Join us at the Red Hook Rec Park Pavilion, for Local African Americans’ Evolving Path to Freedom: From Slavery to the Civil War to World War One with Bill Jeffway, Executive Director of Dutchess County Historical Society. Take home bagged lunches will be distributed at the end of the event. Registration is required. Masks and social distancing required. Register online here.

Bill Jeffway will examine the growth and establishment of local enslaved and free Black rural populations in the first two centuries of settlement, and look at how the Civil War and World War One in some ways advanced, but in other ways pushed back on the advancement of the pursuit of equal treatment and freedom.

Bill will offer practical advice on online resources available for further study of African American history, such as the Dutchess County Ancient Documents archive, the DCHS Walter Patrice African Heritage online Library, and the Library at the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center in Kingston.

Bill Jeffway is the Executive Director of the Dutchess County Historical Society, a co-founder of the Milan Historical Society, and former municipal historian for the Town of Milan. In his three years at the County Historical Society, he has helped the organization put a greater emphasis on lesser-told stories of veterans, women and African Americans.

Bill is involved with Bard College’s Public History Workgroup. Under the leadership of Bard Professor Myra Armstead, the group was responsible for the Gilsonfest exhibition at Historic Red Hook examining the life of Montgomery Place gardener Alexander Gilson and is in an exploratory & discovery phase in 2020.

Bill serves in a research and leadership capacity with the Poughkeepsie-based Celebrating the African Spirit. Under the leadership of Carmen McGill, the group is dedicated to improving public understanding of the contributions of those of African descent with a focus on public space and memorialization.

Call 845-758-3241 for more information.