Albany City Hall is hosting a Black History Month exhibit in its rotunda. "Dreaming of Timbuctoo" is a traveling historical installation that tells the story of a free black community in the 1840s Adirondacks.
Initiated in 1999 to help shed light on an important but little-known chapter in American and New York State history, "Dreaming of Timbuctoo" explores the nexus of history, land and meaning.
Martha Swan is the executive director of John Brown Lives!, one of the organizations that helped bring the exhibit to city hall.
She explains how 120,000 acres of Adirondack land came to be distributed to 3,000 black men from every county in New York State. "What they were facing in an 1846 referendum was the continuance of a 250 dollar property owning requirement on free black men in New York to vote, whereas their white counterparts had unfettered access to the ballot box. So this inspired, ambitious radical strategy was devised to distribute a massive amount of Adirondack land owned by a philanthropist, radical abolitionist from Central New York by the name of Gerrit Smith."
The land baron/reformer envisioned a community of self-sufficient black farmers. Smith announced his settlement plan in the fall of 1846. The exhibit is designed to illuminate the crucial role of land and suffrage in the political war against slavery and inequality in New York State.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan says while celebrating Black History Month, it’s important to look back at our past and recognize the pioneers who helped secure freedom and equality for all Americans. "This is I hope the first of what will be many engaging opportunities for people to come to city hall and have it be a place where they learn and where they grow and where we can engage in civic discourse."
In the end, precious few of the 3,000 grantees moved to Timbuctoo with their families: Abolitionist John Brown arrived in the Essex county town of North Elba in 1849 to found a community for former slaves. Smith was trying to resettle free blacks on land in the area, but soon realized it was not suitable for family farms. Brown left from his farm for the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. He was buried on the old homestead.
The Adirondack Museum webpage devoted to the initiative cites U.S. census reports from 1850-1870 showing that there were only 13 black families listed in North Elba, New York, and by 1871, that number dropped to two. The Lyman Epps family was the only one that remained in North Elba permanently. The family's last remaining member passed away in 1942.
The museum notes that while Gerrit Smith's land grant was revolutionary, it was not able to succeed.
Since its premiere at the Adirondack Museum in 2001, the exhibit has been displayed at numerous locations throughout New York State, including colleges and universities, libraries, nature centers, and museums.
