Reflections on Juneteenth: Uncovering the Hidden Histories of Seneca Village and Skunk Hollow The 2024 Juneteenth event, hosted by the African American Historical Society of Rockland County, brought the community together to not only celebrate freedom but to uncover the hidden legacies of African American resilience. Attendees were treated...
Dear Friends: On behalf of AAHS, we cordially invite you to join us at our annual meeting on December 11, 2023, 6:30 PM, at the Rockland Community College (RCC) Technology Center – Ellipse Room. We are very excited about this program and take pleasure in presenting Vinnie Bagwell (Sculptor)....
On Thursday, October 26, 2023, the African American Historical Society of Rockland County and the Finkelstein Memorial Library co-hosted a virtual Black History Month event, The Extraordinary Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. This enlightening program featured Jeffrey Urbin, Education Specialist and Director of the Pare Lorentz Film Center at...
The African Diaspora and Economic Development Along the Hudson River This year marks the quadricentennial anniversary of Henry Hudson’s first voyage on New York’s beautiful Hudson River. This conference is the highlight of a collaborative effort with The CEJJES Institute, the African American Historical Society of Rockland, the Rockland...
THE CONTRIBUTIONS AND CHALLENGES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE US MILITARY The African American Historical Society of Rockland County offered two free programs on February 2015 (February 25th at 10AM and 7PM and with a snow date) in collaboration with the Rockland Community College African American History Month Committee...
The African American Historical Society of Rockland County in collaboration with Rockland Community College’s Performing Arts Department will present an engaging, cultural and educational program called “A Glimpse of the Harlem Renaissance.” In recognition of African American History Month, this program will highlight an unprecedented era in U.S. history...
COMMENTARIES FOR THE VOTE Elaine Jones, Part I Elaine Jones, Part II Jack Greenberg John Lewis Vernon Jordan
Within the fabric of American identity is woven a story that has long been invisible—the lives and experiences of people who share African American and Native American ancestry. African and Native peoples came together in the Americas. Over centuries, African Americans and Native Americans created shared histories, communities, families,...
Settlement of the area that would later be known as Orange County and afterwards Rockland County by Europeans and individuals of African descent in the 1680’s. Pioneers from Manhattan and New Jersey settled on a large area of land that lay within the borders of New York and New...
Original Signer of the Tappan Patent Jan (John) de Vries II was baptized on August 25, 1647, at the Dutch Reformed Church. He was the son of a Dutch army captain named Johan de Fries and a black woman named Swartinne. The name Swartinne is derived from the...
Original Signer of the Tappan Patent Claes (Nicholas) Manuel one of the African American signers of the Tappan Patent, was born mid seventeenth century and was baptized on August 22, 1649, in New Amsterdam (New York). Claes was a free Black man. Though it is likely that his parents...