The inspirational story of an African American community that migrated from the Deep South to Albany, New York, in the 1930s.

Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany's Rapp Road Community

History

Lemak, Jennifer A.

Americas

Excelsior Editions/State University of New York Press

The inspirational story of an African American community that migrated from the Deep South to Albany, New York, in the 1930s. Southern Life, Northern City is the inspirational story of an African American community in Albany that has fought doggedly for generations to preserve its legacy and way of life. In the 1920s and 1930s rural African American families living in Shubuta, Mississippi, began relocating to Albany, New York. These former sharecroppers initially settled in Albany’s South End, but quickly became unhappy with the vice and overcrowding of city life. A leading member of this community, Reverend Louis W. Parson, courageously led the effort to purchase land on the city’s western edge. The newly relocated residents enthusiastically recreated their rural southern life in the north—building homes, planting crops, hunting, and raising families. Fifty years later, their settlement found itself threatened by sprawl, commercial development, and corporate greed. Joining forces with public historians and preservationists, the residents triumphed, with the Rapp Road community being named a New York State and a National Historic District. “This book has an important place in articulating an aspect of African American history and culture poorly known and understood to date in American society and history.” — Gayle Graham Yates, author of Life and Death in a Small Southern Town: Memories of Shubuta, Mississippi “Today, a national historic site, the Rapp Road community is a result of the endless and dedicated efforts of a daughter of that community, Emma Dickson, who brought much to bear to ensure that Rapp Road became a viable thread among many that went into ‘the tapestry of Albany County.’” — A. J. Williams-Myers, State University of New York at New Paltz“A fine local community study that invigorates our understanding and knowledge of the Great Migration of African Americans from south to north.” — Graham Russell Gao Hodges, Colgate University

Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany's Rapp Road Community (Excelsior Editions)

State University of New York Press

Examines the pivotal role New York State played in the Civil War. An Irrepressible Conflict documents the pivotal role New York State played in our nation’s bloodiest and most enduring conflict. As the wealthiest and most populous state in the Union, the Empire State led all others in supplying men, money, and material to the causes of unity and freedom. New York’s experience provides significant insight into the reasons why the war was fought and the meaning that the Civil War holds today. A companion to the award-winning exhibition of the same name, displayed at the New York State Museum from September 2012 to March 2014, An Irrepressible Conflict includes reproductions of objects from the collections of the New York State Museum, Library, and Archives, as well as more than twenty-five different institutions across the state. Among the many significant objects are a Lincoln life mask from 1860 from the New-York Historical Society; the earliest photograph of Frederick Douglass (a rare 8″ x 10″ daguerreotype image, courtesy of the Onondaga Historical Association); the only known portrait of Dred Scott, also from New-York Historical Society; and a bronze medal given to the defenders of Fort Sumter by the City of New York from the museum’s own collection. The title is inspired by an 1858 quote from then US Senator William H. Seward, who also served as governor of New York (1839–42) and Secretary of State (1861–69). Seward disagreed with those who believed that the prospect of war between the North and South was the work of “fanatical agitators.” He understood that the roots of conflict went far deeper, writing, “It is an irrepressible conflict, between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-holding nation or entirely a free-labor nation.”

An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War (Excelsior Editions)

Weible, Robert

Noble, Aaron

Chronicles the history of the women’s rights and suffrage movements in New York State and examines the important role the state played in the national suffrage movement. The work for women’s suffrage started more than seventy years before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and one hundred supporters signed the Declaration of Sentiments asserting that “all men and women are created equal.” This convention served as a catalyst for debates and action on both the national and state level, and on November 6, 1917, New York State passed the referendum for women’s suffrage. Its passing in New York signaled that the national passage of suffrage would soon follow. On August 18, 1920, “Votes for Women” was constitutionally granted. Votes for Women, an exhibition catalog, celebrates the pivotal role the state played in the struggle for equal rights in the nineteenth century, the campaign for New York State suffrage, and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. It highlights the nationally significant role of state leaders in regards to women’s rights and the feminist movement through the early twenty-first century and includes focused essays from historians on the various aspects of the suffrage and equal rights movements around New York, providing greater detail about local stories with statewide significance. The exhibition of the same name, on display at the New York State Museum beginning November 2017, features artifacts from the New York State Museum, Library, and Archives, as well as historical institutions and private collections across the state. “The richly illustrated companion book co-edited by Lemak and Hopkins-Benton contains their master narrative along with a series of monographic essays authored by consultant scholars … the volume will be extremely useful to those teaching and studying women’s history in high schools and colleges.” — Antiques And The Arts Weekly

Votes for Women: Celebrating New York's Suffrage Centennial (Excelsior Editions)

Hopkins-Benton, Ashley

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lemak, Jennifer A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lemak, Jennifer A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lemak, Jennifer A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany's Rapp Road Community

Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany's Rapp Road Community (Excelsior Editions)

An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War (Excelsior Editions)

Votes for Women: Celebrating New York's Suffrage Centennial (Excelsior Editions)