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Proceedings from the Symposium, "Buried Away: Finding
& Using African-American History in the Hudson Valley"
Proceedings from the Symposium, "Buried Away: Finding & Using
African-American History in the Hudson Valley" held at the Huguenot
Historical Society, New Paltz, NY on November 3, 2001. This all-day
symposium on African-American history in the Mid-Hudson Valley was
co-sponsored by the Huguenot Historical Society, the
African-American Research Committee of the Town of New Paltz, and
the Lower Hudson Conference.
The program presented lectures by speakers from multiple
disciplines, including archival research, cemetery and community
history, archeological and geophysics, education, and museum
studies. The Symposium reflected the Hudson Valley's coming to terms
with the fact of slavery in our past, and how to integrate and use
this knowledge in our schools, libraries, museums, local
governments, and institutions.
The keynote address was given by A.J. Williams-Myers, professor
of Black Studies at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New
Paltz, and offered an overview of the state of research on Hudson
Valley African-Americans. Huguenot Historical Society Archivist Eric
Roth discussed how the Society has used archival documents such as
newspapers, wills, inventories, account books, etc. to uncover the
stories of slaves in New Paltz. Joseph Diamond, professor of
archeology at SUNY New Paltz, and Brian McAdoo, professor of
geophysics at Vassar College discussed the results of their efforts
to locate slave burial grounds.
Former New Paltz Village Trustee Dave Strong led a spirited panel
discussion on local government and community efforts to properly
acknowledge contributions of African-Americans. Susan Stessin-Cohn,
SUNY New Paltz professor of education talked about classroom use of
primary source documents on slavery. Addressing "Colonial Slavery in
New York: The reinterpretation of Philipsburg Manor," Michael Lord
and Margaret Vetare of Historic Hudson Valley reviewed efforts made
at Philipsburg Manor in Tarrytown, NY to interpret slavery in tours
and public programs. A showing of "The Life and Legend of Sojourner
Truth," a documentary by Lyn Spangler, SUNY Department of
Communication and Media, concluded the day's events. |
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