Annual Black History Month Celebration To Revisit The History Of Sylvester Manor And Lloyd’s Manor

Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, in partnership with Eastville Community Historical Society (ECHS), will present its 7th Annual Black History Month Celebration on Sunday, February 28 via Zoom. Manor to Manor: Shaping America will feature a discussion between Lauren Brincat, Curator at Lloyd’s Manor, and Donnamarie Barnes, Curator at Sylvester Manor. Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, Eastville Community Historical Society Executive Director, will moderate.

“This event is a testament to social and economic factors that shaped the early republic with forged relationships,” Dr. Grier-Key stated. “Manor to Manor will examine roots of transformation and commonality among wealth, Northern slavery, agency, and gentry. Revisiting these two Manors provide us with a lens to learn about the geopolitical landscape and inform an understanding of labor, land, and manor life.”

The afternoon, which will commence at 2:00 p.m., will take a look at how three generations of African and European descendants are connected through the families of Sylvester Manor in Shelter Island and Lloyd’s Manor in Huntington, NY.

“We are very pleased to once again partner with the Eastville Community Historical Society to present our annual Black History Month programming. This year more than ever these conversations about our shared history are vital and we are excited to present the stories of connections through generations between the two Manors,” Barnes expressed. “The Lloyd’s and Sylvester families were joined by marriage and also connected through the enslaved African family they both kept in bondage. The survival and resilience passed down from Tammero and Oyou to their grandson Jupiter Hamman is truly a story of America’s founding.”

As curator of Preservation Long Island, Brincat is responsible for a collection that encompasses over 3,000 objects, nearly 200 cubic feet of archival materials, and a trio of historic houses, including Joseph Lloyd Manor.

“Preservation Long Island is honored to be a part of this conversation and to share these important stories about family connection, resilience, and resistance across the Atlantic Ocean and across generations with our colleagues at Sylvester Manor,” Brincat added. “We remember Jupiter Hammon as the first published African American poet, who despite the dehumanizing conditions in which he was forced to live while enslaved at Joseph Lloyd Manor, asserted his voice and identity through his own words.”

She continued, “Hammon’s story and that of his family—his father, Obium, who was born into slavery at Sylvester Manor, and his grandparents, Oyou and Tammero, who were kidnapped into slavery from their African homelands—are essential to not only understanding Long Island history, but American history.”

For more than a decade, Brincat has worked in museums and historical societies, where she has focused on curation, exhibition, program development, and collections management. Barnes joined Sylvester Manor Educational Farm in 2016 as Curator/ Archivist. Prior to that, she spent more than 30 years in photojournalism as a photo editor. At Sylvester Manor, she has delved into photography projects relating “to the memory of slavery felt in the landscape” – including curating the Shelter Island-based nonprofit organic farm, historic plantation and arts and education center’s Women of the Manor, A Place in Pictures and All That Has Been: Our Roots Revealed exhibitions. Throughout the years, Dr. Grier-Key, a historian, preservationist, and curator, has shared her expertise at various museums, historical societies, and service organizations. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at CUNY Medgar Evers College, the director of the Long Island History Institute at SUNY Nassau Community College, and serves on the board of local and regional organizations – such as the Museum Association of New York, the Preservation League of New York State, and NAACP Brookhaven Town Branch.

There is no fee to attend Manor to Manor: Shaping America, but preregister is required.

For more information, visit www.sylvestermanor.org.