About the Project

…tensive on-line curriculum, an original theater piece by Irondale Ensemble Project, a website (pursuitoffreedom.org), walking tours and a memorial to Brooklyn Abolitionists that will be part of the new Willoughby Square Park when it opens in 2016. In Pursuit of Freedom Project Credits Executive Directors Brooklyn Historical Society, Deborah Schwartz Irondale Ensemble Project, Terry Greiss Weeksville Heritage Center, Pamela Green In Pursuit of Fre…

US Department of Education Resources

…Mellon University, an online curriculum guide for teachers and educators, a film series at and in collaboration with Carnegie Library Homewood Branch, and an urban garden project in partnership with Pittsburgh Park Conservancy at Frick Environmental Center that features foods, plants, and flora related to African American foodways and the Underground Railroad. For more information please see: heinzhistorycenter.org The National Underground Railro…

Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…dward Saxton was accused of being a fugitive from Mobile, AL. His captor, J.C. Gantz presented a Brooklyn Court with an affidavit claiming that Saxton had forged his freedom papers. Officer Barkaloo and Gantz then arrested Saxton at Mansion House, a hotel located on Hicks between Pierrepont and Clark. Saxton was taken from New York to a Baltimore jail. Read more… Close Under New York’s Personal Liberty Law, Saxton’s arrest without a trial was i…

Civil War & Beyond (1861 – 1867)

…this portion of the Anglo-African world, and much of the Anglo-American in the bargain.” Read more… Close The organizing committees consisted of Elizabeth Gloucester, Mary J. Lyons, Christiana Freeman, Mary Wilson, Sarah Morel, and Sarah Tompkins, all anti-slavery activists, whose husbands were prominent abolitionists as well. The fair raised $1,100 (or about $30,000 today) for the Colored Orphan Asylum. [Borough Hall with Montague Street on ri…

Exhibitions

…ry movement — ordinary residents, black and white — who shaped their neighborhoods, city and nation with a revolutionary vision of freedom and equality. For opening times and directions please visit brooklynhistory.org Weeksville: Lived Experiences In Pursuit of Freedom Weeksville: Lived Experiences In Pursuit of Freedom Weeksville, an intentional African American community exemplifies a crucial aspect of freedom in Brooklyn’s ant…