SUNY series, An American Region: Studies in the Hudson Valley – serie

Explores the social and economic transformations of the mid-Hudson River Valley during the key expansionist period in American history.Although Rip Van Winkle was a fictional character, his community in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York State was very real. Thomas S. Wermuth's book shows that the popular view of Hudson Valley farmers as self-sufficient, independent, and free of governmental authority is as fictional as the character of Rip Van Winkle himself. In fact these mid-Hudson farmers lived in villages where economic practices and behavior were regulated by civil authorities as well as neighborhood concerns, and where acquisitive practices that were believed to endanger the public good were forbidden.Based on extensive research into previously unused town records and commercial accounts, this book challenges the belief that the early valley was a capitalist society, arguing that the beliefs and practices associated with modern capitalism developed slowly and unevenly, and were not always welcomed by valley families.

Explores the social and economic transformations of the mid-Hudson River Valley during the key expansionist period in American history.Although Rip Van Winkle was a fictional character, his community in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York State was very real. Thomas S. Wermuth's book shows that the popular view of Hudson Valley farmers as self-sufficient, independent, and free of governmental authority is as fictional as the character of Rip Van Winkle himself. In fact these mid-Hudson farmers lived in villages where economic practices and behavior were regulated by civil authorities as well as neighborhood concerns, and where acquisitive practices that were believed to endanger the public good were forbidden.Based on extensive research into previously unused town records and commercial accounts, this book challenges the belief that the early valley was a capitalist society, arguing that the beliefs and practices associated with modern capitalism developed slowly and unevenly, and were not always welcomed by valley families.

A history of African American presence in the Hudson Valley region from the colonial period to the present.Using New York State's Hudson Valley as a backdrop, this book provides a regional perspective on black identity from the colonial period to the present. Through racialized struggles and varying experiences of black residents, a black presence in the region has persisted. Factors such as religious structures and cosmologies, ethnicity, legal systems, economic patterns, class, gender, family structures, and leaders have uniquely influenced black identity.The religion-inspired metamorphosis of celebrated antebellum black resident Isabella Van Wagenen, later known as Sojourner Truth, illustrates how the abandonment of her slave identity and her refusal to call her new employer "master," was a liberation for blacks-a "mighty change." Moving from the colonial period to the present, this book underscores the mighty change in the identity of blacks in the region over nearly a four-hundred-year period-from captive to slave, from slave to free, from northern-born to southern-influenced, from pre-industrial to post-industrial, from multi-ethnic to multi-national. Like Isabella, in her successful determination to reclaim her son who had been wrongfully forced into slavery, black people within the region have stood "tall within."

A history of African American presence in the Hudson Valley region from the colonial period to the present.Using New York State's Hudson Valley as a backdrop, this book provides a regional perspective on black identity from the colonial period to the present. Through racialized struggles and varying experiences of black residents, a black presence in the region has persisted. Factors such as religious structures and cosmologies, ethnicity, legal systems, economic patterns, class, gender, family structures, and leaders have uniquely influenced black identity.The religion-inspired metamorphosis of celebrated antebellum black resident Isabella Van Wagenen, later known as Sojourner Truth, illustrates how the abandonment of her slave identity and her refusal to call her new employer "master," was a liberation for blacks-a "mighty change." Moving from the colonial period to the present, this book underscores the mighty change in the identity of blacks in the region over nearly a four-hundred-year period-from captive to slave, from slave to free, from northern-born to southern-influenced, from pre-industrial to post-industrial, from multi-ethnic to multi-national. Like Isabella, in her successful determination to reclaim her son who had been wrongfully forced into slavery, black people within the region have stood "tall within."

Essays exploring rural New York during the American Revolution.The Other New York provides the first comprehensive look at New York State's rural areas during the American Revolution. This county-by-county survey of the regions outside of New York City describes the social and cultural conditions on the eve of the Revolution and details the events leading up to the conflict, the battles and campaigns fought within the state, the hardships civilians experienced while creating new local governments and supplying the war effort, and postwar reconstruction efforts. It also chronicles the impact that the war had on the European Americans, Native Americans, and African Americans. These groups endured years of strife yet went on to create New York State.

