Category Archives: Guion

Freedom, Fortune, and Family: Remembering the Abolitionists Quaker Hannah Pugsley and Black Hannah Pugsley of New Rochelle, New York, Part 2

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Reframing these two “visionary Quaker women” allows us see how abolitionism  was a communal, sustained, and embedded in relationships that cut across race, gender, class, and geography. 

For too long, both Quaker Hannah Pugsley and Black Hannah Pugsley have remained at the margins of abolitionist history. The former has often been remembered as a benevolent figure, yet seldom recognized as an active white abolitionist; the latter, preserved primarily through oral memory, remains largely absent from formal archives. However, recent scholarship—including new studies on Quaker women ministers—invites a reassessment of their roles in the early struggle for Black freedom. Scholars such as Rebecca Larson, Michele Lise Tarter, and Sandra Holton have shown that Quaker women routinely preached, organized, and offered spiritual leadership that challenged both religious and societal norms. In this light, Quaker Hannah’s support for New Rochelle’s early Free Black community and the founding of AME Zion Church suggests a deeper theological and political commitment, consistent with the Quaker tradition of lived equality and moral witness.

This reevaluation aligns with the broader framing of Black and interracial abolitionist efforts found in the works of Richard S. Newman, Cristina Proenza-Coles, and David Hackett Fischer. Newman, in his essay “A Chosen Generation,” describes the Black Founders as the generation of African Americans who “came of age just as the American nation took shape.” These were the first to organize against slavery, to found independent Black institutions, and to pioneer protest strategies ranging from print culture to aid for fugitives to the formation of national conventions for racial justice. Similarly, Proenza-Coles’ American Founders and Fischer’s African Founders document the foundational and enduring contributions of African-descended people in shaping early American civic and political life.³ Together, these works affirm that both Hannahs—Black and Quaker—must be recognized as participants in a multigenerational, interracial abolitionist movement that predated and outlasted the Revolution itself.

The full article can be read here by clicking on the link: AAHGS-NE-Newsletter-Fall 2025-Freedom Fortune and Family-Part 2

 

 

The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Westchester and Dutchess Counties, NY

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This multi-part series of articles provides the biographical sketches of Black Loyalists
from Westchester and Dutchess Counties, New York who supported the British Crown during the American Revolution. My previous Black Loyalists article in this journal  centered on Black Loyalists from Fairfield County, Connecticut, identifying individuals, and describing the turmoil in British-occupied New York City before their departure to Nova Scotia in 1783. This series shifts focus to those from neighboring Westchester and Dutchess Counties. Westchester County, known as “The Neutral Ground,” was a fiercely contested area between British-held New York City and the Patriot-controlled Lower Hudson Valley, while Dutchess County served as a critical base for the Continental Army and supply depots. Though this article does not aim to offer a comprehensive overview of the New York Loyalists' role in the war, it sheds light on pivotal moments that shaped the lives of Black Loyalists from these counties.  Much like their counterparts from Fairfield County, the fates of these individuals were sealed before they left New York City.

I approach this topic as a family historian-genealogist and a descendant of enslaved and formerly enslaved African and Indigenous peoples who served as Black Loyalists and Black Patriots in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Their remarkable contributions to both the United States and Britain have been overlooked. It is essential to recognize that their acts of resistance and agency positioned them as the “Founding Fathers” of both the United States and Canada. Enslaved and Free Blacks witnessed every major event that shaped the founding of this country. These individuals frequently traveled between New York City, Long Island, and surrounding towns and colonies with their enslavers and employers, whether on foot, horseback, or by ferry. They were not passive observers, unaware of their environment. On the contrary, enslaved and Free Blacks were active participants, engaging with historic events as they unfolded.

The full article can be read here by clicking on the link: The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Westchester and Dutchess Counties-Part 1 CA

Part 2 will be published in the next issue of Connecticut Ancestry.