Michael Lucas, Archeologist with the State Museum, will discuss the little known but surprising and fascinating story of owner-operated African American farms in the Capital region in the 1800s as revealed in unique historical archaeological sources.

Lucas and his team have identified a handful of Black-owned farming families who operated in the area during the period. Some of them bought land during a time when African Americans were required to prove they owned $250 worth of property to vote in elections. Lucas’ project mostly focused on the Powell farmstead in Colonie, which was bought by Thomas and Betty Powell in 1818 and located about a mile north of the Boght Comers hamlet. The Powells’ farmstead was one of five African American-owned farms in Colonie identified by the archaeologists. Another farmstead belonged to Prince Jackson, who, in 1834, acquired 2 acres from the Shakers of Watervliet religious community by working for 68 days, earning 4 shillings a day.

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