Case Study #2

Gallery Walk

DAY

2

What to Expect: Today’s Lesson

Warm Up

Learning target, check-in

Optimistic closure

Vocabulary

Putting our key definitions into context

Gallery Walk

Exploring Images and Sources

Wrap Up

NYS Social Studies Practice:

Geographic Reasoning

I can participate in a gallery walk to understand enslavement in New York and how people resisted it.

​

Grade 4

Learning Target

SECTION ONE: WARM UP

Intentional Welcome: My day so far has been most like this image because…

​

3

Vocabulary

Definition:

An individual forced to work for no pay and without freedom.

​

Example:

Austin Steward was forced to work for no pay in Upstate NY. After he escaped he moved to Rochester and became the first Black business owner.

​

SECTION TWO: VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER

Enslaved Person (noun)

Definition:

An individual who buys and sells human beings and forces them to work for them for no pay.

Example:

Daniel Penfield enslaved African Americans. He forced them to work for no pay at his home in the Town of Penfield. Nathaniel Rochester made the choice to enslave people in the town of Gates, NY. People also made the choice to enslave other people in the town of Brighton, Chili, Mendon, Rochester, and Pittsford.

Note: Other enslavers in our region include Abraham Shuart (Lima), Samuel Morris (Mt. Morris), Robert Livingston (Livingston County).

​

​

SECTION TWO: VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER

Enslaver (noun)

Above Sculpture of enslaver Daniel Penfield by Don Sottile 2010 Schaufelberger Park. Top right: Painting of enslaver Nathaniel Rochester Bottom Right: Painting of enslaver Horatio Gates (the Town of Gates is name for him)

Definition:

People who bravely risked their lives to escape from enslavement.

​

Example:

Thomas James escaped from enslavement in New York by seeking freedom in Canada along the underground railroad (he used the Erie Canal). He eventually moved to Rochester, NY.

In Holley (Clarendon) NY a man named Caesar Speffen was enslaved by John Lawrence. He escaped during the American Revolutionary War and moved to Nova Scotia Canada.

SECTION TWO: VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER

Freedom Seeker (noun)

‘Enslaved Person’

not

‘Slave’

​

‘Enslaver’

not

‘Master’

​

What thoughts do you have after watching this video?

Why should we use the term “enslaved people” instead of “slaves”?

By: Dr. Anthony Bogues Director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University

​

SECTION TWO: VOCABULARY TO CONSIDER

Gallery Walk

I notice, I wonder, I feel, and infer…

What does this document tell us about enslavement and how people resisted?

​

​

What does this document tell us about enslavement?

I notice..

​

​

​

What does this document tell us about enslavement?

I notice..

​

​

​

What does this document tell us about enslavement?

I notice..

​

​

​

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Gallery Walk Model

The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes:

315 years. 20,528 voyages. Millions of lives.

What does this document tell us about enslavement?

• ​
• ​
• ​

I notice…

• ​

Key: The dots—which represent individual ships—also correspond to the size of each voyage. The larger the dot, the more enslaved people on board. And if you pause the map and click on a dot, you’ll learn about the ship’s flag—was it British? Portuguese? French?—its origin point, its destination, and its history in the slave trade. The interactive shows more than 20,000 voyages in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source A: Underground Railroad, Routes to Freedom

What does this document tell us about enslavement?

• ​
• ​
• ​

I notice…

• ​

Rochester

Arrows show major avenues of escape, widths show relative number of freedom seekers.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source B: Reverend Thomas James

Born into enslavement in Canajoharie, NY in 1804.

James was a preacher, author, and abolitionist.

“I was enslaved by George Hess, a wealthy farmer near Fort Plain, N.Y. He traded two oxen and a horse in order to purchase me from my former enslaver. George Hess worked me hard on his farm without pay. He even hurt me.”

