Read Between the Lines: Black History in Pittsford, NY

A question came up at a January Town Board meeting: what gets recorded in Pittsford’s story? What counts as history? As we wrap up February and reflect on Black History Month, I took time over the month to look into the history of African Americans in Pittsford. I can design a social graphic as well as the next politician — but if I’m honest, I’m a nerd. So I started reading local histories, regional archives — the sources I could access.

In the early twentieth century, racially restrictive covenants were written directly into property deeds across this region. These clauses limited who could purchase or occupy homes. They were legal instruments. The lines were drawn in ink. When exclusion is written into land ownership, it shapes who can settle, who can build equity, and who becomes visible in a town’s narrative. It shapes who is counted — and who is not.

As time progressed, physicians, engineers, researchers, professors, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders connected to our universities and major employers have shaped this region and beyond. Black professionals have long been part of that work. Their impact is woven into Rochester and its surrounding communities, including Pittsford.

That history does not end in an archive. It lives in our neighborhoods today, including two little girls who arrived down my street last summer from a country far away and are now learning to call Pittsford home. The work ahead is to write our story in a way that all of our children can see themselves reflected in those that built their community and home.

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Black history is central to the American story, and Pittsford’s history—like the nation’s—cannot be fully understood without it. Carter G. Woodson, often called the father of Black History Month, argued that the study of Black life was essential to understanding America as a whole—not as an extra chapter, but as a core part of the narrative.

One of the central tensions in the American story is how the nation grew in wealth and possibility while denying equal freedom, protection, and opportunity to many of the people whose labor helped build it. That tension runs through our laws, institutions, and communities. Nationally and locally, it shaped who could vote, who could own property, and who could fully participate in civic life. Even as Susan B. Anthony led the movement for women’s suffrage, Black men secured the right to vote through the Fifteenth Amendment—only to face systematic barriers that limited that right in practice.

Here in Pittsford and the surrounding region, Black people were part of early New York life. According to local historical records compiled in sources such as Genealogy Trails: Monroe County, New York and Reflections on Big Spring: A History of Pittsford, NY, and the Genesee River by David McNellis, in 1813 Caleb Hopkins—Pittsford’s first town supervisor—purchased a 13-year-old boy named Titus Lord in Canandaigua for $150 and enslaved him to work on his farm.

Historical accounts note that Lord attended school alongside white children in District No. 1. At the same time, the language used to describe him in the historical record reflects the racism of the era. Being physically present in a classroom did not necessarily mean being welcomed, supported, or treated as an equal learner. In 1815, another child—age ten—was purchased and enslaved by Hopkins for farm labor. Slavery in New York State did not formally end until 1827. Some settlers in this region enslaved people, and their labor shaped agricultural and household economies. (Note, Hopkins Park is named for the first town supervisor.)

After the Civil War, progress was slow and fragile. When Reconstruction protections collapsed after 1877, Black Americans across the country faced renewed violence, disenfranchisement, and legal segregation. Even in New York State, inequality persisted through housing restrictions, exclusionary practices, and limited access to opportunity. In the early twentieth century, suburbs like Pittsford reflected these patterns, as restrictive housing practices and informal segregation shaped who could live where and build wealth.

In the Rochester region, twentieth-century prosperity was closely tied to major employers such as Eastman Kodak Company, along with Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, and General Motors. These firms offered stable wages, benefits, and pensions that helped many families enter the middle class. At the same time, access to those opportunities—and to the housing markets where wealth accumulated—was not equal. Hiring patterns, barriers to advancement, federal mortgage policies, redlining, and racially restrictive housing practices influenced who could translate steady work into long-term assets like homeownership and home equity. These overlapping systems shaped patterns of opportunity across the city and surrounding suburbs, including communities like Pittsford.

