Q:
How does one go about introducing an exhibit?
A: Planning, preparing, and completing an
exhibit is a complex but worthwhile undertaking. With patience, hard work, and
know-how, the results can be satisfying, providing an attraction worth viewing.
Since any exhibit is created for a reason, the
most logical starting point is to select a topic and decide on a purpose. These
two aspects are the most crucial parts of planning the exhibit and must be
consistent with the overall concepts and functions of the site.
We also coordinate in accordance with
anniversaries and large-scale acquisitions. For example, in the spring of
2009, the Homestead created an exhibit commemorating the 225th anniversary
of the Treaty of Paris. It included a number of objects such
as John Jay's walking stick, given to him in 1783 by William Bingham;
Sarah Jay's fan, made from carved ivory and watercolor on paper; and a Proclamation
of Congress's Ratification of the Treaty of Paris, generously provided by
Seth Kaller, Inc.
Q:
How do you ensure that 'if you build it, they [public] will come'?
A:
Once the decision is made to install an exhibit and the topic and purpose
clearly outlined and understood, the next step is to figure out how the final
product will be achieved. Inquiries such as whether or not the exhibit will be
of value and contribute to a better understanding of the topic should be made
concerning the proposed exhibit. These inquiries need not be elaborate. A
simple discussion with people associated with the organization and familiar
with the topic such as trustees, staff, members, volunteers, and randomly
selected visitors at the museum should produce some useful commentary. If the
comments are negative or fail to inspire some degree of enthusiasm, the topic
and purpose should be reevaluated.
Q: Discuss John Jay and
slavery.
A: Jay was a leader against slavery after 1777, when he
drafted a state law to abolish slavery. It failed to pass, as did a second
attempt in 1785. Jay was the founder and president of the New York Manumission
Society, in 1785. The Society organized boycotts against newspapers and
merchants in the slave trade and provided legal counsel for free blacks that
were claimed as slaves.
In the close 1792 gubernatorial election, Jay's
antislavery work hurt his election chances in upstate New York Dutch areas,
where slavery was still practiced. As a result, the Democratic-Republican
candidate, George Clinton, defeated him. In 1794, Jay angered southern
slave-owners when, in the process of negotiating the Jay Treaty with the
British, he dropped their demands for compensation for slaves owned by Patriots
who had been captured and carried away during the Revolution.
The New York Manumission Society helped enact the
gradual emancipation of slaves in New York in 1799, which Jay signed into law
as governor.
Q:
Didn't Jay own slaves, a seemingly contradictory practice?
A:
Jay himself made a practice of buying slaves, and then freeing them when they
were adults. He judged that their labors had been a reasonable return on their
price; and owned eight slaves in 1798, the year before the emancipation act was
passed: “I purchase slaves and manumit them at proper ages and when their
faithful services shall have afforded a reasonable retribution.”
Q: Detail the point of
view from the people without voices - the slaves themselves.
A: While little written documentation
exists from the slaves themselves; much is known about their lives through Jay
family letters. Several correspondences discuss a slave named Abby.
Abby had been a slave for
the Livingstons, Sarah Jay's family. She accompanied John and Sarah to
Europe when Jay went there in 1779 as a diplomat during the Revolutionary War.
Abby was said to be devoted to Sarah and proud of her role in the family.
In November 1782, while living
in Paris, the Jays hired a paid servant. Feeling threatened, Abby ran away, was
arrested and jailed. Jay's nephew went to the jail and offered her the chance
to be released, providing she promised to "behave well."
Abby refused, saying,
"She was happy where she was, for that she had nothing to do." Only
later, after becoming ill from the harsh conditions, did she change her mind
and return to the Jays. She died a few weeks later, apparently from pneumonia.
So here you see a woman who at
one point valued her position in the family, and at another, wishes to escape
it.
Q: Abby's story is interesting. Can
you share a portrait of another slave?
A: There's the story of Chester Tillotson,
a free man who was a paid employee of John Jay during the 1810s. Chester's son
was enslaved to another owner, named Launcelot G. McDonald. Tillotson worked
out a deal with Jay for a cash advance to buy his son's freedom. He then repaid
Jay's loan through a portion of his wages over time.
Q: Did Jay's children
embrace his position on slavery?
A: Some idea of the father’s values can be
learned from the record of his sons. Jay’s son William was one of the significant
American abolitionists of the nineteenth century. William Jay actively
participated in peace, temperance and anti-slavery movements while serving as
judge of the county court of Westchester County, New York, for most of the
period between 1818 and 1843. His son, John Jay II, also actively
participated in the anti-slavery movement. He was a prominent member of
the Free Soil Party, and was one of the organizers of the Republican Party in
New York.
The first meeting to establish
"The Home for the Colored Aged” was held at the house of John Jay's
daughter, Maria Jay Banyar's. Maria's sister, Nancy, gave $1,000 in seed money.
The institution, which first began providing services in 1839 in a building
located on 51st Street and the Hudson River, still exists today, as the Lincoln
Hospital.
Q: How does the exhibit relate to the
Homestead's other programs?
A: Visiting students in grades 8 thru 12
are given an immersive, hands-on experience that helps them
answer questions like What is the difference between a servant and
a slave? What is the difference between abolition and manumission? Through the museum and study of primary sources, including
objects and documents, pupils come to understand John Jay's conflicting
attitudes as slave owner and manumission advocate, as well as his son William's
role in the abolition movement. They also learn
about the lives of some of the actual servants and slaves who lived at the
Homestead, like Clarinda and Zilpha Montgomery. The sisters were part of a
family of slaves owned by the Jays at Rye, and later, at Bedford. Both women
are buried with the Jays in their family plot at St. Matthew's Church.
The site’s next project is the
rehabilitation of an historic summer kitchen. Interpretation will highlight
even more directly the lives of these servants and slaves, and others.
Allan Weinreb came to John Jay Homestead in 2001, fourteen years after
joining the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic
Preservation. He previously functioned as curator at the Mills Mansion, now the
Staatsburgh State Historic Site, in northern Dutchess County. Allan is the
author of Staatsburgh: The History of the Lewis-Livingston-Mills Estate, has
appeared on Arts & Entertainment Television's America's Castles, and
curated the 2002 exhibition, A Toast to Sarah Jay.
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