Cato Crook, in His Own Words

Sat, 02/18/2023 - 15:38

Charles E. Lawrence Collection, Richard H. Handley Collection of Long Island Americana, Smithtown Library

By Star Staff

February 18, 2023

For Black History Month, the Bridgehampton Museum is offering a talk, "From the Pen of a Formerly Enslaved Man," with Julie Greene, the Southampton Town historian, on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Nathaniel Rogers House at the Main Street and Ocean Road intersection.

The man is Cato Crook. He lived in Bridgehampton and in 1819 wrote to a prominent Smithtown landowner, Elias Smith, protesting the ill treatment of his so-called runaway niece and requesting that she be granted her freedom. His letter "offers a glimpse into the complex and painful world of servitude on Long Island in the 18th and early 19th centuries," a release from the museum said.

Admission is $10, free for members.

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