in July 1962 I was in the Deep South, working to register Black voters. It was a near-hopeless project, given the mass disenfranchisement of the region’s Black population that was enforced by Southern law and an occasional dose of white terrorism. [Read more…] about Memories of Voter Suppression

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Black History, Political History, Voting Rights

Elections in Early America: Democracy & Voting in British North America

October 14, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldThe British North American colonies formed some of the most democratic governments in the world. But that doesn’t mean that all early Americans were treated equally or allowed to participate in representative government.

So who could vote in Early America? Who could participate in representative government?

[Read more…] about Elections in Early America: Democracy & Voting in British North America

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Podcasts, Political History, Voting Rights

Some NNY Media Was Reluctant to Support Women’s Rights

May 1, 2017 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

North Country newspapers, the only media during the 1800s, were slow to come around and at times downright resistant to women’s rights. Their job was to report the news, but in order to maintain readership, they also had to cater to their customers — like the old adage says, “give ’em what they want.” That atmosphere made it difficult for new and progressive ideas, like women’s rights, to make headway.

The push for women’s rights exposed many inequities early on, but it was difficult to establish a foothold among other important stories of the day. The powerful anti-slavery movement of the 1800s presented an opportunity, for although women and slaves were at opposite ends of the spectrum in the popular imagination — women on a pedestal and slaves treated terribly — they sought many of te same goals: freedom to speak out on their own behalf, the right to vote, and equal pay for equal work. Women passionate about those subjects joined anti-slavery organizations to seek freedom and equal rights for all, regardless of race or sex. [Read more…] about Some NNY Media Was Reluctant to Support Women’s Rights

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Civil Rights, Gender, Political History, Suffrage Movement, Voting Rights, womens history

New Yorkers Rejected Black Voting Rights

January 30, 2013 by Peter Slocum 3 Comments

 by Alfred R. WaudIn 1846, New York voters rejected equal voting rights for black males by a wide margin — 71% to 29%.

This rejection helped persuade Gerrit Smith to start his Timbuctoo colony in the Adirondacks.  His idea was to get free blacks land enough to meet the $250 property requirement.   (All property requirements were abolished for white males.)

Meanwhile, voters in some parts of New York did support equal voting rights, and voted to end the property requirement that kept more than 90% of free black men from voting.

The North Country showed the strongest support. [Read more…] about New Yorkers Rejected Black Voting Rights

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: Adirondacks, African American History, Black History, Civil Rights, Conferences, Essex County, Franklin County, Political History, Voting Rights, Warren County, Washington County

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