Sites, buildings, and locations that reflect the actions and experiences of African Americans in Westchester County.

African Cemetery Accessed through Greenwood Union Cemetery, North Street, Rye 10580 The African Cemetery was established in Rye when its site was deeded to the town on June 27, 1860, by Underhill and Elizabeth Halsted "(to) be forever after kept and used for the purposes of a cemetery or burial place for the colored inhabitants of the said Town of Rye and its vicinity free and clear of any charge therefore."  In the latter part of his life, Underhill Halsted became a fervent follower of the methodist movement, which was profoundly opposed to slavery.  However, being anti-slavery did not mean one was not prejudiced.  Such bias led African Americans to separate from the Methodist church and form their own Methodist organization, African Methodist Episcopal Zion or AME Zion.  The presence of two AME Zion churches in nearby Mamaroneck and Port Chester could have also motivated Halsted to gift the cemetery to local free persons of color. The cemetery includes a variety of professionally carved and dressed grave stones, with 35 indicating that war veteran is interred.  African American veterans of the Civil War through World War II are buried here.  One such soldier was World War I veteran Francis M. Husted, buried in 1947.  A former laborer, he was a member of the 370th Colored Regiment, the only unit in the U.S. Army with a full complement of African American officers from colonel to lieutenant.  This unit was called the "Black Devils" by the Germans because of their courage and the "Partridges" by the French because of their proud bearing. In 1983 the African Cemetery was listed as a Westchester County Tricentennial Historic Site, and in 2003 the cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Ella Fitzgerald Statue Yonkers Metro North Railroad Station Plaza, Yonkers Dubbed "The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century.  As an African American woman, she experienced not only the adulation of this country, but also some of its most hideous and persistent moral defects.  Ella lived and worked at a time when, for her, entrances to most white-owned clubs were through the back door.  She literally conquered the bigoted, the insensitive and the racist with love through song while serving as an ambassador for both music and our country. Born in Newport News, Virginia, on April 25, 1917, Ella grew up in Yonkers and attended local schools.  Fitzgerald began her professional career at the age of 16.  She could sing sultry ballads and sweet jazz, plus imitate every instrument in an orchestra.  She worked with all the jazz greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Nat King Cole, to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman.  Ella achieved legendary success in a career that spanned six decades, her albums selling more than 40 million copies.  She earned countless awards, including a Kennedy Center Award for her contributions to the performing arts, honorary doctorate degrees from Dartmouth and Yale, and 13 Grammy awards.  Despite poor health, she remained an active performer until 1992.  Ella Fitzgerald died on June 15, 1996, at the age of 79 due to complications associated with diabetes. As a commemoration of this great talent and her connection to the city of Yonkers, African American artist Vinnie Bagwell created this bronze statue entitled "The First Lady of Jazz Ella Fitzgerald" in her honor in 1996.

Foster Memorial AME Zion Church 90 Wildey Street,  Tarrytown  10591  Phone:  914-631-2002 Amanda and Henry Foster, Rev. Jacob Jimmerson founded Foster Memorial African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church in Tarrytown in 1860.  Amanda Foster, born in Albany in 1807, is considered the "Mother of the Church."  She was the driving force in the formation of the congregation, whose first meetings were held in her Tarrytown confectionery.  In possession of her "free papers," documents that permitted African Americans prior to the abolishment of slavery to freely travel, Amanda obtained employment as a nurse to the children of the governor of Arkansas.  While in Arkansas, she contributed to the Underground Railroad movement by using her "free papers" to help a young fugitive slave girl escape. Amanda Foster moved back to New York in 1837 and established her business in Tarrytown, where she met and married Henry Foster around 1845.  In 1865, after five years of the congregation meeting in the Foster store and other business establishments, construction of building for Foster AME Zion Church began with funds donated primarily by the local Dutch Reformed and Methodist congregations. During the Civil War, members of Foster AME Zion Church helped to provide food and shelter to fugitive slaves who decided to settle in Tarrytown.  After the Civil War, Rev. Jacob Thomas would go to the village of Mount Vernon to help start the AME Zion movement there. Like most AME Zion churches, Foster AME Zion was and still is a religious and social crossroads for the African American community, providing a meeting place for worship and a place for public interaction and service.  In 1982 the Church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  It was recognized as a Westchester County Tricentennial Historic Site in 1983. Get Directions

