A Gradual Emancipation (1783 – 1827)

…they focused on three primary concerns in Kings County: the enslavement of free African Americans; slave sales between New York and New Jersey; and, the violation of manumissions such as Harry’s. But many N-YMS members were slaveholders. The contradiction of being a slaveholding anti-slavery activist was not lost on the organization’s members. Rather, they felt that their reform work addressed their own sin of slaveholding and would eventually r…

Abolitionist Brooklyn (1828 – 1849)

…York Public Library. “[It is] my opinion that the people of color have to leave the crowded cities and town of New York, Brooklyn, Syracuse, Albany, Troy, Utica and the rest and move into country and small growing villages like Williamsburg, and grow up with a small town. I believe in that way they would overcome much of the prejudice against them, for, as a rule, there is a fraternal feeling between the people of small towns or places (even in…

Abolitionist Biographies

…livered the eulogy at Tappan’s funeral. Amos Freeman married Christiana Taylor Williams on December 24, 1839 in Newark, NJ. She was born on June 4, 1812 in Manhattan to Caribbean parents. Christiana worked closely with other women associated with Siloam Presbyterian – Elizabeth Gloucester and Mary Wilson –to raise funds for the church and the Colored Orphan Asylum. Christiana died on December 3, 1909. GLOUCESTER, James N
& Elizab…

Timeline

…so justly celebrated for its law and order as Brooklyn, should have been so disgraced. Fear that fugitives and newly emancipated people would move to Brooklyn and take scarce jobs exacerbated hostilities between Irish and African American workers. The Irish, impoverished and marginalized themselves, had emigrated to America to escape the horrors of Ireland’s devastating Potato Famine between 1845 and 1852. But they were greeted with discriminati…

Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…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 illegal. Moreover, no police court had the authority to issue a warrant for the arrest of suspected fugitive. Sadly Saxton, presumably under duress, pleaded guilt…

Civil War & Beyond (1861 – 1867)

…and Mary Murray, two white Quaker women, the Colored Orphan Asylum provided an essential service in antebellum New York. For African Americans living in poverty, the Asylum offered a temporary refuge. Parents could send the children to the asylum to receive better care – often an agonizing decision –while they improved their own economic circumstances at home. On February 22, 1860, organizers held a four-day fair at Montague Hall, next to Brookl…

For Educators

…olding capital to the third largest city in the United States. It remained a separate city from Manhattan until New York City’s consolidation in 1898. Brooklyn’s rapid growth was the backdrop for the struggle led by the city’s anti-slavery activists and abolitionists, men and women, black and white, who wanted social justice and political equality. They did so at a time when racism, violence, and inequality towards African Americans were widespre…

Walking Tours

…six agricultural towns in Kings County until it was incorporated as the city of Brooklyn in 1834. ↗ Open map in new window DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN In the early 19th century, this area was the village of Brooklyn, located within the town of the same name. It was the heart of the burgeoning city. Brooklyn’s anti-slavery pioneers — free African Americans — lived here from 1810 onwards. They built institutions to combat racism on behalf of all people of co…

Funders

In Pursuit of Freedom is funded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York City Economic Development Corporation; the U.S. Department of Education Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural (URR) Program; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Nathan Cummings Foundation; and the New York State Council on the Humanities; with additional funds provided by The Bay and Paul Foundations, New…

About the Project

…esley College Emy Pagano, Hunter College CUNY Debbie-Ann Paige, College of Staten Island CUNY Maggie Schreiner, New York University Heather Wilson, New York University Brooklyn Historical Society brooklynhistory.org Current Staff Elizabeth Call, Head of Reference and User Services Marcia Ely, Vice President of External Affairs and Programs Julie Golia, Ph.D., Public Historian Julie I. May, Head of Collection Management Jacob Nadal, Director of Li…