"Groth's careful survey of this history from the anonymous and largely invisible slave society of the eighteenth century to the emergence of black identity in Dutchess County in the antebellum period is remarkable in its details, and his analyses of these details places the black experience firmly within the American march toward freedom and democracy …The book is both relentless and compelling, and highly recommended." — Hudson River Valley Review"Highly recommended." — CHOICE"…this is an excellent book." — San Francisco Book Review"Groth provides a systematic overview focused on the history of African Americans in the Mid-Hudson Valley during the decades before the American Revolution through emancipation and during the national political struggle for abolition and the regional struggle for civil rights." — Andor Skotnes, author of A New Deal for All? Race and Class Struggle in Depression-Era Baltimore