I don't think anyone has mentioned A. J. Williams-Myers book, "Long
Hammering: Essays on the Forging of an African American Presence in the Hudson
River Valley to the Early Twentieth Century," published by Africa World Press
(PO Box 1892, Trenton, NJ 08607)in 1994 in paperback.  The notes should lead to
primary (and secondary) sources.  And also on the topic, albeit Long Island
rather than upstate New York, see Lynda R. Day, "Making a Way to Freedom: A
History of African Americans on Long Island" (Interlaken, NY: Empire State
Books, 1997), under the auspices of Hofstra University's Long Island Studies
Institute.
                Natalie Naylor, Hofstra University, Hempstead, 11549
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