By Lawrence S. Freund   Two men of mid-19th-century Albany, New York, had much to share: origins in the Jewish communities of what would become Germany, immigration to the United States and more particularly to the New York State capital … and, eventually, the same father-in-law. But there, they diverged in ways sometimes dramatic and always of interest for reasons of historical, legal, and personal consequence. Many immigrants in the mid-1800s passed through the entry gates into New York City, where they stayed. However, some new arrivals saw the river emptying into the harbor as a rout ..read more

by Harvey Strum In preparation for war in 1812, Congress passed a ninety-day embargo on trade. When news of the embargo reached New York City on April 3, city residents showed “alarm, hustle, and confusion.” Merchant Jonathan Ogden observed, “a like confusion I have never seen.” Some fifty to one hundred ships hurriedly left port to evade the newly imposed law. Some left half empty, some with crews of two or three men hurried out before customs officers could send cruisers to block escape through the Narrows. Shipowner Nathaniel Griswold warned Captain H. Smith to “not delay a moment…as ther ..read more

by Harvey Strum, Russell Sage College Copyright ©2023 All rights reserved by the author. “If thou out of that oppressed race Whose name’s proverb and whose lot’s disgrace Brave the Atlantic--- Hope’s broad anchor weigh A Western sun will Gild your future day. This poem, “To Persecuted Foreigners,” written in 1820 by a Jewish woman, Penina Moishe, to welcome German and central European Jewish immigrants coming to America between 1815-1870 was a premonition of a poem written by another Jewish woman, Emma Lazarus, to welcome immigrants to the US over fifty years later. The poem, New Colossus ..read more

By Michael Mauro DeBonis Part 1: History as Background… In late August of 1776, the newly minted American nation was fighting for survival against a determined, resourceful, and deadly British enemy. The American War for Independence had started in New England before brutally careening southward to New York Colony, of which New York City and Long Island were to become the focal point in Britain’s clandestine and savage military efforts to oust the Continental Army and General George Washington from their very existence. If English King George III and his huge and well-trained army of redco ..read more

 Recent articles[1] have reported finding burial sites of formerly enslaved Africans in upstate New York and enslaved quarters sequestered in a southern New York State farmhouse dating back to the 1700s. It is anticipated that these finds are archeological clues to New York State’s little-known history of enslavement. These findings are of personal interest, however, because a good portion of my family history is grounded in New York State, going back as far as the early 1700s. Historians and New Yorkers alike have had difficulty associating New York State’s brand of enslavement, which th ..read more

Recent articles[1] have reported finding burial sites of formerly enslaved Africans in upstate New York and enslaved quarters sequestered in a southern New York State farmhouse dating back to the 1700s. It is anticipated that these finds are archeological clues to New York State’s little-known history of enslavement. These findings are of personal interest, however, because a good portion of my family history is grounded in New York State, going back as far as the early 1700s. Historians and New Yorkers alike have had difficulty associating New York State’s brand of enslavement, which the ..read more

 By L. LLOYD STEWART ABSTRACT THE GEOPOLITICAL EVOLUTION OF ENSLAVEMENT AND ITS ABOLITION IN NEW YORK STATE Recent articles[1] have reported finding burial sites of formerly enslaved Africans in upstate New York, and enslaved quarters sequestered in a southern New York State farmhouse, dating back to the 1700s. It is anticipated that these finds are archeological clues to New York State’s little-known history of enslavement. These findings are of personal interest, however, because a good portion of my family history is grounded in New York State, going back as far as the e ..read more

 By Harvey Strum “If thou out of that oppressed race Whose name’s proverb and whose lot’s disgrace Brave the Atlantic--- Hope’s broad anchor weigh A Western sun will Gild your future day. This poem, “To Persecuted Foreigners” written in 1820 by a Jewish woman Penina Moishe to welcome German and central European Jewish immigrants coming to America between 1815- 1870 was a premonition of a poem written by another Jewish woman Emma Lazarus to welcome immigrants to US over fifty years later. The poem, New Colossus, written in `1883 portrayed the Statue of Liberty as the Mother of Exil ..read more

By Paul Lubienecki, PhD    For any religion, any sacred space has been a symbol of a primordial place of spiritual redemption and peace; it is a concretized expression of nostalgia for paradise. The sacred place is seen as an axis mundi: an intersection of heaven and earth with humankind. [1] An object, a tree, or a building was the hinge, the connector between these worlds, and was the sign and symbol of that affiliation. This affirmation of the spiritual and the architectural is realized in Frank Lloyd Wright’s design of Graycliff in Derby, New York. Originally designed as a family ..read more

by Richard White Copyright 2023. All rights reserved by the author. “In this beautiful place, which has come to be the acknowledged center for tourists who visit the St. Lawrence River area, there exists a feeling of bitter hatred between the black and white servitors. It has no effect whatever upon the place as a pleasure resort, for the authorities hold both sides in check and will maintain the strictest order here.”  On July 23, 1889, this was the observation of the Watertown Daily Times on Alexandria Bay’s recent race riot that was caused by a “bitter hatred,” and, in addition, it ..read more