“Never Was a Slave” Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th-Century New Paltz 

Historic Huguenot Streetpresents the exhibit “Never Was a Slave” Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th-Century New Paltz at the DuBois Fort Visitor Center. Jacob was born in New Paltz, New York, in 1829, the child of two former slaves, Thomas and Jane Deyo Wynkoop. Among the first African Americans to buy land in the community, he also served in the Union Army during the Civil War, organized politically on behalf of blacks in town, and built a series of homes in the late-19th century that define a neighborhood in the village of New Paltz. Jacob and his family’s story are illuminated by historical documents and photographic materials from the HHS Archives, the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at the Elting Memorial Library, Town of New Paltz Records, and the Records of the Reformed Church of New Paltz. The exhibit is curated by Josephine Bloodgood, HHS Director of Curatorial and Preservation Affairs. (Top photo: Group of Civil War Veterans at the New Paltz Rural Cemetery, ca. 1908. courtesy of Shirley Anson and the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, Elting Library.)

This exhibit is free and open to the public.