The African-American community of Lansingburgh, though small, was apparently active:
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
From the Albany Evening Journal […]
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 7. […]
IN ASSEMBLY. […]
PETITIONS PRESENTED AND REFERRED. […]
of the colored citizens of Albany, Troy, and Lansingburgh, for the passage of law granting to them equal political rights and privileges.
Troy Daily Whig. February 3, 1838: 2 col 3.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1838 […]
The petition of numerous colored citizens of Troy and Lansingburgh, praying for the passage of such equal and wholesome laws as shall secure to them equal political rights and privileges with other citizens, irrespective of color, was read, and referred to the standing committee on the judiciary.
Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York at Their Sixty-First Session. Albany, NY: E. Croswell, 1838. 317. https://books.google.com/books?id=uB8FpVy5db0C&pg=PA317 [It’s unclear why Albany was omitted from the Journal.]
The 1830 US Census only named heads of households, others being enumerated only statistically. There were thirteen households with “free colored persons” at the head:
Robert VanWerker
Isaac Rodman
Samuel Elliott
Charles Van Horn
Frisby Way
Thomas [Farmer?]
Benjamin Paine
Jonas Appler
Peter Green
[Duinell/Quincee?] [Shaw/Shew?] [Difficult to read; possibly this is Daniel Chew who is on later censuses in Troy]
Angelica Tobias
James Baker
Isabel Johnson
Males Under ten years of age: 9
Males Of ten and under twenty-four: 10
Males Of twenty-four and under thirty-six: 13
Males Of thirty-six and under fifty-five: 10
Males Of fifty-five and under one hundred: 2
Males Of one hundred and upwards: zero
[Males total: 44]
Females Under ten years of age: 6
Females Of ten and under twenty-four: 10
Females Of twenty-four and under thirty-six: 13
Females Of thirty-six and under fifty-five: 7
Females Of fifty-five and under one hundred: 4
Females Of one hundred and upwards: zero
[Females total: 40]
Of the eighty-four people, less than seventy would have been old enough to be politically active. Nevertheless, the small community was strong enough to try to achieve equal rights for all African-Americans in New York in 1838 – remarkable!