Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…extensive waterfront. Sugar, tobacco and cotton – all valuable commodities produced by unfree labor – lined the city’s warehouses. By 1855, Brooklyn was central to the business of slavery. As sectional tension intensified, Brooklynites were divided on the issue of slavery. Residents were tested as a series of crises on slavery unfolded: the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), the Dred Scott Decision (1857), and the Harpers Ferry Raid (1859). By the end o…

Abolitionist Brooklyn (1828 – 1849)

…n’s rapid urban transformation in the early nineteenth century. Following the Anti-Abolition Riot in Manhattan (1834), white abolitionists moved to the emerging city. While they focused on building a national campaign, black Brooklynites sustained the city’s anti-slavery movement by continuing to build strong communities. By 1834, Brooklyn evolved from Manhattan’s agricultural neighbor to a flourishing urban center with a city charter. Land specu…

Timeline

…ed people who fueled the prosperity of Kings County’s agricultural economy. Jea was born in southern Nigeria in 1773. He was kidnapped at the age of 2½ and sold into slavery. Jea worked on a large farm in Flatbush. His slaveholders, Albert and Anetje Terhune treated him “in a manner almost too shocking to relate.”* The Terhunes forced their enslaved laborers to work eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, with a paucity of food and inadequate cl…

Civil War & Beyond (1861 – 1867)

On April 12, 1861, the attack on Fort Sumter marked the start of the Civil War. But conflict was not confined to the battlefields alone. By 1860, Brooklyn was the third largest city in the United States. It was 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….

Abolitionist Biographies

…in Ohio, Beecher became the inaugural pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. The church was founded in 1847 by a group of Brooklyn Heights residents who held anti-slavery views. By the 1850s, Beecher had gained a national reputation for his commitment to abolitionism, theatrical 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 f…

For Educators

…ave come together to re-examine this major chapter in U.S. history. Brooklyn has a distinct story to tell. From 1783 to 1865, Brooklyn was transformed from one of six towns in Kings County and an agricultural slaveholding 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-sla…

Walking Tours

…rification and a changing waterfront that mix remnants of its industrial past with modern luxury condos. But in 1838, Williamsburg was merely a village or small independent town within Bushwick (one of six towns in Kings County). It quickly transformed from a village to a town to a city before it was finally absorbed by Brooklyn in 1855. During this growth, it was home to a number of German immigrants and the second largest African American commu…

Games

…rived at the home of Lewis Tappan on her way to Canada, a well- known abolitionist. Her escape was funded by an international anti- slavery network 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,…

A Gradual Emancipation (1783 – 1827)

…ed people who fueled the prosperity of Kings County’s agricultural economy. Jea was born in southern Nigeria in 1773. He was kidnapped at the age of 2½ and sold into slavery. Jea worked on a large farm in Flatbush. His slaveholders, Albert and Anetje Terhune treated him “in a manner almost too shocking to relate.”* The Terhunes forced their enslaved laborers to work eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, with a paucity of food and inadequate cl…

Introduction

Brooklyn has a distinct story to tell in the history of social justice. From 1783 to 1865, Brooklyn transformed from an agricultural slaveholding capital to the third largest city in the United States fueled by the business of slavery. Against this backdrop, the city’s anti-slavery activists and radical abolitionists led the struggle for social and racial justice. They created local, regional, and national networks of political solidarity to ad…