Civil War & Beyond (1861 – 1867)

…ing 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 Brooklyn’s City Hall. The fundraiser “brought together all the elite and fashion of this portion of the Anglo-African world, and much of the Anglo-Americ…

Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…ave Law was part of Congress’ attempt to balance the nation’s free and slave state interests. Instead, the line between free and slave blurred entirely and thousands of free black people in Brooklyn and beyond were at the whim of an unjust law. The city itself continued to rapidly expand, this time along its extensive waterfront. Sugar, tobacco and cotton – all valuable commodities produced by unfree labor – lined the city’s warehouses. By 1855,…

Games

FOR STUDENTS Build map skills, develop a better understanding of how everyday people advanced anti-slavery ideals, and create your own anti-slavery propaganda. It Happened in Brooklyn IN PURSUIT OF FREEDOM WRITE A POEM *Best viewed in Google Chrome & Safari IT HAPPENED in BROOKLYN Click on the titles on the right for additional information. Drag the circles to their proper locations on the map. Havemeyer, Townsend & Co. Sugar Refine…

US Department of Education Resources

…and a series of public programs scheduled for the next five years. Legacy of Slavery in Maryland preserves and promotes experiences that have shaped the lives of Maryland’s African American population. From the day that Mathias de Sousa and Francisco landed in St. Mary’s County aboard the Ark and the Dove in 1634, black Marylanders have made significant contributions to both the state and nation in the political, economic, agricultur…

Abolitionist Brooklyn (1828 – 1849)

…g distances to discuss issues affecting their communities. The national conventions met a total of twelve times between 1831 and 1864. Abolitionism in Black and White “The Liberator Commenced January 1st 1831.” Cotton banner by unknown maker, [1840s]. Massachusetts Historical Society. Teacher’s Manual Section 2: Lesson 7 | Lesson 8 In the 1830s, the abolitionists, a group of humanitarian reformers, burst onto the political scene in th…

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…