Garret DuBois and Lilly DuBois, two formerly enslaved “people of couler,” were married at the Reformed Church of New Paltz in 1828 and purchased three acres a year later, making them the earliest known African Americans to own land in what was then New Paltz. Garret’s story is illuminated by several documents from the period, most notably in a manuscript entitled the “Society of Negroes Unsettled,” also known as the Bounty Hunters’ Agreement. This virtual talk presented by Josephine Bloodgood, HHS Director of Curatorial and Preservation Affairs, explores the life and experiences of enslaved men named in the Agreement (especially Garret) and what it meant to their futures in terms of resistance and negotiation. Following the slide presentation, Josephine will be joined by Kate Hymes, Vice President of the Margaret-Wade Lewis Black History Cultural Center (MWLC), for discussion and Q&A. Audience Q&A will follow.

Josephine Bloodgood is the HHS Director of Curatorial & Preservation Affairs and is active with the MWLC Building and History Committees. She is the Project Director for the New Paltz Historic Documents Project (www.NewPaltzHistory.org), which, thanks to funding from the National Endowment for Humanities, has made free online over 24,000 documents related to the early history of New Paltz and surrounding towns. Josephine is the author of the online exhibit “Never was a slave,” Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th-Century New Paltz and other exhibits, talks, and a walking tour app related to Black history in the community.

$8 General Access

$5 Discounted Access for seniors, students, active military personnel and their families, and veterans

Free for HHS members

This program is hosted in partnership with the Dr. Margaret-Wade Lewis Black History Cultural Center. All access fees and additional donations will be split evenly between HHS and MWLC.

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.