The Friends Meeting House 420 Quaker Road, Chappaqua 10514 Phone: 914-238-3170 The Chappaqua Friends Meeting House, circa 1753, is the oldest Quaker meeting house standing in Westchester County.  In the early 1750s, members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, began to challenge the morality of slavery in colonial New York.  In 1767 the Purchase community of Friends decreed that it was forbidden for its members to own slaves, stating that "[it] is not consistent with Christianity to buy or sell our fellow men for slaves."  The Society of Friends resolved that all of its members should release their slaves and seek to provide them with the means to support themselves and their families.  The Quaker opposition to slavery served as a primary catalyst in its abolition in post-revolutionary New York. The Quakers were committed to libery and justice for all and they imposed sanctions on Friends who continued to own slaves.  By 1799 the last slave owned by a Quaker in Westchester County was freed, well before slavery ended in New York in 1827.  The Quakers were the first to offer reparations for thier freed African Americans.  They purchased and then gave to them the land where the 18th- and 19th-century free African American community known as "The Hills" was situated, where Harrison, North Castle and White Plains meet near Silver Lake. Get Directions

Jack Peterson Memorial Croton Point Park,  Croton-on-Hudson  10520 Phone:  914-862-5290 This monument was erected to acknowledge the brave stand taken by militiamen during the American Revolutionary War to thwart the British forces on the Hudson River.  Jack Peterson, an African American militiaman from Peekskill, was one of those who manned the American cannon at Tellers Point (now Croton Point) that fired upon the British war ship, Vulture.  The vessel had sailed up the Hudson River to transport Major John Andre, adjutant general to the British forces Commander-in-Chief Sir Henry Clinton, to a secret meeting with American General Benedict Arnold.  Arnold, furious at being passed over for a promotion and for having been censured for negligence, planned to sell the British vital information about the American fortress at West Point. While anchored in the Hudson, the American forces heavily bombarded the Vulture.  Ultimately, the vessel was forced to raise anchor and return to New York City.  Major Andre was left behind enemy lines and forced to travel overland through Westchester to get back to New York City.  He was eventually captured in Tarrytown. Get Directions

Jay Heritage Center 210 Boston Post Road,  Rye  10580 Phone:  914-698-9275 www.jaycenter.org The Jay Heritage Center occupies the site of the childhood home of founding father John Jay.  It was also the home of several generations of people both free and enslaved, who worked for the Jays.  John Jay was a founder and past president of the Manumission Society of New York, which advocated abolition and established schools to educate free African Americans.  As governor of New York, Jay signed the Gradual Emancipation Act into law in 1799.  The Rye farm remained a place of refuge for Jay throughout his public career. His son, Peter Augustus Jay, was profoundly anti-slavery and also served as president of the Manumission Society.  As a delegate to the New York Constitutional Convention of 1821, he called for the extension of suffrage to African Americans in one of the most eloquent speeches of the convention.  In 1838 Peter Augustus Jay built a magnificent Green Revival mansion on the site of his father's boyhood home.  After his death in 1843, he left a lifetime stipend to Caesar Valentine, a man who had worked for the Jays as a slave and later as a free man. The Jay Center, named a National Historic Landmark in 1993, offers a two-part school program, "Striving for Freedom: The Jay Family and Slavery."  The education director guides students in the examination of historical documents and leads a discussion on the misconceptions about slavery in the North.  Students also see an interactive play about two enslaved women.  Over 1,400 students a year witness a moving portrayal of the reunion of Mary with her sister Clarinda, who returns to the Rye farm where she was born. Get Directions

