TREADWELL - A traveling exhibition exploring the history of enslaved and free Black people in rural Delaware County will open Oct. 24 at the Bright Hill Press Gallery, 94 Church Street, with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m.
“Out of the Shadows: Slavery and Freedom in Delaware County, NY, 1790-1870” will remain on view in Treadwell through Nov. 15 before moving to the William B. Ogden Free Library in Walton, where it will be displayed from Nov. 17 through Dec. 14.
The collaborative project combines art, history and design to examine a largely overlooked chapter of the region’s past. It features imagined portraits of enslaved and free Black people by artist Robin Kappy, accompanied by narratives based on personal documents, official records, memoirs, newspaper accounts and other historical sources.
The research was conducted by Diane Galusha, historian for the Town of Middletown and president of the Historical Society of Middletown. Drew Harty of Treadwell designed the exhibition, integrating the portraits and text. Visitors are invited to share their responses and reflections.
Galusha will give illustrated talks at 3 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Bright Hill Press Gallery and at 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Walton library. She will discuss some of the primary sources used in her research.
Enslavement in rural Delaware County largely developed after the Revolutionary War, when some settlers from the Hudson Valley and New England moved west with enslaved people. Their labor helped clear land, establish homes and farms, care for children and support mills and shops.
Despite losing their freedom and being separated from family and future opportunities, enslaved people maintained a degree of dignity and agency. Some sought freedom through self-emancipation before New York abolished slavery in 1827.
The exhibition also examines the lives of free Black residents who established farms and families, started businesses and, in some cases, served in the Civil War.
Linda Norris, founder of the international museum consulting firm Creative Futures LLC. and former director of the Delaware County Historical Association, is the project manager. She lives in Treadwell.
The project also received guidance from an advisory team that included Diane Ciccone, a writer, filmmaker and attorney; Christina Hunt Wood, an artist who organizes participatory art, history and public programming projects; and Jennifer J. Burns, a historian specializing in Black history in New York state and the Atlantic world.