-Adapted from Thomas James’ Autobiography Life of Rev. Thomas James, by Himself

Undated photograph of the Rev. Thomas James (1804–1891), school teacher and founder of Rochester’s African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church. From the collection of the Local History & Genealogy Division, Rochester Public Library

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source C: Sojourner Truth

Born in the year 1797, in Hurley, NY (south of Albany, 280 miles from Rochester). She was enslaved for approximately twenty-eight years. When she was ten years old, Sojourner was sold for $100 and some sheep.

“Before Sojourner Truth left her old enslaver, he sold her young son who was only five years old.”

-Adapted from Sojourner Truth’s Autobiography ‘Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave,’

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source D: Harriet Tubman,

Lived in Auburn, NY, approximately 55 miles from Rochester. She frequently traveled through Rochester, guiding Freedom Seekers to safety in Canada.

“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years.”

Albany City Hall, meeting place of the 1800 NYS Senate

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

1790: 17 of 24 senators were enslavers

​

1800: 23 of 43 senators were enslavers

Source E:

New York State Senators

(1790-1800)

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source F: New York Laws Ending Enslavement

Note: Emancipation means freedom from enslavement

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source G: City Newspaper, 2004

Oil painting of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester (1824) attributed to John James Audubon, provided courtesy of the Memorial Art Gallery.

​

The city of Rochester is named after Nathaniel Rochester.

​

Note: According to the 1820 U.S. Census, Nathaniel Rochester reported that he enslaved 4 people in the town of Gates, NY.

​

​

​

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source H: James Monroe

The fifth president of the United States. He fought in the American Revolution. Monroe enslaved as many as 250 enslaved persons in his lifetime.

​

In 1821 Monroe County, New York was named after him.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source I: US Census (1790-1830)

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source I: US Census (1790-1830) Local Enslavers and Enslaved People

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source J:

1712 Revolt in

New York City

​

On the night of April 6, 1712, a group of enslaved Black people decided to revolt.

​

After, 20 enslaved people were caught and punished.

​

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source K: 1805 Sheriff Nathaniel Rochester Adapted from Advertisement in Washington D.C. Newspaper for a possible freedom seeker named Agnes.

​

Was put in jail in Washington county Maryland, on suspicion of being a runaway [freedom seeker]. She is a Black woman, who says she is free, that her name is Agnes, and she is from the state of Virginia. She is wearing a dress, has lost one of her teeth, and is about 50 years old-- The owner, (if she is a slave) will prove she is his property, pay jail fees, and take her away, or she will be sold for a good price for the benefit of the government.

N. ROCHESTER, Sheriff

Note: The city of Rochester is named after Nathaniel Rochester

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source L: Asa Dunbar

First Free Black settler in Rochester 1791

​

“He was born a free man in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1754, the second of six children. He worked as a charcoal maker and likely fought in the Revolutionary War.

Dunbar married a woman named Elizabeth Odel in 1784 and, seven years later, set out with her and their three children for Ontario County. He settled down by Irondequoit Bay, where he would stay for nearly 30 years.

Government records show that Dunbar was an active player in the rough-and-tumble frontier community.”

-Justin Murphy Democrat and Chronicle June 24th, 2021

Patrina Freeman (left), who in 2019 became the first person of color elected to Irondequoit Town Council helped get a historical marker put up on N. Winton Avenue to honor Asa Dunbar the area’s first Black settler.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source M: Advertisement from Wayne County Sentinel, 1838

P.B. Lee, Hairdresser (Perry B Lee), is from from Macedon, NY

Perry B. Lee, escaped from enslavement and settled in Macedon, NY. He participated in many antislavery activities in NYS. He was a very successful barber and sent his son, Charles Perry Lee to college.

Primus Leblanc Lee

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source: Geneva Gazette, 9 October 1811

Note: William Hoylarts was the son-in-law of Peregrine Fitzhugh

Source N: David Cooper

​

David Cooper escaped from enslavement in Sodus, NY in 1811. The 1820 NYS Census shows that he returned to Sodus and was living as a free man who owned land near Sodus Point that became a safe haven for other formerly enslaved people. Today it is referred to as the “Maxwell Settlement”. In 2019 their descendents gathered to dedicate a historic marker to honor their legacy.