John Jay Homestead State Historic Site Route 22,  Katonah  10536 Phone:  914-232-5651 www.johnjayhomestead.org After growing up in the Westchester community of Rye, Founding Father John Jay established a homestead for himself and his family in the northern Westchester community of Bedford.  Enslaved and free Africans lived and worked at Jay properties in Bedford, New York City, Albany, Fishkill and Rye throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. The slaveholding history of the Jay family is documented in their letters, wills, inventories and other papers.  These documents indentify John Jay's grandfather, Augustus Jay, as being aboard a 17th-century slave trading vessel belonging to Frederick Philipse.  Recent research on the enslaved Africans in the John Jay family focused on Clarinda and her daughter Zilpha, enslaved women who served three generations of Jays. There are conflicts and contradictions between Jay's abolitionist persuasions and his personal pattern of slaveholding and tolerance of the practice within his family.  Jay's career mirrors many of the founding fathers who intellectually recognized the incongruence of slavery in a free and democratic society.  John Jay was a founder and first president Manumission Society of New York, an organization that both advocated abolition and established schools to educated free African Americans.  As governor of New York, John Jay signed landmark legislation that led to the gradual abolition of slavery by 1827.  However, Jay, like others of his prominence and stature, continued his paternalistic approach of slave-holding for most of his life. John Jay Homestead is a National Historic Landmark and is operated by the N.Y.S. Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Get Directions

Monument to First Rhode Island Regiment 2880 Crompond Road,  Yorktown Heights  10598 Phone:  914-245-2186 Erected in 1982 as a result of the pioneering research and activism of Mr. John H. Harmon, this monument is dedicated to the valiant and courageous soldiers of the First Rhode Island Regiment.  The First Rhode Island Regiment was composed predominately of enslaved African American soldiers who had enlisted in the American Continental Army to earn their freedom.  During the American Revolution, these men fought courageously to defend American liberty against the aggressions of British tyranny. In 1780 the First Rhode Island Regiment, under the command of Colonel Christopher Greene, was charged with defending northern Westchester lines against the ravages of British troops and roguish Loyalist Refugees led by James DeLancey.  At dawn on May 13, 1781, DeLancey and 200 Loyalist Refugees mounted a surprise attack on Colonel Greene's headquarters, which had been established at the Davenport House, located on Croton Heights Road in Yorktown.  Within moments, DeLancey and his renegade Refugees overtook the 50 American soldiers encamped in tents around the house.  When the firing ceased, six soldiers had been slain, Colonel Greene was mortally wounded and the remaining officers were killed. Leaving the wounded Greene by the road the die, DeLancey and his Refugees then proceeded to the Griffin House where the rest of the Rhode Island troops were quartered.  DeLancey announced that Colonel Greene was dead and ordered the African American soldiers to ground their firelocks and surrender.  Refusing to surrender, the African American soldiers leveled their muskets and fired upon DeLancey and his column of Refugees.  The African American soldiers of the First Rhode Island Regiment fought courageously, but all were killed. Get Directions

Philipsburg Manor, Upper Mills Route 9,  Sleepy Hollow  10591 Phone:  914-631-3992 www.hudsonvalley.org Philipsburg Manor, a property of Historic Hudson Valley, is a nationally significant late 17th- and early 18th-century milling and trading complex that was part of a vast 52,000-acre estate owned by the Anglo-Dutch Philipse family.  Enslaved individuals of African descent operated the commercial center of the estate in what is now the village of Sleepy Hollow. During the colonial period, the Philipses were one of the largest slaveholding families in the North.  Although slavery was legal in all 13 of England's North American colonies, northern slaveholders rarely owned more than two or three individuals.  The Philipse family owned over 50 individuals who worked at various locations in New York.  One of these individuals, an enslaved man named Cuffee, was credited with being a ring-leader in the 1741 New York City insurrection conspiracy. Twenty-three enslaved men, women and children lived and worked at Philipsburg Manor in 1750, forming a community that survived in spite of tremendous odds.  At Philipsburg Manor, enslaved men and women like Ceasar, Dimond, Sue and Massy provided the skilled labor necessary to operated a milling complex, bakehouse, farm and dairy and to pilot boats up and down the Hudson River. Costumed interpreters demonstrate and talk about various aspects of colonial life that affected the culture and economy of those who lived and labored at Philipsburg Manor.  The interpreters offer regular performances of vignettes dramatizing important aspects of African slavery.  In addition, the site offers popular school programs and a lively calendar of special events.  Visitors experience hands-on tours of the water-powered gristmill, manor house, barn, activity center and slave garden.  The visitor center includes a shop and cafe. Get Directions

