Devin and Lauren dive into the history of Timbuctoo, an African American settlement founded by philanthropist Gerrit Smith in response to an 1846 law requiring all Black men to own $250 worth of property in order to vote in New York state. To counter this racist policy, Smith decided to give away 120,000 acres of land to 3,000 free, Black New Yorkers, hoping to enable them to move out of cities and work the land to its required value. Lyman Epps and other Black pioneers relocated to the wilderness near Lake Placid, New York — as did abolitionist John Brown, who based his family in North Elba to assist the Black pioneers in their farming.
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On this episode, Devin and Lauren tackle all of New York’s historical markers at once — sort of. Devin and Lauren discuss how the...
On this episode, hosts Devin and Lauren delve into the history of Albany County's Rapp Road Community, an African American neighborhood built by southern...
On the fourth episode of A New York Minute In History, we detail Henry Hudson’s exploration of what would become the Empire State and...
