Talk on Black Adirondackers in the Civil War opens Military Museum lecture series on Saturday, Feb. 1

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Josiah Hasbrouck, pictured here , is one of the Black Adirondackers who fought in the Civil War who will be discussed during a Feb. 1 talk at the New York State Military Museum.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NEW YORK (01/24/2025) (readMedia)-- Saratoga Springs author Amy Godine will talk about the experience of African Americans who settled in the Adirondacks and went on to fight in the Civil War during a free Saturday, February 1, talk at the New York State Military Museum.

Godine is the author of "The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier" published by Cornell University Press. The book describes the experiences of free Blacks who settled in Essex County near Lake Placid and tried to farm the region. The settlement, known as Timbuctoo, was also the home of the firebrand abolitionist John Brown.

Drawing on her research in the Civil War pension records at the National Archives, Godine will discuss the Civil War experience of those Black Adirondack pioneers who took up arms for the Union/ She will track the life-changing impact of this service on their citizenship, their families, and their community standing.

Godine is a founding Fellow of the New York Academy of History, a recipient of the Larry Hackman State Archives Research Fellowship, the John Brown Spirit of Freedom Award and the Weyerhaeuser Book Award.

Godine's is the first in a series of free talks at the New York State Military Museum which will run through April.

The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center is located at 61 Lake Avenue in Saratoga Springs. The museum is maintained by the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs with the mission of telling the story of New Yorkers in our nation's conflicts.

The talks are sponsored by the Friends of the New York State Military Museum.