Philipse Manor Hall 29 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers  10701 Phone:  914-965-4027 www.philipsemanorhallblogspot.com www.friendspmh.org Philipse Manor Hall, a National Historic Landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, was a major component of the original Philipsburg Manor and served as its Lower Mill complex.  As masters of Philipsburg Manor, Frederick Philipse and his wife Margaret Hardenbrock were Westchester's premier examples of 17th-century large-scale New York slaveholders.  They were deeply involved in both slave trading and slaveholding. Until the Revolutionary War, several generations of the Philipse family were leading merchants in New York's commercial life.  The records of their business and lives indicate that enslaved Africans were vital to their success and the development of Westchester County.  The Philipses' global commerical activities place Westchester at the center of the "Golden Circuit," better known as the TransAtlantic and Indian Ocean slave trade to the West Indies, American and Europe. Get Directions

St. Paul's Church National Historic Site 897 South Columbus Avenue,  Mount Vernon  10550 Phone:  914-667-4116 www.nps.gov/sapa St. Paul's Church, completed in 1787, was located on the colonial town green of Eastchester.   Built along the old Boston Post Road, it rested in the midst of farmhouses and Guion's, Fowler's and Crawford's Tavern. The earlies reference to African American in Eastchester appears in the town records, dated April 23, 1672.  The entry records the sale of a "Negro woman" to Samuel Adams of Fairfield, CT, by Moses Hoitte.  The church and taverns were the center of community life and the cemetery was the final resting place upon death.  Many of the 9,000 interred in the cemetery are persons of African descent.  Most of them were buried there in the 19th and 20th centuries.  The church records at St. Paul's include the sexton's book and burial records denoting the race of those entered into the graveyard. St. Paul's African American interpretive program concentrates on the enslaved and free Africans who lived as a close-knit community around the church and Eastchester Creek.  There are public and private documents related to African American families that attest to the presence and participation of African Americans in Eastchester.  St. Paul's Church National Historic Site is a unit of the National Park Service listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Get Directions

Stony Hill Cemetery Buckout Road,  Harrison  10528  Post-Revolutionary War emancipated (freed) slaves settled in the rough and stony hills where Harrison, New Castle and White Plains meet near Silver Lake.  Their community, also known as "The Hills," consisted of a church, school, houses and cemetery.  "The Hills" was evidence of an emerging free African American class in early Westchester.  The community's presence and involvement in county life is recorded in various documents, as many of its residents were literate and left records of their world view in the form of letters and poems to family members. Stony Hill Cemetery is a 6.5-acre parcel and is the last remaining identifiable element of "The Hills."  The property on which the cemetery sits was part of a land grant given by the Purchase Friends (Quakers) to slaves they voluntarily freed in the 18th century.  The remains (approximately 200) of "The Hills" residents and those of several African American Civil War veterans are buried in the cemetery. Today, the area is surrounded by continued residential development.  Mt. Hope A.M.E. Zion Church in White Plains and the Stony Hill Cemetery Committee serve as the stewards of this historic site and represent the voice for one of the first free black communities in this country.  The committee continues to honor its fallen heroes through its beautification efforts and ongoing research of the site's history.  In 1983 the Stony Hill Cemetery was listed as a Westchester County Tricentennial Historic Site.  The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Get Directions

Villa Lewaro Route 9,  Irvington 10533 Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, was the daughter of enslaved parents.  Madam Walker invented, patented and brilliantly marketed hair and cosmetic products for women of color.  Madam Walker's business success made her America's first black millionairess. In 1916 Madam Walker commissioned the design and construction of Villa Lewaro, a mansion overlooking the Hudson River in Irvington.  The mansion is an astounding testimony to the genius of Vertner W. Tandy, New York's first certified black architect.  The 32-room mansion includes exquisite stained-glass windows, vaulted ceilings, marble staircases and intricate ceiling moldings. Madam Walker was a model for the early feminists who would receive the right to vote shortly after her untimely death in 1919.  Her race consciousness, charity and sense of responsibility to her people made her an irresistible model for generations of African American entrepreneurs.  Madam Walker's daughter, A'Leila, who resided in Harlem, occasionally used the mansion to entertain the great luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance including Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois and photographer James VanDerZee.  When A'Leila Walker died in 1933, Villa Lewaro was bequeathed to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  The NAACP sold the mansion to Annie E. Poth to be used as a home for elderly women. Villa Lewaro was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.  In the 1990s, the mansion was to be demolished to redevelop the property.  However, lobbying by preservationists saved the mansion from the wrecker's ball.  An African American entrepreneur would later purchase the mansion and restore it to its former splendor.

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