July 25 Field Experience In Conflict & Crises Teaching the Hudson Valley from Civil War to Civil Rights and Beyond

The Shifting Context of the Slavery Debate in the North, 1799-1865: Three Generations of Verplancks & James F. Brown

TIME: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. GROUP SIZE: 10-35

FEE: $50 includes lunch, coffee, snack, and documents needed to develop lesson plans

PLACE: Mount Gulian Historic Site, 145 Sterling Street, Beacon, http://www.mountgulian.org Take the Taconic Parkway to I-84 W or the NYS Thruway to Exit 17 Newburgh to I-84 E. Then take I-84 to Exit 11, Falls/Beacon. Take 9D N 2/10ths of a mile. Make a left onto Hudson View Dr. into the Hudson View Park Apt. Complex, and you will see the Mount Gulian sign. Make an immediate left onto Lamplight St., which becomes Sterling. Pass all the way through the apartment complex. Mount Gulian is at end of Sterling; park on the circular drive.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Elaine Hayes, [email protected], 845-831-8172

AUDIENCE: All are welcome. Teachers of 7th and 8th grade social studies with its focus on U.S. and State history, as well as teacher of 11th grade social studies with its focus on U.S. history will especially benefit from this field experience.

PARTICIPANT TAKE-AWAYS: An understanding of the complexity of antislavery sentiment in the years prior to the Civil War. They should also come away with an appreciation for the evolution of antislavery sentiment from a moderate, compromising position to one that called for immediate abolition through war, and the reasons for this transformation in opinion among leading reformers. We will approach these issues by focusing on the Verplancks, a socially and politically prominent wealthy family in the Hudson Valley, and changes in the thinking of three of its leading men -- Daniel Crommelin Verplanck, 1762-1834; Gulian Verplanck, 1786-1870; and Robert Newlin Verplanck, 1842-1908. Attention will also be paid to the views of James F. Brown, a freed slave, who was the family’s head gardener from the 1830s until his death in 1868. Participants also will be introduced to and provided with copies of several documents that can be used to develop related lesson plans.

Teaching the Hudson Valley | 845-229-9116, ext. 2035 [email protected] | www.teachingthehudsonvalley.org

THV is a program of Valley National Heritage Area and Greenway Conservancy | Roosevelt-Vanderbilt | Hudson River Estuary Program, New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation | Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College

SCHEDULE 10 to 10:50 a.m. Daniel Verplanck and the New York Manumission Society 10:50 to 11 a.m. Break 11 to 11:50 a.m. Gulian Verplanck and the Whig Party 11:50 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. Lunch break and tour of Mount Gulian house and garden 1:20 to 2 p.m. Robert Newlin Verplanck and the Republican North 2 to 2:10 p.m. Break 2:10 to 4 p.m. On the Side of the Angels, a living history theatrical performance, with role-playing by audience members, followed by discussion.

Myra Young Armstead will discuss the Verplancks and their positions on slavery. She has been professor of history at Bard College for more than 25 years, and is a former chair of Bard’s History Department and American Studies Program.

Myra is the author of “Lord, Please Don’t Take Me in August”: African Americans in Newport and Saratoga Springs, 1870-1930 (University of Illinois Press, 1999); Mighty Change, Tall Within: Black Identity in the Hudson Valley (an edited volume, State University of New York Press, 1999); and Freedom’s Gardener: James F. Brown, Horticulture, and the Hudson Valley in Antebellum America (New York University Press, 2012). [email protected], 845-758-7235

Elaine Hayes will introduce the theater piece and facilitate the discussion that follows. She has been executive director of Mount Gulian since 1992. Elaine has worked in the non-profit or public sector since graduating Hunter College including the public relations office of the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs and The Partnership where she was director of education. As Mount Gulian’s director, Elaine oversees funding, development, and implementation of public programming. She has an MBA in marketing from Pace University.

On the Side of the Angels

Set in 1863, Newlin, a young man of privilege discusses his plan to enlist in the newly formed US Colored Troops, with Brown, his family’s elderly master gardener. This production is made possible with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Joanne Zipay, writer and director, teaches at Pace and is artistic director and producer at Judith Shakespeare Company.

Torrance Harvey, James F. Brown, teaches social studies at Newburgh Free Academy. An active member of the Screen Actors Guild, he has many stage, screen, and TV credits.

Anthony Charles, Robert Newlin, is a recent graduate of Dutchess Community College and has performed in community theatre productions.