Dutch West India Company establishes New Netherland (later to become NY State). Manhattan Island becomes New Amsterdam.
1625
First 11 enslaved African Men brought to Manhattan Island to labor for the Dutch, building fortifications, roads and farming. Africans enslaved and free live on Manhattan Island.
1682
Land at present day Piermont purchased from the Lenni Lenape Indians by the colonial British.
1686/1687
Legal title was deeded to Orange , known as the Tappan patent, and was granted to “thirteen Dutchmen and three Negroes”. The Africans involved in this transaction were: Claes Manuel (Emanuels), and John De Vries, and a share of the patent to be inherited by Emanuels young son John. The Africans were believed to have been relocated from the Peter Stuyvesant’s Bowery (farm) on Manhattan Island to the area.
1698
Census of total non-Indian Population of Southern Orange County (later to become known as Rockland County)
29 men / 31 women / 140 children / 19 negro slaves / 219 total
1700s
1711
Slave Market opens at Wall Street and East River onManhattan Island supplying enslaved Africans to NY and NJareas.
1712
April 7, New York City “Slave Revolt” Seven white citizens are killed and thirteen Africans are executed following the burning of houses near maiden Lane.
1781
NY Assembly passes a law granting freedom to all Africans who Fought for colonial forces during the American Revolution. African men and women fought on both sides of the American Revolution.
1787-1797
Pinkster, Dutch for Pentecost holiday mentioned as celebrated by Dutch and Africans generally during the warm weather month of June.
1790
Africans in Rockland enslaved and free comprised 8% of the population of the southern portion of Orange county.
1793
U.S. Congress enacts 1st Fugitive Slave Act. This law dictates that a person moving an enslaved person from one state to another—must first obtain a certificate of Removal from a local, state or federal judge. The Act also forbade anyone from assisting or sheltering a runaway.
1798
February 23rd officially the date Rockland and Orange Counties were separated. The County seat continues to be administered in New City for inhabitants living south of the mountain.
1799
The Gradual Emancipation Act to free the enslaved Africans of NY is passed to become fully enacted by July 4, 1827.
1800s
1800
John Moore, first African American industrialist in Piermont owned a small sawmill and gristmill. By 1815 Moore also owned a carding mill and employed 15 people.
Enslaved Africans comprise 10% of the Rockland population.
1809
NY State legislature enacts laws to protect enslaved families. Marriages between enslaved persons are legally recognized. The law also forbids the separation of parents and children.
1827
Enslaved Africans in New York, legally emancipated, however many still engaged in forms of servitude to former masters, women up to 25 years and men up to 28 years. Last enslaved African in NY freed in 1844.
1849
In Nyack, Mount Moor Cemetery, the burying ground for “Colored People” Deeded by James Benson, and Jane Benson to William H. Moore, Stephen Samuels and Issac Williams, trustees.
Bench near entrance to Mount Moor Cemetery, West Nyack, NY, Sept. 2016.
1850
September 18th, the 2nd Fugitive Slave Act is passed substituting federal jurisdiction for state.
1850s
Edward Hesdra of Nyack is an agent for the Underground Railroad assisting enslaved runaways en route to Canada.
Today a plaque commemorates Hesdra’s Underground Railroad involvement at the crossroad of Route 59 and 9W.
1862
July US Congress passes a bill to accept African descended men into the Union army to fight in the Civil War.
1863
January 1, Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation Freeing all enslaved persons except those in states that are not at war with the Union.
1865
April 14, President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.
In NY State only 44 African American men qualify for voting rights due to a requirement that they own property valued at $250. White men are not subject to this prerequisite.
1865
At Sparkill a plot of land is purchased to establish the Old Swamp Church, headed by former enslaved Rev. William P. Thompson.
December 18, the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery in the US is passed.
1872
Frederick Douglass is invited to speak in Nyack by the Nyack Grant and Wilson Club, an African American political organization. The event was attended by more than 700.
1898
“St. Charles AME Church” is built on the site of the former Old Swamp Church in Sparkill, NY.
I am so thankful for the establishment of AAH. Thank you. I am a descendant of Skunk Hollow and am currently doing the research of my family.
I became a member today and would like to know if I can speak to someone about being an active member. Thank you.
Lynwood Oliver 646 xxx-xxxx
Thank you for your comment, Lynwood. We’d love to have you as an active member of the AAHS of Rockland. We will contact you at the number provided. We removed the number it help safeguard your privacy as we endeavor to leave feedback from the community in the public domain.
I am so thankful for the establishment of AAH. Thank you. I am a descendant of Skunk Hollow and am currently doing the research of my family.
I became a member today and would like to know if I can speak to someone about being an active member. Thank you.
Lynwood Oliver 646 xxx-xxxx
Thank you for your comment, Lynwood. We’d love to have you as an active member of the AAHS of Rockland. We will contact you at the number provided. We removed the number it help safeguard your privacy as we endeavor to leave feedback from the community in the public domain.