At the same time, Black communities built institutions, networks, and traditions rooted in resilience, self-determination, and care—not on the margins, but as parallel civic infrastructure when mainstream systems excluded them. Black churches functioned as centers of education, political organizing, mutual aid, and leadership development. In Rochester, congregations within the AME Zion tradition were deeply connected to abolitionist activity and later civil rights organizing. Black mutual aid societies provided burial funds, emergency assistance, and financial support long before public safety nets existed. Black newspapers and civic organizations created spaces for political voice and advocacy—including the work of Frederick Douglass, whose Rochester-based newspaper The North Star helped shape national conversations on abolition, citizenship, and rights.

That regional context brings Pittsford’s own history into sharper focus. In Pittsford, we take pride in the fact that Frederick Douglass spoke here, while also acknowledging that his visit unfolded within the racial boundaries of the era. Pittsford’s story reflects this tension: abolitionist conviction and Underground Railroad activity alongside systems that limited full inclusion in public life.

Black entrepreneurs built business districts and professional networks that circulated resources within their communities, while educational advocacy efforts pushed for equitable schooling even under segregated and unequal systems. Nationally, Black colleges and universities, fraternities, sororities, and professional associations developed leadership pipelines that influenced law, medicine, education, and public life. Cultural institutions—music, storytelling, artistic traditions, and community celebrations—carried history, identity, and resistance across generations.

These institutions did not simply cope with inequality; they generated leadership, civic participation, and social capital. In the Rochester region, this community infrastructure laid the groundwork for twentieth-century civil rights activism and continues to shape civic life today.

We have an opportunity to better understand the foundations of our country, institutions, and communities. Telling a fuller story does not divide us—it deepens our shared understanding of who we are and how we got here. As a community, we can keep widening the circle of whose stories are told—not to rewrite the past, but to understand it more fully.

“Real education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better.” — Carter G. Woodson

This timeline highlights key moments that connect national Black history to the local history of Pittsford and the Rochester region.

A Brief Timeline: Black History, America, and Pittsford

1619

Enslaved Africans are first brought to English North America, marking the beginning of a system that would shape the nation’s economy, laws, and social structures.

Late 1700s – Early 1800s (New York State)

Enslaved Black people are part of everyday life in New York, including western New York. Enslaved labor supports agriculture, households, and local economies.

1813 (Pittsford)

Caleb Hopkins, Pittsford’s first town supervisor, purchases a 13-year-old boy, Titus Lord, and enslaves him to work on his farm.

1815 (Pittsford)

Another child, age ten, is purchased and enslaved by Hopkins for farm labor.

1827

Slavery is formally abolished in New York State.

1830s–1850s (Western New York)

The region becomes a center of abolitionist organizing and Underground Railroad activity. Black churches, homes, and civic networks provide leadership and refuge.

1840s–1860s (Rochester region)

Frederick Douglass lives and works in Rochester, publishing The North Star and shaping national debates on abolition, citizenship, and rights. He speaks in Pittsford under the racial constraints of the era.

1865–1877 (Reconstruction)

Following the Civil War, constitutional amendments promise citizenship and voting rights to Black Americans. These gains are uneven and short-lived.

Post-1877

The collapse of Reconstruction leads to widespread disenfranchisement, segregation, and racial violence nationwide.

Early–Mid 20th Century (Rochester & Suburbs)

Industrial growth tied to companies such as Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, and General Motors expands the middle class. At the same time, discriminatory hiring, housing practices, redlining, and exclusionary zoning limit who can build wealth—shaping patterns across Rochester and surrounding suburbs, including Pittsford.

Mid–Late 20th Century

Black churches, mutual aid societies, civic organizations, and businesses continue to serve as centers of leadership, advocacy, and community life, laying groundwork for civil rights activism and ongoing civic engagement.

2021 —

Juneteenth becomes a federal holiday, formally recognizing June 19, 1865, as a key moment in the unfinished work of emancipation in the United States.

Present Day

Communities across the region continue to examine how history shaped present-day opportunity—and how telling a fuller story can inform more inclusive futures.