^{Thomas W. Commeraw (active ca. 1797–1819), Jug, ca. 1800–19.Collection of Joseph P. Gromacki}

New Exhibition Reveals Extraordinary Story of a Black Artisan in Post-Revolutionary New York 

COOPERSTOWN—Fenimore Art Museum presents “Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw,” the first exhibition to bring overdue attention to Thomas W. Commeraw, a successful Black craftsman who was long assumed to be white.

Formerly enslaved, Commeraw rose to prominence as a free Black entrepreneur, owning and operating a successful pottery in the city. Over a period of two decades, he amassed property, engaged in debates over state and national politics, and participated in New York City’s free Black community. On view Saturday, June 24 through September 24, the exhibition explores Commeraw’s multi-faceted history as a craftsman, business owner, family man, and citizen through approximately 40 pieces of stoneware produced by Commeraw and his competitors between the late 1790s and 1819, in the largest presentation of his work to date. Alongside these pieces are documents that enabled historians to reconstruct the arc of his professional career and personal life, and through them convey a deeper understanding of free Black society in New York in the years between the Revolutionary and Civil wars. The exhibition has been organized by the New-York Historical Society.