African Heritage

One of the few African American burial grounds mentioned in Poucher & Reynolds Old Gravestones of Dutchess County in 1924.

Given the negligence in keeping records of the burial of persons of color historically, we often rely on other than an ideal primary source such as a cemetery burial record. In this situation we rely on an 1870 Poughkeepsie newspaper account that quotes an older resident as saying, upon discovery of multiple coffins and human […]

The Walter M. Patrice online library is a living, growing resource. Please encourage further work in studies of the local men, women and children of African descent.

Benjamin Drew published the book, The Refugee: or the Narratives of the Fugitive Slaves in Canada in 1856, capturing narratives of freedomseekers in first person testimony. Among the narratives is that of Sophia Pooley, who was born and raised ten miles south of Poughkeepsie in Fishkill. At the age of seven she was sold into […]

Highlights People 1941 VOICES Interviews of Manet Fowler Places AME Zion Church The Walter M. Patrice Collection Things Freedom For Sale Man purchases own freedom Words from the past Newer Perspectives Other Starting Points The Walter M. Patrice Collection focuses largely on the history of the Smith AME Zion Church in Poughkeepsie, which through Mr. […]

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Under the heading, Dutchess County Defense Attitudes, the anthropologist Manet Fowler, early in her career, conducted interviews among Blacks in Dutchess County. She made three trips that included Poughkeepsie, Beacon, and a handful of small towns. We are not sure under whose auspices or direction these were conducted. A profile of Fowler is provided at […]