Essays exploring rural New York during the American Revolution.The Other New York provides the first comprehensive look at New York State's rural areas during the American Revolution. This county-by-county survey of the regions outside of New York City describes the social and cultural conditions on the eve of the Revolution and details the events leading up to the conflict, the battles and campaigns fought within the state, the hardships civilians experienced while creating new local governments and supplying the war effort, and postwar reconstruction efforts. It also chronicles the impact that the war had on the European Americans, Native Americans, and African Americans. These groups endured years of strife yet went on to create New York State.

Detailed account of the controversy surrounding the building of a coal-fired cement factory in the Hudson Valley.When the St. Lawrence Cement Company proposed building a massive coal-powered cement plant near the banks of the Hudson River in the town of Greenport, New York, in 1999 it ignited a controversy that dominated the discussion of community development in the entire Hudson Valley region. Stopping the Plant is a fascinating and detailed chronicle of how the proposal fired the passions of many local citizens, spawned the creation of numerous activist groups, and over the next several years spread to become a raging dispute throughout the Northeast. Miriam D. Silverman provides a thorough and balanced exploration of the positions of both sides of this highly polarized dispute, while at the same time places the controversy within a greater historical and regional context. For anyone interested in community organizing, the potentials and difficulties of modern grassroots environmentalism, and, ultimately, the future of the environmental movement, Silverman emphasizes the significance of the decision by St. Lawrence Cement to withdraw its application in 2005.

Detailed account of the controversy surrounding the building of a coal-fired cement factory in the Hudson Valley.When the St. Lawrence Cement Company proposed building a massive coal-powered cement plant near the banks of the Hudson River in the town of Greenport, New York, in 1999 it ignited a controversy that dominated the discussion of community development in the entire Hudson Valley region. Stopping the Plant is a fascinating and detailed chronicle of how the proposal fired the passions of many local citizens, spawned the creation of numerous activist groups, and over the next several years spread to become a raging dispute throughout the Northeast. Miriam D. Silverman provides a thorough and balanced exploration of the positions of both sides of this highly polarized dispute, while at the same time places the controversy within a greater historical and regional context. For anyone interested in community organizing, the potentials and difficulties of modern grassroots environmentalism, and, ultimately, the future of the environmental movement, Silverman emphasizes the significance of the decision by St. Lawrence Cement to withdraw its application in 2005.

Essays by eleven prominent scholars provide the latest insights into the seventeenth-century history of the Hudson Valley and its environs.This book provides an in-depth introduction to the issues involved in the expansion of European interests to the Hudson River Valley, the cultural interaction that took place there, and the colonization of the region. Written in accessible language by leading scholars, these essays incorporate the latest historical insights as they explore the new world in which American Indians and Europeans interacted, the settlement of the Dutch colony that ensued from the exploration of the Hudson River, and the development of imperial and other networks which came to incorporate the Hudson Valley.

Explores the long-neglected rural dimensions of northern slavery and emancipation in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley.Slavery and Freedom in the Mid-Hudson Valley focuses on the largely forgotten history of slavery in New York and the African American freedom struggle in the central Hudson Valley prior to the Civil War. Slaves were central actors in the drama that unfolded in the region during the Revolution, and they waged a long and bitter battle for freedom during the decades that followed. Slavery in the countryside was more oppressive than slavery in urban environments, and the agonizingly slow pace of abolition, constraints of rural poverty, and persistent racial hostility in the rural communities also presented formidable challenges to free black life in the central Hudson Valley.Michael E. Groth explores how Dutchess County's black residents overcame such obstacles to establish independent community institutions, engage in political activism, and fashion a vibrant racial consciousness in antebellum New York. By drawing attention to the African American experience in the rural Mid-Hudson Valley, this book provides new perspectives on slavery and emancipation in New York, black community formation, and the nature of black identity in the Early Republic.