7171 North Geneva Rd Sodus New York in front of Steger Haus Restaurant

Debrief

SECTION FOUR: WRAP UP

If you could only pick two sources to tell a friend who was absent about enslavement in New York, which would you choose?

NYS S.S. Practice: Gathering, Using, and Interpreting Evidence

I can participate in a gallery walk to understand enslavement in New York and how people resisted it.

​

Learning Target

SECTION FOUR: WRAP UP

Closing (45 second video): How was racism used to justify enslavement?

SECTION FOUR: WRAP UP

Why is it important to study difficult history?

​

​

What’s a tool you can use when you’re struggling?

​

SEL: Optimistic Closure

If there is no struggle there is no progress.

-Frederick Douglass

Why is it important to study difficult history?

​

​

What’s a tool you can use when you’re struggling?

​

SEL: Optimistic Closure Option 2

A new historical marker in Holley, NY, identifies the former home of Chauncey Robinson as a "Safe House" on the Underground Railroad, where he sheltered freedom seekers in their struggle to find freedom in Canada.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source A: Beginning of Enslavement in New York

The first enslaved Africans were brought to New Amsterdam, later renamed New York City, in the 1620s.

​

The Dutch abductors recorded the following names for some of these Africans:

• Paolo d’Angola
• Anthony Portuguese
• Simon Congo
• Jan Guinea
• Jan Creoli
• Christoffel Crioell
• Van St. Thomas
• Francisco Cartagena

Source: Ira Berlin and Leslie M. Harris (eds.), Slavery in New York

“Nieu Amsterdam: Cum Privilegio Ordinum Hollandiae et West-Frisia,” circa 1643

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source B: New York’s “Negro Laws”

New York laws passed between 1664 and 1740 allowed enslavers to beat enslaved people without penalty as long as they did not kill them, and banned enslaved Africans from:

​

• Gathering in groups of three or more
• Trading with free citizens without their enslaver’s consent
• Being out past sunset without a candle or lantern

The laws were so harsh that the Duke of York in 1686 demanded that the colony pass “a law for the restraining of inhumane severities which by all masters or overseers may be used toward their Christian servants, or slaves.”

Source: Jill Lepore, New York Burning, 58-59

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source C: 1790 U.S. Census

​

“36% of all families in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island owned at least one [enslaved person] (in 1790), which is higher than the proportion of families that owned slaves statewide in North and South Carolina.”

​

Mark Boonshoft, “The Material Realities of Slavery in Early New York”

People were enslaved in all 15 counties in New York in the first federal census in 1790.

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source C: Selling enslaved people in New York City

​

“Young children, who were priced more cheaply than adolescents or adults, sold well in New York as sources of domestic labor. … one notice from 1760 advertised ‘a parcel of likely negro boys and girls from nine to twelve years of age.’”

​

​

Jill Lepore, “The Tightening Vise: Slavery and Freedom in British New York,” in Slavery in New York, Ira Berlin and Leslie Harris, eds.

7th Grade Extension Sources

OUR LOCAL HISTORY AT CCSI

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source D: Enslavers in power, part 1

Dozens of villages, towns, cities and counties across New York are named for enslavers

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

1790: 17 of 24 senators were enslavers

​

1800: 23 of 43 senators were enslavers

Source E: Enslavers in power, part 2

The majority of New York state senators enslaved people in 1790 and 1800

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source F: Sojourner Truth

Born in 1797 in Hurley, Ulster County, she spent 28 years in slavery. At age 10 she was sold for $100 and some sheep. Her memoir was one of the most influential abolitionist books ever published.

“Before Sojourner Truth left her old enslaver, he sold her young son who was only five years old.”

