Back when New York was a mere colony of Britain, Philipsburg Manor was the seat of a commercial empire founded by one of the most powerful men in the territory, Frederick Philipse. He created Philipsburg Manor to serve as a provisioning plantation for the Atlantic sea trade and as a headquarters for a worldwide shipping operation. At about the same time, he also became involved in another aspect of the Atlantic economy - the slave trade.

Prior to 2001, visitors to Philipsburg Manor (which is on Route 9 in Sleepy Hollow) learned primarily about the Philipse family and the European tenant farmers who worked the land there. But after years of planning, Historic Hudson Valley launched a new interpretative program, focusing on the story of slavery in the colonial north from the perspective of the enslaved Africans who toiled for the Philipses at the manor. This powerful, unusual - indeed, radical - approach to museum education will be part of a panel discussion and paper presentation at next year's Organization of American Historians conference, taking place March 26-29 in Seattle. The panel will examine how enslavement is (or is not) told at a variety of American museums.

Founded in 1907, the Organization of American Historians is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history and encourages wide discussion of historical questions and equitable treatment of all practitioners of history. The organization has a membership of more than 11,000 academic and public historians and publishes the award-winning quarterly "Journal of American History." Check them out at www.oah.org.

Kudos to the Philipsburg Manor community for being deemed panel-worthy.

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