Slavery in the Lower Hudson Valley - The Journal News

A Newspaper-in-Education Supplement to The Journal News • LoHud.com
Dear Reader,
Historic Hudson Valley has partnered with The Journal News to bring you this
special issue devoted to the history of slavery in the colonial north and at Philipsburg
Manor. While it is fitting that this issue is coming out during Black History
Month, it really could have been produced any month of the year. Black
history, after all, is American history. It is part and parcel of every moment of
our nation’s history.
Tina Liu
Cover art:
Contents
Enslavement
In the Colonial North and
At Philipsburg Manor
Responses to Slavery
In New York
How Do We Know
What We Know About
Philipsburg Manor?
Pretends to Be Free:
Imagining Runaway Slaves
African Culture Is
American Culture
Reflections on the
Legacy of Slavery and
Its Relevance Today
Historic
Hudson Valley Sites
Thank You
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5
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Inset: Another Side, by Allyza Lustig. Based on runaway
slave advertisement that appears on page nine
of this supplement.
Background: Closeup of original 1750 probate inventory
of Adolph Philipse, of Philipsburg Manor. New
York Public Library, Manuscript and Archives Division,
Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.
Philipsburg Manor programs are made
possible, in part, with public funds
from the New York State Council on
the Arts, a state agency, and the Basic
Program Support Grant of the Westchester
Arts Council with funds from
Westchester County Government.
The reinterpretation
of Philipsburg
Manor has been
made possible by
a major grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities.
When the term slavery is mentioned, students often turn their thoughts to cotton
fields and southern plantation-style agriculture. It may come as a surprise
to many, then, that slavery existed in all thirteen North American colonies before
the American Revolution, and, in some form, in all thirteen states after the
revolution. In 1750, for example, New York City had the second largest urban
enslaved workforce in all the thirteen colonies. And in 1750, 23 enslaved individuals
lived and labored on Adolph Philipse’s plantation at Philipsburg Manor
in Westchester County.
Some may ask why we want to focus so much on slavery in this day and age. The
answer can be found, in part, in the words of author William Faulkner. Faulkner
once wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even passed.” We believe that many
of the issues of race and class that our society continues to grapple with today
cannot be tackled without a deep and thorough understanding of what went
before us. It is our hope that this special issue will help you to understand the
importance of slavery in the formation of our nation’s past and present.
Thom Thacker
Site Director
Philipsburg Manor
Tom Donovan
Publisher
The Journal News
ONE GANNETT DRIVE • WHITE PLAINS, NY 10604 • (914) 694-9300 • WWW.LOHUD.COM
In The News ...
• The Table of Contents gives an overview of
the topics that are covered in this supplement.
• What purpose does the Table of Contents
in today’s newspaper serve? Is it similar to
or different from that of the supplement?
• Find an issue or event in today’s paper that is
covered by more than one story just as slavery
is in this supplement. Why write separate
stories on the same topic?
Supplement created by Thom Thacker and Michael Lord, with special thanks to Margaret Vetare, McKelden Smith, Rob Schweitzer, Ross
Higgins, and members of Historic Hudson Valley’s African American Advisory Board. For The Journal News: Edited by Patricia Lisella Graff and
designed by Teresa Pereira Neufeld. Thanks to students from Ossining High School and Croton-Harmon High School for their original artwork.
Elana Hoffman