Recently, MHAHP has been working with Bill Jeffway, Executive Director of the Dutchess County Historical Society, to begin developing a digital “freedom trail” to follow the development of enslavement and freedom in our area. The first effort toward this —
Poughkeepsie: A Local Path Toward Racial Equality — is shown here.
As Bill has written: “Those of us who feel that local history offers powerful, relevant lessons need to make a greater effort to organize and deliver the lessons in a compelling and relevant way.
Stimulated by the quality and scale of research done by MHAHP, DCHS joined forces with them to develop the Poughkeepsie Equality Trail, with a view to providing a kind of educational tour that can be taken on the street, or virtually from home.
The Poughkeepsie Equality Trail sits within an emerging DCHS online library dedicated to support the studies of African Heritage and Black History. Additionally, we hope to continue to partner with MHAHP to support the creation of such trails elsewhere in the Hudson Valley.”
We hope you will give us your feedback on this effort as it develops. To see the Trail, visit the website of the Dutchess County Historical Society at https://dchsny.org/PET/