The “St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre” of Protestants took place in Paris, France. It soon spread throughout France. The final death toll has been estimated at 30,000. The Huguenots of Belgium were called Walloons, and some of them eventually fled to New Netherland.
On May 20, 1624, a group of Huguenots called Walloons arrived in New Amsterdam on the ship “New Netherlands” (Nieu Nederland). Their arrival is commemorated in memorial stele on the perimeter of the park on Battery Place. There is also a neighborhood in Staten Island called “Huguenot.”
Another group moved to the Ulster County area, about 90 minutes north of New York City. In New Paltz, there is Huguenot Street, which has 7 original stone houses and a museum.
The wife of Huguenot leader Louis Dubois was captured in nearby Kingston, New York and was tied at a stake to be burned by the Indians in revenge for an injustice committed during their war with the Dutch. She started to sing the hymn of the Babylon Captives from the Huguenot hymnbook (Marot’s), and in a tradition of letting prisoners state their last spiritual testament, the Indians urged her to continue singing. A rescue party freed her, killing a number of the Indians.
The woman’s hymn was based on Psalm 137, a lament of exile.
The psalm is also an appropriate remembrance of Sojourner Truth, who was herself born into slavery in New Paltz around 1797. She had a vision of Jesus in 1826 and was “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” She moved to New York City and became a preacher in the Methodist Awakening here. She herself promoted abolition and inspired the Exodusters, a spontaneous migration of African Americans from the Deep South to Kansas. She believed this great move showed that God always has a plan of destiny for African Americans leaving Babylon for a new land. So, there are at least two good reasons to take a day trip to New Paltz!
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