-Adapted from Sojourner Truth’s Autobiography ‘Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave,’

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

The Cataract House in Niagara Falls, owned by white abolitionist Parkhurst Whitney, had an all-Black staff and served as a critical last stop for freedom seekers.

​

View other Underground Railroad locations in Buffalo at tinyurl.com/brfunderground

Rochester

Cataract House

Niagara Falls, New York

Source G: Underground Railroad

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Across New York State, African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Churches formed a powerful network within the Underground Railroad, providing sanctuary, resources, and support for freedom seekers escaping enslavement. These churches became crucial safe havens, connecting communities and aiding countless individuals on their journey to liberation.

Source G: Underground Railroad

Trinity AME Zion Church

Binghamton, NY

Foster Memorial AME Zion Church

Tarrytown, NY

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source H: Harriet Tubman

Tubman used close relationships with abolitionists throughout New York in her courageous work bringing freedom seekers to the North.

​

“To this solemn resolution I came: I was free, and my family should be free also. I would make a home for them in the North, and the Lord helping me, I would bring them all there.”

“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say — I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

Adapted from Sarah Bradford, Harriet, the Moses of Her People (1886)

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK 7th Grade Extension Sources

​

Source I: Rev. Thomas James

Born into enslavement in Canajoharie, Montgomery County, in 1804, James was a preacher, author, and abolitionist. He helped build and pastor AME churches in Ithaca, Rochester, and Lockport.

“I was enslaved by George Hess, a wealthy farmer near Fort Plain, N.Y. He traded two oxen and a horse in order to purchase me from my former enslaver. My master had worked me hard, and at last undertook to whip me. This led me to seek escape from slavery.

I ran away at night and followed the newly dug Erie Canal. I traveled westward until I reached Lockport where a Black man on the Underground Railroad showed me the way to Canada. I crossed the Niagara River and was free!

-Adapted from Thomas James’ Autobiography Life of Rev. Thomas James, by Himself

-Adapted from Thomas James’ Autobiography Life of Rev. Thomas James, by Himself

Undated photograph of the Rev. Thomas James (1804–1891), school teacher and founder of Rochester’s African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church. From the collection of the Local History & Genealogy Division, Rochester Public Library

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source J: Advertisements for freedom seekers

Several newspapers across New York carried advertisements for enslavers seeking to recapture enslaved people who were seeking their freedom.

RUN away the 4th inst. from JOHN AMBERMAN living at Jamaica, Queen's County; a Negro man named WILL, about 5 feet, 8 inches high, broad shouldered, has a scar on his forehead, and one on his head just in his hair, about the bigness of an English shilling, whereon grows no hair, has thick lips, had on when he went off, a home spun grey Jacket much worn, a pair of corduroy breeches; whoever takes up said Negro, and secures him so that his master may get him again, shall have one Guinea reward, or bring him home to his said Master shall have two Guineas reward.

JOHN AMBERMAN. Jamaica, June 10, 1780.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source K: Narratives “Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave,” 1847

William Wells Brown was the first African American to publish a novel in the U.S. He was a leader in the Black community in Buffalo and helped freedom seekers from his home on Pine Street.

​

“It was my great desire, being out of slavery myself, to do what I could for the emancipation of my brothers still enslaved.

​

It is well known, that a great number of freedom seekers made their escape to Canada. I would transport them without charge to Canada. I have sometimes had four or five freedom seekers on board at one time.”

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK 7th Grade Extension Sources

Source K: Narratives

“Twenty-Two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman,” 1847

​

Note: Aaron Bristol served in the American Revolutionary War as an enslaved person. He was Austin Steward’s uncle.

