The Black Woods - by Amy Godine

About the Book

"In August 1846, abolitionist Gerrit Smith revealed his intent to parcel out 120,000 Adirondack acres to three thousand black New Yorkers to enable them to win the right to vote through property ownership. This book is the story of this so-called grant, the actuality of the lives of the new homesteaders in the North Country of the Adirondacks, and the legacy of their experiences"--

Book Synopsis

Winner of the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Forest History Society Book Award

The Black Woods chronicles the history of Black pioneers in New York's northern wilderness. From the late 1840s to the 1860s, they migrated to the Adirondacks to build the farms that helped them meet a $250 property requirement imposed on Black New York voters in 1821.

Abolitionist Gerrit Smith gifted 120,000 acres to 3,000 landless Black New Yorkers, with the support of Frederick Douglass, John Brown and other abolitionists. His prescient plan enacted affirmative action and distributive justice. But when most of his grantees did not move north, Smith's interest cooled. He would not visit Timbuctoo, Freemen's Home, or Blacksville. The settlers were on their own.

In The Black Woods, Godine revives this history with stirring stories of frontier life and racial justice. She puts the vote-seeking Black pioneers at the heart of the Adirondack narrative. At long last, their shaping role has been reclaimed.

Review Quotes

Whether you're interested in Adirondack, Black or antebellum history, Godine's The Black Woods will leave an undeniable impression on your understanding of Adirondack Park, and is required reading for those who want to ensure a more welcoming Adirondacks for everyone.

-- "Adirondack Council blog"

The Black Woods contains a lot -- a lot of names, a lot of facts and a lot of anecdotes -- but all of it helps to tell the real story of the Black Woods and reveal the depth and variety of the lives of Black residents of the Northeast in the pre-Civil War era. The story doesn't sink under the weight of its detail, it rides on it, and it carries you along.

-- "The Front Page"

A rich history... meticulously researched... Godine grasps the profound significance of [the Black settlement] to the region's history.

--Nell Painter, The New York Review of Books "NYRB"

Throughout this expansive volume, Godine manages to artfully weave historic fact with the sort of "historical detection" that has been urged by leading scholars of Black American history.

-- "Unfriendly to Liberty"

Amy Godine's The Black Woods is a portal for adventurous minds to pursue a fresh frontier long masked by ignorance or outright suppression.

-- "The Adirondack Explorer"

Amy Godine's The Black Woods stands among the best Adirondack histories ever written

-- "Adirondack Enterprise"

Perhaps the greatest contribution of this magnificent book is that the author unearthed a history of Black pioneers that was long buried and forgotten but now restored to a position of prominence across New York and, hopefully, the country.

-- "The Adirondack Almanack"

Through this expansive volume, Godine manages to artfully weave historic fact with the sort of 'historical detection' that has been urged by leading scholars of Black Adirondack history.

-- "The Hudson River Valley Review"

Extensively researched.

-- "Watertown Daily Times"

About the Author

Amy Godine is an independent scholar. She has been writing and speaking about ethnic, migratory, and Black Adirondack history since 1990. She lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.