Virtual Lecture: Slavery and the Jay Family: A 7-Generation Story

Slavery and the Jay Family: A 7-Generation Story

Founding Father John Jay was descended from three generations of enslavers. Jay himself is something of an enigma: he argued for abolition in the new state of New York as early as 1777 but did not abolish slavery in his own household for another four decades. His descendants include three generations who were abolitionists and civil rights activists.

This illustrated program, presented via Zoom, examines the arc of slavery through seven generations of the Jay family.  It is a story that goes back almost to the introduction of slaves into the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and ends just months before the 13th Amendment abolished slavery.