School programs are designed for students in grades 3-12 and align  to New York State Social Studies Standards and AP U.S. History  Framework,

Our programs align to New York State Social Studies Standards and AP U.S. History Framework.

New York State Social Studies Standards
4.3b Colonial New York became home to many different peoples, including European immigrants, and free and enslaved Africans. Colonists developed different lifestyles.
4.5a There were slaves in New York State. People worked to fight against slavery and for change.
4.5c The United States became divided over several issues, including slavery, resulting in the Civil War. New York State supported the Union and played an important role in this war.
5.3d Africans were captured, brought to the Americas, and sold as slaves. Their transport across the Atlantic was known as the Middle Passage.
5.6b Legal, political, and historic documents define the values, beliefs, and principles of constitutional democracy.
5.6c Across time and place, different groups of people in the Western Hemisphere have struggled and fought for equality and civil rights or sovereignty.
7.2e Over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, slavery grew in the colonies. Enslaved Africans utilized a variety of strategies to both survive and resist their conditions.
7.7b Enslaved African Americans resisted slavery in various ways in the 19th century. The abolitionist movement also worked to raise awareness of and generate resistance to the institution of slavery.
9.4c Interregional travelers, traders, missionaries, and nomads carried products and natural resources, and brought with them enslaved people and ideas that led to cultural diffusion.
9.10c The decimation of indigenous populations in the Americas influenced the growth of the Atlantic slave trade. The trade of enslaved peoples resulted in exploitation, death, and the creation of wealth.
11.1b A number of factors influenced colonial economic development, social structures, and labor systems, causing variation by region.

AP U.S. History Framework
KC-1.2.II.C European traders partnered with some West African groups who practiced slavery to forcibly extract enslaved laborers for the Americas. The Spanish imported enslaved Africans to labor in plantation agriculture and mining.
KC-2.1.II.D The colonies of the southern Atlantic coast and the British West Indies used long growing seasons to develop plantation economies based on exporting staple crops. They depended on the labor of enslaved Africans, who often constituted the majority of the population in these areas and developed their own forms of cultural and religious autonomy
KC-2.1.III.A An Atlantic economy developed in which goods, as well as enslaved Africans and American Indians, were exchanged between Europe, Africa, and the Americas through extensive trade networks. European colonial economies focused on acquiring, producing, and exporting commodities that were valued in Europe and gaining new sources of labor.
KC-2.2.II.A All the British colonies participated to varying degrees in the Atlantic slave trade due to the abundance of land and a growing European demand for colonial goods, as well as a shortage of indentured servants. Small New England farms used relatively few enslaved laborers, all port cities held significant minorities of enslaved people, and the emerging plantation systems of the Chesapeake and the southern Atlantic coast had large numbers of enslaved workers, while the great majority of enslaved Africans were sent to the West Indies.
KC-2.2.II.B As chattel slavery became the dominant labor system in many southern colonies, new laws created a strict racial system that prohibited interracial relationships and defined the descendants of African American mothers as black and enslaved in perpetuity.
KC-2.2.II.C Africans developed both overt and covert means to resist the dehumanizing nature of slavery and maintain their family and gender systems, culture, and religion.
KC-2.2.II Like other European empires in the Americas that participated in the Atlantic slave trade, the English colonies developed a system of slavery that reflected the specific economic, demographic, and geographic characteristics of those colonies.

This program will discuss slavery in colonial New York and will feature historic sites and objects associated with enslavement, as well as educators in period clothing delivering tours based in extensive scholarship and primary documents. Historic Hudson Valley recognizes that this is sensitive and painful historical content, and it is our policy never to ask visitors, students, teachers or our own staff to role play the part of an enslaved person or an enslaver. Please contact [email protected] if you have questions or concerns.

Dress for the outdoors! Programs are held rain, snow, or shine. Students, teachers, and chaperones should dress for the weather and wear appropriate footwear. Programs involve walking outdoors on unpaved and/or uneven surfaces.

GPS address for Philipsburg Manor:
381 N Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY

GPS address for Washington Irving’s Sunnyside:
3 W Sunnyside Lane, Irvington, NY

If you anticipate a delay or if you must cancel on the day of the trip, please call our Education Hotline at 914.366.6913. This number is for day-of-use only.

Please arrive 15 minutes before the start of your program. If you arrive late, your program will be shortened accordingly.

When you arrive, a Philipsburg Manor staff member will greet your group in the parking lot. If you do not see a staff member, please go to the Visitor Center and ring the doorbell on the left side

Chances are if your school is open, so are we.  If you’re unsure, please call our main office (914.631.8200) and listen to the greeting.  Any site closures or delayed openings will be noted.