Abolitionist Brooklyn (1828 – 1849)

…L. Armbruster. 1922. Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks. V1974.32.99. Brooklyn Historical Society. In 1831, Adrian Van Sinderen, president of the Brooklyn Savings Bank, was also president of the Brooklyn Colonization Society, a local branch of the American Colonization Society (ACS). The organization sought to relocate free black communities to Liberia, and Van Sinderen raised a significant amount of money for that purpose. They did…

Abolitionist Biographies

…n, NY Arthur Tappan May 22, 1786, Northampton, MA – July 23, 1865, Brooklyn, NY Evangelical Reformers, Businessmen. Brooklyn Heights residents. The Tappan Brothers were New England reformers spurred to action by an evangelical impulse. Like a number of merchants, they worked in Manhattan but lived in Brooklyn Heights. They originally favored colonization, and Arthur paid for a man named Abdul Rahman to travel to Liberia. But they modified t…

Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…oklyn Historical Society. Teacher’s Manual Section 4: Lesson 14 Freeman Murrows, another Williamsburg resident, invented an innovative brush for whitewashing, painting and varnishing. Previously brushes had fixed handles so that the entire brush had to be thrown away once the bristles had worn out. The brush was also adjustable and could be angled to make the work easier. Murrows faced challenges in promoting his invention. He was not permitted t…