Phase Two Begins in Albany
Greetings from Albany.
This week marks the official launch of Phase Two of the Labor Pains Project. For this next stage, I am conducting on-site research at historical sites across New York and Massachusetts, and I am thrilled to be piloting the In My Skin: Healing at the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Economy workshops at the Arbor Hill branch of the Albany Public Library.
My first order of business was to reacquaint myself with the collections at the University at Albany library. I spent a day getting lost in the stacks and quickly realized the depth of information held here is far greater than I remembered. It was a humbling and invigorating reminder of the work that lies ahead. I have already scheduled appointments for next week with the Special Collections department to explore the papers of Dr. Alice Green, a renowned activist who founded the Social Justice Center in Albany, alongside the Center’s institutional records and the archives of the NAACP Albany chapter.
During my research, I had a moment of profound connection. While sifting through materials in the President’s Reading Room, I looked up and saw a photograph of Harvey Milk. Like me, Milk grew up in New York, graduated from UAlbany, and was eventually called westward to San Francisco. He became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, and that kind of seismic, westward shift to more fully step into oneself is a journey I understand deeply.
Today, on July 4th, I attended a lecture at the Underground Railroad Education Center that has already reshaped my thinking. Lavada Nahon, the official Interpreter of African American History for NYS Parks, gave a talk titled “NYS’s Investment in the Institution of Enslavement and its Legacy Today.” Two points are still ringing in my ears:
- Because neither The Netherlands nor Britain adopted slavery as a state-sanctioned policy, Dutch and British enslavers in New Netherlands (and later New York) had to proactively create a legal and social system to justify and protect the institution of slavery.
- The New York State legislature intentionally altered the language in official documents from “slave” to “servant” to soften the brutal reality of enslaved Africans in the region, hoping to attract more European immigrants.
These insights into the deliberate construction of a system and the purposeful manipulation of language explain so much about the social and cultural climate of this region. I took the opportunity to request a follow-up with Ms. Nahon to dive deeper into her research, which I know will be invaluable in shaping the project’s narrative review and script.
Being here, surrounded by history and other historians, reminds me of the part of myself that loves the rigorous pursuit of the “why” and “how.” It’s the Fourth of July, and I have never felt more free—immersed in the work of uncovering truths and connecting them to our present.
This feeling of purpose is amplified by your support. A heartfelt thank you to the anonymous donor who just contributed over $400 to the GoFundMe, and to everyone who has donated thus far. To have your financial belief behind this work, especially in our current cultural and political climate, is profoundly validating.
However you choose to spend your day, I hope it liberates your spirit the way this work is liberating mine.
With gratitude,
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