Slavery in the Lower Hudson Valley - The Journal News

A Newspaper-in-Education Supplement to The Journal News • LoHud.com
Max Caulfield
Responses To Slavery In New York
Few enslaved Africans had the opportunity to express in writing
their views on their condition. But based on their actions it is
clear that captives actively resisted their oppression through
many responses, both violent and non-violent. There were serious
risks associated with each of these forms of resistance, including
separation from family, physical punishment, or death.
Running away was one way enslaved men and women in the
North fought their captivity and thwarted white owners economically.
Many ran to join family members from whom they had been
separated. One of Frederick Philipse’s enslaved Africans named
Jack ran away from Philipsburg Manor around 1694. Frederick
traced Jack to Stratford, Connecticut, but lost all trace of him
thereafter. Frederick assumed Jack had run to Rhode Island and
sailed from there to the Gulf of Persia, and he instructed his ship
captains to look for Jack when they sailed to Madagascar.
Some individuals rebelled against enslavement by working
at a slow pace or pretending to be ill or unskilled. Others
stole goods from their owners. For many enslaved
Africans, preserving and passing their African cultures
on to their children was an important way
to resist the daily oppression of enslavement.
Emancipation In New York
Toward the close of the eighteenth century, many northerners began to find that the
use of free laborers could be more cost-effective than slavery. By the 1760s, emancipation—the
idea of freeing enslaved Africans—became a political issue as the colonies
began to appeal for freedom from England. Although the Declaration of Independence
did not include any reference to emancipation, enslaved and free blacks were quick to
use its focus on liberty to press for an end to slavery. Nevertheless, emancipation was
a long process.
In 1788, New York State outlawed the slave trade, making it illegal to import or
export Africans for sale or for personal use. A series of laws followed, including
the most important one that established July 4, 1827, as New York’s official
Emancipation Day. On that day freedom was given to all enslaved individuals in the
state -- just 38 years prior to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which freed
all enslaved people throughout the United Sates.
Enslaved Africans also used violence and destruction in their efforts
to attain liberty, as individuals and collectively. They damaged
tools, set fire to their owner’s property or murdered their masters.
Significant uprisings occurred in New York City in 1712 and
1741. In the trial that occurred after the 1741 rebellion, thirty
Africans and four whites were executed; at least seventy-two
Africans were deported. b
What
is History?
We often think of history as something
that has happened, that is over and done
with. But that is not true—history changes
over time. It is not that what happened in the
past changes; rather, what changes is what people
are interested in and the way the past is viewed
by people in the present. There are an infinite number
of stories that could be told about the history
of the world, but obviously there is not an infinite
amount of time to tell these stories. As a result, a
large part of “doing” history is deciding what to
focus on. Because time is limited, the decision
to focus on something is at the same time a
decision not to focus on other things. For
example, at Philipsburg Manor, we have
decided to focus on the lives and labor
of the enslaved population
at Philipsburg Manor.
In The News . . .
• Enslaved Africans had few ways to express
their views in writing to others about their
condition.
• Using the newspaper, find examples of
individuals, or groups of individuals, using
multiple means of expression.
• One form of expressing one’s view in
newspapers is the Editorial page. Find the
“Letters to the Editor.” Write your own
letter to the editor about an issue.
Noah Woodley-Aitchison