An Interview with Lavada Nahon
In this month’s issue of Relearning Highlands History, we consider the unique system of enslavement that developed in the Hudson River Valley throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. While slavery in New York, and the North in general, took a different form than that of the Plantation South (as we learned earlier in the Relearning Highlands History series), it was an equally brutal and inhuman repression of human freedom and rights. The lasting scars of chattel slavery can still be seen today in our strained relationship with our natural environment and in inequity in land access and ownership.
In this video interview, Lavada Nahon, historical interpreter with NYS Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, explores how enslaved people lived and adapted under this system of colonial violence, and highlights their many contributions to the culture and infrastructure of our region.
