About the Project

In Pursuit of Freedom is a multifaceted public history initiative that explores the everyday heroes of Brooklyn’s anti-slavery movement. This public history project is a partnership of Brooklyn Historical Society, Weeksville Heritage Center and Irondale Ensemble Project. The project includes exhibits, public programs, an extensive on-line curriculum, an original theater piece by Irondale Ensemble Project, a website (pursuitoffreedom.org), walki…

Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…New York Public Library. By the 1840s, as Brooklyn expanded, many white Brooklynites pushed for greater police protection. Yet, for the most part, the creation of a city police force represented a threat to black Brooklynites who were unprotected by local, state and federal laws. In 1842, Edward 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 for…

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…

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

Brooklyn Abolitionists Brooklyn Abolitionists This major, long-term exhibit opens on January 15, 2014 and explores the lesser-known heroes of Brooklyn’s anti-slavery 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…