UPCOMING EVENTS

“Surviving the Ordeal: Long Island

Women During the Revolutionary Era”

Natalie Naylor, Historian and Author

Women are almost invisible in most accounts of the American Revolution on Long Island, although they experienced more than seven years of British occupation, skirmishes, and calculated humiliations.  Before the outbreak of the war, it was women who made the boycotts against British goods effective by weaving homespun and devising substitutes for tea.  Hannah Floyd, the wife of William Floyd, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Mastic, Long Island, became a refugee in Connecticut, like many other Long Island women and their families after the Battle of Long Island in August 1776.  The Whitestone home of Frances Lewis, another Signer, was wrecked by the British and his wife Elizabeth was taken prisoner and held for a number of months before Washington

arranged for her to be exchanged.  Both women died during the war without returning to their Long Island homes.

Women who stayed on the island had their fields and orchards destroyed and their cattle and food stuffs confiscated.  Some women had to house and feed British officers in their homes, disrupting

households.  Other women defied orders from occupying soldiers in acts of domestic resistance.

At its peak, occupying troops were one in six residents of the island.  The occupation meant martial law prevailed, but not law and order.  Long Island was occupied longer than anywhere else in the country during the war.  British troops did not leave Brooklyn and Queens counties until December 4, 1783, nine days after they evacuated New York City.  Whether patriots or loyalists, women endured the brunt of the long occupation and most coped and survived the ordeal.

The speaker, Natalie Naylor, is a retired Hofstra University professor, the editor of our annual Journal, and the author of Women in Long Island’s Past and many articles on Long Island history.

We are partnering with the Jericho Public Library for this hybrid program, available in person or on Zoom.  We encourage you to register to attend either in person or the zoom webinar at: JerichoLibrary.org (under Events).

Registration is currently open and will close at 2:00pm on March 1st.

Refreshments and book signing follow at the library.

Driving Directions: The Jericho Library is at 1 Merry Lane, Jericho 11753, just south of Rt. 25 (Jericho Turnpike).  From the Northern State Parkway, take exit 35 North or from the LIE/Rt. 495, take exit 41 North onto Rts. 106/107.  Stay in the right-hand lane and turn right onto Rt. 25 East.  Go a very short distance and turn right (south) onto Merry Lane.  The Jericho Library will be on your left; parking is available on both sides of the building.

Guests are welcome to attend this free program, either at the library or virtually on Zoom.  Please tell your friends.