Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…us evangelical impulse brought about during the Second Great Awakening. He was originally pro- colonization but changed his mind after seeing waves of anti-colonization protests led by African Americans and became committed to abolitionism. Read more… Close Both Lewis and Arthur were executive officers of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AA-SS). They financed the anti-slavery newspaper the Emancipator, Oberlin College, and led a number of ant…

Abolitionist Biographies

…atrical preaching style, and ability to fundraise for anti-slavery causes. He assisted in the emancipation of a number of young women and his congregation raised money for the purchase of rifles, called “Beecher’s Bibles,” intended to arm anti-slavery protestors in Kansas. In the lead-up the Civil War, Beecher edited the anti-slavery newspaper the Independent. At the end of the War, he was invited to speak at the raising of the flag at Fort Sumte…

Timeline

…’s large farms. Not all were free. In 1738, 25% of Kings County’s residents were held in slavery. In 1790, this number had risen to 30%. On average, 60% of white families were slaveholders; in outer areas, such as the town of Flatbush, this number was as high as 74%. Kings County was a slaveholding capital in New York State. Slaveholding families that became wealthy during this period included the Lefferts, Lott, Bergen, Vanderveer and Vanderbeek…

Walking Tours

…sformed into a bustling city. Brooklyn Heights — the first commuter suburb in the United States — signaled this change. Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont, Brooklyn’s first modern land developer, sold farmland previously owned by slave holders to individual investors. Soon, Brooklyn contained paved streets, streetlights, schools, churches, homes of various styles, and a variety of businesses. ↗ Open map in new window WEEKSVILLE The financial panic of 1837…

Abolitionist Brooklyn (1828 – 1849)

…nhattan’s agricultural neighbor to a flourishing urban center with a city charter. Land speculation fueled this change. Plots of farmland previously owned by slaveholders were systemically parceled and sold off to investors. Brooklyn was a city on the rise. A new set of political activists fled to the emerging city. The abolitionists were a radical minority who had established the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia in 1833 with headqua…

A Gradual Emancipation (1783 – 1827)

…finance and business. Investors, bankers, brokers and lawyers flocked there, establishing the New York Stock Exchange and the Bank of New York. During this period, Kings County remained distinctly agricultural, supplying fruit and vegetables to the county and neighboring New York. Population Schedules of the First Census of the United States, 1790. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service. Teacher’s Manual Section 1: Lesson 1 Brookl…

Exhibitions

…re-imagine alter-egos of key Weeksville figures. Color Between
the Lines Color Between the Lines Irondale’s exhibit will focus on social change through storytelling. The exhibit will explore the abolitionists as a group of men and women, both black and white, who used public spaces and printed materials to convey the horrors of slavery. In doing so, they created a performance culture of their own. Events EVENT EVENT EVENT…

Games

…k across Britain and the United States. African Methodist Church By the end of the 19th century, Brooklyn had a number of independent black churches, such as the African Methodist Church, located on High Street. These churches were central to the lives of ordinary people not only as a place of worship, but as a space for education initiatives, political protests, temperance meetings, and assisting fugitive slaves who arrived in Brooklyn. Plymouth…

Civil War & Beyond (1861 – 1867)

…home to a culturally diverse society including people of Dutch, English and African. There were also increasing numbers of German and Irish immigrants. The Irish and Black communities were among the most marginalized in American society. They often competed for the same low paying, low-skilled jobs. During the Civil War, the Irish came to fear that fugitives and newly emancipated men and women would arrive in Brooklyn and take the few jobs availa…