Explores the long-neglected rural dimensions of northern slavery and emancipation in New York's Mid-Hudson Valley.Slavery and Freedom in the Mid-Hudson Valley focuses on the largely forgotten history of slavery in New York and the African American freedom struggle in the central Hudson Valley prior to the Civil War. Slaves were central actors in the drama that unfolded in the region during the Revolution, and they waged a long and bitter battle for freedom during the decades that followed. Slavery in the countryside was more oppressive than slavery in urban environments, and the agonizingly slow pace of abolition, constraints of rural poverty, and persistent racial hostility in the rural communities also presented formidable challenges to free black life in the central Hudson Valley.Michael E. Groth explores how Dutchess County's black residents overcame such obstacles to establish independent community institutions, engage in political activism, and fashion a vibrant racial consciousness in antebellum New York. By drawing attention to the African American experience in the rural Mid-Hudson Valley, this book provides new perspectives on slavery and emancipation in New York, black community formation, and the nature of black identity in the Early Republic.

Includes 22 new settings of period tunes, and examines the expressive culture of the largest antebellum tenant farmer protest from its origin to its 21st-century reverberations.Upstate New York's Anti-Rent Movement is considered the last struggle over feudalism in the United States. Tenant farmers in the Hudson-Mohawk region engaged in organized protest throughout the 1840s to contest monopoly ownership of the land they worked. Arguing their cause in newspapers, on broadsides, and at rallies, their aspirations also took shape in poetry and song. More than twenty sets of lyrics (and one instrumental composition) were written at various stages of the conflict. Some of their musical sources, such as "Old Dan Tucker" and "Bruce's Address," are still well known. Each fully contextualized song offers insight into the role vernacular music played in one of the nineteenth century's major social reform movements.This is the first book to gather the poetry and corresponding tunes into one publication. It provides detailed analysis of the repertory, followed by new musical scores of the songs, reconstructed from contemporary historical sources for study and performance. It also examines the movement's later dramatization in novels, film, and public commemorations as successive generations grapple with its meaning.

Includes 22 new settings of period tunes, and examines the expressive culture of the largest antebellum tenant farmer protest from its origin to its 21st-century reverberations.Upstate New York's Anti-Rent Movement is considered the last struggle over feudalism in the United States. Tenant farmers in the Hudson-Mohawk region engaged in organized protest throughout the 1840s to contest monopoly ownership of the land they worked. Arguing their cause in newspapers, on broadsides, and at rallies, their aspirations also took shape in poetry and song. More than twenty sets of lyrics (and one instrumental composition) were written at various stages of the conflict. Some of their musical sources, such as "Old Dan Tucker" and "Bruce's Address," are still well known. Each fully contextualized song offers insight into the role vernacular music played in one of the nineteenth century's major social reform movements.This is the first book to gather the poetry and corresponding tunes into one publication. It provides detailed analysis of the repertory, followed by new musical scores of the songs, reconstructed from contemporary historical sources for study and performance. It also examines the movement's later dramatization in novels, film, and public commemorations as successive generations grapple with its meaning.

Places comics studies in lively dialogue with landscape art and regional studies to shed new light on the Hudson River Valley as an artistic, social, cultural, and natural environment.Drawn by the River engages readers in a lively exploration of the interplay between comics and regional culture. Connecting comics, cartoons, and animated films to Hudson River School landscapes and to the valley’s industrial history, Drawn by the River demonstrates the varied and overlapping ecosystems that have generated creative work in the area. The book tells of the massive impact of the Western Printing facility, the stunning success of the valley-based creators of the fantasy series ElfQuest, the surprising connections between landscapes and comic art, and the experiences of comics writers, artists, and editors past and present who have called the Hudson River Valley home. Richly illustrated with over one hundred images, Drawn by the River provides new frameworks for understanding comics and the culture, history, and community of the Hudson River Valley.