Thursday, September 12, 6:00pm
As part of our on-going lecture series, the Leisler Institute, in conjunction with the Gotham Center, and the Hudson Area Library History Room, present, Slavery and Dutch – Palatine Farmers: How did middle class farmers in Colonial New York interact with slavery? In New York State slavery existed for 200 years and recent interest and research, particularly focused on the Hudson Valley area, confronts this reprehensible fact. This lecture is an opportunity to learn how slave labor led to the prosperity of many families in the region and also may have eventually influenced the abolition movement.
Travis Bowman examines how slavery evolved in New York under the Dutch, British, and American systems of government and how the institution was utilized at a local and personal level among middle class farmers in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. Mr. Bowman is the Senior Curator of the New York State Bureau of Historic Sites, where he is responsible for the research, care, and exhibition of the collections at New York State’s historic sites and parks.
There is a question and answer period and refreshments after the talk.
Hudson Area Library
51 North 5th St.
Hudson, NY.
http://hudsonarealibrary.org/programs/history-room-programs/