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BLACK HISTORY AT
THE JAY ESTATE
Westchester County's African American Heritage Trail was created by
Dr. Larry Spruill and the African American Advisory Board more than two decades ago with a purpose: to furnish the most authentic information about the African American presence and participation in the making of Westchester. Similarly, New York State created a Path Through History to highlight sites that recognized the importance of preserving historic narratives about freedom and dignity.

The Jay Estate is a member of each of these trails, and the Jay Heritage Center has made it our mission, in every month of the year, to illuminate the lives of the enslaved and freed individuals who lived at our site, while also lending active support and advocacy to other important landmarks of Black history throughout New York State. We invite you to learn more about just a few of our partner sites and organizations at the links above.
FEBRUARY PROGRAMS
Samantha Power
February 9 at 6pm
Nearly 600 people have already signed up to hear Samantha Power—former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and President Biden's nominee to lead USAID—discuss current events and her bestselling new book, The Education of an Idealist, in this FREE virtual program. President Obama called the memoir a "must-read for anyone who cares about our role in a changing world." Join us and ask her your questions!
Gretchen Sorin
February 11 at 7pm
Gretchen Sorin, the acclaimed author of “Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights” (which inspired a documentary of the same name by Ric Burns) returns to JHC to share her compelling account of the impact of automobile transportation on the Civil Rights movement.

In 1998, when JHC was a new nonprofit, Sorin urged our leadership to "remind Americans of the struggles of the framers of the Constitution and the courts and to connect those struggles with present day concerns about civil rights and civil liberties"—a message that is more relevant than ever today. Virtual program is FREE and registrants will receive her book while supplies last.

Co-sponsored by the American Women of African Heritage (AWAH).

Thank you to Alger and Con Edison for their generous support of this program
Thomas E. Ricks
February 23 at 6pm
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tom Ricks will discuss his bestselling new book, First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country, in which he offers lessons for our fraught political moment. "Ricks," writes Virgina DeJohn Anderson in the New York Times, "urges Americans to fix their government so that it protects citizens from the inevitable lapses of a fallible people and, perhaps, even more fallible leaders.” A former military correspondent for the Washington Post, Ricks is also the author of "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003-04"; and "The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today."
African American Trailblazers February 25 at 5:30pm
The Trailblazer Awards is an annual event sponsored by Westchester County Executive George Latimer, the African American Advisory Board, and the County Board of Legislators, that honors the accomplishments of local citizens of African descent. This year's honorees will include Mayor Shawn Patterson-Howard, Dr. Glenn A. Davis, Mr. Olney Reynolds, and Dr. Philip Ozuah. In addition, Dr. Larry Spruill will give a special presentation.
PLUS, COMING IN MARCH...
Amanda Foreman
March 8 at 6pm
Join award-winning historian and Wall Street Journal columnist Dr. Amanda Foreman for a behind-the-scenes look at her documentary, “The Ascent of Woman”—the inspiration for her forthcoming book, "The World Made by Women." Foreman is also the author of the New York Times Notable Book "Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire," which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning movie "The Duchess," starring Keira Knightley; and the best-selling "A World on Fire: The Epic History of Two Nations Divided."
Culinary Justice: Cultural Resilience and the History of Food
Nearly 400 people signed up to watch our first program of the year, “Culinary Justice: Cultural Resilience and the History of Food,” a vibrant discussion of the culinary legacies of marginalized communities. Panelists included Michael Twitty, author of “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South,” and Lavada Nahon, a culinary historian, educator, and independent scholar, who is the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation’s first Interpreter of African American History. The conversation was expertly moderated by Lori Fontanes, JHC’s newest trustee.

Thank you to our co-sponsors the American Women of African Heritage (AWAH) and to Alger and Con Edison for their generous support of this program

Jay Heritage Center at the
Jay Estate
A National Historic Landmark
210 Boston Post Road
Rye, NY 10580 


(914) 698-9275