9/12/2019
A lecture at the Hudson Area Library tonight, Slavery and Dutch-Palatine Farmers: How did middle class farmers in Colonial New York interact with slavery?’ by Travis M. Bowman.
The lecture began with the note that slavery in NY state lasted for over 200 years – from 1625 when the Dutch East India Company began the import and sale of slaves in New York City ending with its outlawing in 1827.
Mr. Bowman brought new life and context to the census data by calculating what portion of families owned slaves. A 10% or 12% share of slaves in the census translates into slave owning by 30-40% of family units.
When you give a more local focus to this analysis it becomes obvious that slavery was a commonplace feature of life in Hudson and the neighboring towns well into the 19th century.
Earlier Posts about Slavery in Hudson
