Dr. Myra Young Armstead presents an overview of the direct connection of African Americans to the river as laborers on Hudson River docks and on vessels that plied the waters between Manhattan and the Albany area. Charting the experiences of blacks as passengers on the steamboats that operated after 1807, Dr. Armstead will focus on Samuel Schuyler and his descendants, highlighting an African American family of entrepreneurs who established an independent Hudson River steamboat line.