​

The Captain sold my aunt Betsy Bristol to a distinguished lawyer in the village, retaining her husband, Aaron Bristol, in his own employ. … One day Captain Helm came out where the slaves were at work, and finding Aaron was not there, he fell into a great rage and swore terribly. He finally started off to a beach tree, from which he cut a stout limb, and trimmed it so as to leave a knot on the but end of the stick, or bludgeon rather, which was about two and a half feet in length. With this formidable weapon he … commenced beating him with it, over the head and face, and struck him some thirty or more terrible blows in quick succession; after which Aaron begged to know for what he was so unmercifully flogged.

​

"Because you deserve it," was the angry reply.

​

A while after his recovery, uncle Aaron succeeded in procuring a team and some kind of vehicle, in which he put his wife and children, and between two days, took "French leave" of his master as well as of the lawyer to whom his wife belonged.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source L: New York Laws Ending Enslavement

Note: Emancipation means freedom from enslavement

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source M: Resistance

1712 Revolt in New York City

​

On the night of April 6, 1712, a group of enslaved Black people decided to revolt by setting fire to buildings and killing eight of their enslavers.

​

21 of them were later executed: 20 were burned at the stake and one was broken on a wheel.

​

7th Grade Extension Sources

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source M: Resistance

Stanford family and the Fugitive Slave Act

​

On July 12, 1835, an enslaver’s agent captured three freedom seekers, the Stanford family, in St. Catharine’s, Ontario, and sought to return them to enslavement in the South. Allies at the Black Rock ferry landing in Erie County helped the Stanfords escape once again.

​

At least eight of the Black rescuers were arrested in Buffalo for “engaging in a riot.”

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source N: After abolition

​

Excerpt adapted from George Weir Jr.’s letter to the editor in Frederick Douglass’ The North Star, March 15, 1851. Weir was an important Black leader in Buffalo’s Anti-slavery Society.

Mr. Editor:

We [Black citizens in Buffalo] have come to the conclusion that we have a right to live here in Buffalo. We also have a right to use the same ways to protect our rights that our revolutionary fathers taught us. No attempts have been made here to arrest anyone yet. Our city has enjoyed quiet and rest which we hope can continue. But when it shall be broken, Buffalo will be heard from.

Yours,

George Weir, Jr.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source N: After abolition

Millard Fillmore and the Fugitive Slave Act

President Millard Fillmore, a longtime Buffalo lawyer and civic leader, signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act, requiring Northern states to help capture freedom seekers and making it illegal to help them.

​

“I am persuaded that the perpetuity of this glorious Union depends in a great measure upon our faithful discharge of that duty – imposed by the Constitution – of surrendering fugitives from labor.”

​

Millard Fillmore, July 1850.

Millard Fillmore statue outside Buffalo City Hall

“We went to the church on the Square, and a few – very few – of our members were in our secret, helping the slaves across to Canada. We used to keep them hidden and smuggle them across, right opposite President Fillmore’s home, too. Just think of that!”

​

Mercy Stanton Abbott (Buffalo abolitionist), 1907

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source N: After abolition

Northern profits from Southern enslavement

Banks, manufacturers and other New York businesses provided the capital, the equipment and the ultimate market for enslavement and the goods it produced. One 19th century report estimated that 40% of profits from Southern cotton went to New York business interests.

“All the profitable branches of freighting, brokering, selling, banking, insurance, etc., that grow out of the Southern product are enjoyed in New York.”

​

Thomas Prentice Kettell, Southern Wealth and Northern Profits, 1860.

SECTION THREE: GALLERY WALK

Source N: After abolition

New York City and the Illegal Transatlantic Slave Trade

After the United States outlawed the kidnapping and enslavement of people in Africa in 1808, New York City became the financial capital of transatlantic smuggling of enslaved Africans.

​

“It is a well known fact that many vessels are first sent from our northern cities; and then transferred to other parties, and dispatched to the [African] coast, the preliminary arrangements being made here.”

​

U.S. Assistant Treasurer John Cisco, 1861

Jose da Silva Maia Ferreira, Portuguese slave trader headquartered in Manhattan

From John Harris, “The Last Slave Ships: New York and the End of the Middle Passage”