The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier by Amy Godine (review).

The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier examines the 1846 agrarian reform initiative led by abolitionist Gerrit Smith, who gifted 120,000 acres of Adirondack land to African American New Yorkers to promote voting rights and self-reliance. The book highlights the experiences of the Black settlers, including figures like Willis A. Hodges and Lyman Epps, who faced racism, social isolation, and land fraud despite support from prominent abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and John Brown. Although the settlement largely failed and was forgotten, the study explores how the racialized culture of the Adirondacks contributed to this erasure, contrasting with the enduring legacy of John Brown. Recent efforts, including those by the author and civil rights groups, have sought to recover and honor the history of the Black Woods and its significance to New York State and African American history. [Extracted from the article]