By Susan Lin
"We've hidden the story too long," said Kathleen Velsor, 54, an assistant professor at SUNY Old Westbury, and the author of the book "Angels of Deliverance: The Struggle Against Slavery in Queens and Long Island" (1995), which serves as the basis of the exhibit.
The small-scale exhibit at the Old Westbury Library will reveal that slavery is not the awful blot in American history that occurred far away in the South. Slavery was very common here as well.
Velsor said that by the revolutionary war in 1776, there were about one slave for every five white settlers on Long Island and Queens. "That's a pretty heavy population," said Velsor.
"Angels of Deliverance," though, makes the issue of slavery easier to take by focusing on the events leading toward its abolition in New York State, which was in 1827.
"I think it's a positive note to talk about how people worked together to abolish slavery. It's a color-blind history. It's not just about black history and not just about white history -- it's how we worked together to end it," said Velsor.
The Angels of Deliverance is another phrase for the more commonly used term "underground railroad," which were individuals or communities that provided refuge to runaway slaves or helped them escape.
The exhibit, which includes reproductions of 100 original photographs, illustrations and documents, will capture some of the major players in the underground railroad.
Velsor said the phrase "underground railroad" can be traced to Ohio. A good number of slaves from Kentucky in the mid-1800's had run away by crossing the Ohio River into the town Ripley, Ohio. In Ripley, which bordered the river, many residents helped slaves escape by allowing them to run across the private roofs of their houses that were close together.
Slave catchers at the time pursing the runaways would get to the Ohio River and say something to the effect of "It was like they disappeared on an underground railroad!"
"Angels of Deliverance" hopes to tell the local story within the national abolition movement. The Quakers, who settled on Long Island and other parts of the Northeast, where the first group to publicly denounce slavery in the country, said Velsor.
One of the rarer reproductions at the SUNY Old Westbury exhibit is a pre-1827 manumission, that is, a document slaves used to show that they were free, issued by a Quaker.
The exhibit will also include photographs of some of the free black communities that were springing up on Long Island. One of the larger communities, called Brush, was located in the Wantagh-Bellmore area. Others were in Westbury and Mastic. The pockets of free blacks gave slaves from the South places they could runaway to, hide and live.
"These communities is where you really start the first movement of slaves getting jobs and being able to support themselves. So New York City became a very known player in the underground railroad," said Velsor.
Although not an African American, Velsor is interested in the underground railroad because her husband is a descendent of one of the original Quaker proponents of the abolition of slavery.
And possessing her husband's last name came in handy in her research. "Probably one of the reasons so many doors opened for me was because the Quakers recognized the name," said Velsor.
The culmination of several years of research, "Angels of Deliverance" serves to "share to the people of Long Island the history that is really theirs," said Velsor. "I think if you understand your history, you can really make sense of who you are."
At a Glance
'Angels of Deliverance' exhibit
Feb. 6 - May 12
SUNY College at Old Westbury
Library, Campus Center
(516) 876-2895
Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 11 p.m. Mon. - Thurs.; 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. Fri.; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sat.; 12 noon - 10 p.m. Sun.
Free
