Wheeler will examine how enslaved people lived in rural Dutch New York during the colonial period, including the ways architecture reflected systems of labor and segregation.
November 16 | 2-4pm
Archaeological historian Walter Wheeler will give a talk titled “Speaking of History: Were Slaves Living in Your Cellar?” on November 16 from 2-4pm presented by the African American Archive of Columbia County in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library. The program will take place in person at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North 5th Street, Hudson, NY, and virtually. Registration is available through Eventbrite.
In this installment of the “Speaking About History” series, Wheeler will examine how enslaved people lived in rural Dutch New York during the colonial period, including the ways architecture reflected systems of labor and segregation. Drawing from recent research, Wheeler will show how the upper Hudson Valley’s domestic structures evolved to create visual and spatial separation between enslavers and the enslaved—a development evident in features such as basement kitchens, kitchen wings, summer kitchens, and separate dwellings sometimes called “negro houses.”
Wheeler is Senior Architectural Historian at Hartgen Archeological Associates, president of the Turpin Bannister Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, and an active scholar of New York State vernacular architecture. For more information, visit afamarchivecc.org.
