Session 1: Thursday April 11, 2024 (Virtual Session)
WNYLRC NY Heritage Digital Collections
Native Americans: The Iroquois Confederacy
Iroquois Confederacy
According to Indian legend, the Senecas of Western New York evolved from one of the original six Iroquois families who were released by the Creator from beneath a mountain near Oswego Falls. The Senecas believe the six families migrated east to the ocean, then faced west and followed the sun, each family settling in a different area. The Seneca family grew rapidly in the Genesee Valley, which they occupied for nearly 400 years.
Strategically the protectors of the western flank of Iroquois territory, the Senecas came to be known as the "Keepers of the Western Door." Numerically they were the largest of the Iroquois member tribes even at the inception of the Confederacy 500 years ago, and they grew even larger and stronger from the mid-1600s through the early 1700s through conquests, adoptions and assimilations of smaller groups of Indians. Within the clans of the Iroquois Confederacy the Senecas numbered half the fighting force.
Strategically the protectors of the western flank of Iroquois territory, the Senecas came to be known as the "Keepers of the Western Door." Numerically they were the largest of the Iroquois member tribes even at the inception of the Confederacy 500 years ago, and they grew even larger and stronger from the mid-1600s through the early 1700s through conquests, adoptions and assimilations of smaller groups of Indians. Within the clans of the Iroquois Confederacy the Senecas numbered half the fighting force.
Iroquois Confederacy Links
African Americans & the Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad
Most blacks on the Niagara Frontier were free men, but eight were listed as slaves in 1808. Captain Pratt had a black servant girl called Tam and a fugitive slave named Jack Ray in 1813. A law in 1817 called for the gradual abolition of slavery in the state.
Fifty-eight blacks lived in Buffalo in 1828, working as servants, barbers, laborers and boat stewards. They settled around Michigan and William streets and in 1831 founded Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Later, the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church became a station for the "underground railroad," a secret system for escorting runaway slaves from the South to freedom in the North and in Canada. One of the Michigan Avenue pastors, Dr. J. Edward Nash, came to Buffalo in 1892 and was instrumental in founding the local NAACP and the Buffalo Urban League. Born in 1868 in Virginia to a former slave family, he was pastor here for 61 years and in 1954 was presented a Brotherhood Award in human relations by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. By 1855, there were 704 blacks living in 148 families, making Buffalo the tenth largest concentration of blacks in the North.
Fifty-eight blacks lived in Buffalo in 1828, working as servants, barbers, laborers and boat stewards. They settled around Michigan and William streets and in 1831 founded Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Later, the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church became a station for the "underground railroad," a secret system for escorting runaway slaves from the South to freedom in the North and in Canada. One of the Michigan Avenue pastors, Dr. J. Edward Nash, came to Buffalo in 1892 and was instrumental in founding the local NAACP and the Buffalo Urban League. Born in 1868 in Virginia to a former slave family, he was pastor here for 61 years and in 1954 was presented a Brotherhood Award in human relations by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. By 1855, there were 704 blacks living in 148 families, making Buffalo the tenth largest concentration of blacks in the North.
African American Links
C-Span Buffalo Civil Rights Movement
Session Objectives
Native Americans and African Americans
- Explore the resources available to educators at the Buffalo and Erie County Library & Grosvenor Room.
- Explore the WNYLRC Digital archive.
- Explore the WWI Exhibit.
- Explore resources available related to Native Americans and African Americans.
- Analyze the contributions that Native Americans and African Americans had on early Buffalo history.
- Analyze the lasting impact that Native Americans and African Americans had on early Buffalo history.
- Examine sample projects on the www.BuffaloAH.com website
- Create “Text Based Projects” to use as assessments with students.
- Align projects with the NYS Social Studies Standards & Frameworks.