Project Description

Background

The Descendant Oral History Project began in Summer 2025. The project, led by Dr. Shanleigh Corrallo, a historian and a Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow (2024-2026) investigates histories of enslavement in New York State. The project is rooted in a broader study on enslavement history in New York State that aims to un-silence the voices and restore the humanity of those who lived, labored, and loved through lifetimes of bondage.

The collection currently includes oral histories from descendants of individuals who were enslaved in New York, within bordering areas, or who have deep affiliations and knowledge of enslavement history in New York State. The purpose of this project is to highlight and preserve the unique experiences of individuals who are descended from enslaved people, particularly as a form of resistance to ongoing efforts of erasure surrounding histories of enslavement. Secondarily, this project seeks to identify and archive unique aspects of enslavement histories in New York State, and to trace how these peculiarities have translated into modern culture and vernacular.  

These interviews cover topics such as family history and oral traditions, memories of enslavement, reflections of freedom and freedom seeking, and the significance of African American history in the context of the America 250 celebration (July 2026). The participants shared rich details of their own lives growing up as descendants, as well as memories of their relatives and how they connect with their ancestral heritage.

We would like to express deep gratitude to the participants of this collection, who entrusted us with their stories and wisdom. Their contribution will be long-lasting.  

Corrallo is grateful to the History Department and MDOCS at Skidmore College for supporting and hosting this work. She would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Isabelle Duperval, a student at Skidmore College who assisted with the development of this project. Thank you.

Enslavement in Dutch New York & Colonial New York
The Dutch West India Company first brought enslavement, or the practice of chattel slavery, to the New Netherlands colony (what would become New York) in 1626. Though New York passed the Gradual Manumission Act in 1799, enslavement did not officially end in New York until 1827. This delay was intentional. The Act designated that while enslaved children were “born free,” they were required to “be the servant of the legal proprietor of his or her mother, until such servant if a male shall arrive at the age of twenty eight years of age, and if a female at the age of twenty five years.” The legislation included conditions on freedom for enslaved individuals who were physically infirm or aged. During the first several years of the legislation, New York even reimbursed enslavers for the “losses” of manumitted children younger than one, counting these children who had been abandoned by their enslavers as public charges. This legislation was developed, debated and enacted by enslavers, two notable examples including Senate President Stephen Van Rensselaer, inheritor of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, a quasi-feudal system that reached one-million acres at its peak, and Assembly Speaker Dirck Ten Broeck, a relative of the prominent Van Rensselaer and Schuyler families and an enslaver of at least four people. Governor John Jay, a simultaneous espouser of abolitionist ideals and an enslaver guided the Act to its implementation. By elongating this period between the Act and the prohibition of enslavement in New York State, these legislators worked foremost to protect their financial interests in the humans who they enslaved.

By the end of the 18th century, New York was the “largest slave society North of the Chesapeake,” its slave population tripling between 1731 and 1790. Though there was a substantial Black population in New York City, most of the colony’s enslaved population actually lived in the rural Hudson Valley, laboring on the vast provisional plantations and Estates of elite Dutch families such as the Livingston, Schuyler, Van Cortlandt and Van Rensselaer families. These families held patents to massive tracts of land throughout the Hudson Valley and northward, and acquired a substantial amount of their wealth and power through the labor of enslaved individuals who worked their land, felled their trees, cultivated their landscape, and operated their lavish households. These families moreover leased much of their land to tenant farmers, often recent immigrants from England, Ireland and Scotland, who also participated in the extraction of Black labor for the economic benefit of their own households. In these proximate communities, a mixture of guttural Low-Dutch and the softer vowels of English, spoken by the enslaved and their enslavers would have filled the air until the second half of the 18th century. Freedom-seeking advertisements from the Hudson Valley reveal that enslaved individuals sometimes mastered several languages at a time, a necessity to navigating the world around them.

Within this multicultural, multilingual and multiracial 17th-early 19th century society, enslaved Africans and African Americans were a core part of the development of New York. This series of oral histories seeks to uncover the histories of enslaved Africans and their kin through the lens of descendants. In doing so, the participants shed light on what it means to be African American in New York State and in America on the Eve of A250. 

Additional Information 
The Descendants Oral History Project strives to provide both audio files and transcripts. In certain cases, recordings may not align with transcribed text due to interviewee edits or editing for brevity, and some transcripts may not have associated audio files available due to interviewee redactions.

Descendant Oral History Project Disclaimer
Oral history interviews provide firsthand perspectives and details about the past that reflect the personal memories, perceptions and experiences of the interviewer and interviewee. While all reasonable attempts are made to avoid inaccuracy, interviews should not be understood as statements of fact or opinion endorsed by Skidmore College. We present these oral histories as historical records with as little alteration as possible, although edits for clarity, brevity and context do not always correspond directly with the corresponding audio. 

The views, opinions, and beliefs expressed within these materials are solely of the individuals depicted, and are not necessarily reflective of Skidmore College or any other institution. While care is taken to ensure accuracy, Skidmore College cannot guarantee that the information presented is correct and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to the use of these materials.

If you have questions or concerns about these materials, please email the publisher at skcorrallo@gmail.com.