Getting Black Adirondackers’ thoughts on New York’s reparations commission

Aug 21, 2024 — Photo courtesy of Alice Green. Near her home in Essex, NY. Editor’s note: Alice Green died unexpectedly Tuesday, just weeks after she had been interviewed for this story. As the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies begins examining the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination in New York, longtime activist Alice Green wanted to ensure Black history in the Adirondacks is part of the conversation. David EscobarGetting Black Adirondackers’ thoughts on New York’s reparations commission Green, 84, grew up in Witherbee, a small, Champlain Valley community tied to the iron ore mining industry. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mining companies employed Black workers like Green’s father, who moved to the North Country from South Carolina in the Great Migration. The movement brought many African Americans from the rural South to industrial northern cities to pursue economic opportunities. Green said racism was part of everyday life growing up in her Adirondack community. “Black people were treated differently,” said Green, who has a residence in Essex. “When someone else — mainly Black people or any other people of color — came into the area, they were considered outsiders.” The racial dynamics of her...