Navigating Wealth & Poverty in 19th C. Dutchess County's Black Communities

From its inception, the Dutchess County economy has been at the crossroads of great economic currents. From the earliest times of Dutch settlement, it has operated in the economic realms of global trade right down to the smallest economic unit of the self-sufficient farm. We examine how the Black community, focusing on the 19th century, engaged in all those economic levels locally. We find extremes of wealth and poverty, and a growing middle class of professionals who often worked within, or intersected with, these various levels of economic activity. Likely because of the pervasiveness of slavery even in the most rural parts of the county until its abolition in New York State in 1827, communities of color were present in both built up and the most remote in-land rural areas.

This presentation is led by Bill Jeffway, the Executive Director of the Dutchess County Historical Society, where he serves on the research committee of Celebrating the African Spirit, and on the advisory committee to Vassar College's Inclusive History Initiative.