Abolitionist Biographies

…rom Brooklyn’s AME Church on High Street to a new location on Bridge Street, Cousins marched in the procession. Today, Bridge Street AWME Church is the oldest black church in Brooklyn and is located in Bedford-Stuyvesant. COX, Samuel H Samuel H(anson) Cox August 25, 1793 – October 2, 1880 Presbyterian Pastor, Brooklyn resident. Samuel Cox was born in Rahway, NJ and raised as a Quaker. He converted to the Presbyterianism at the age of twenty…

Abolitionist Brooklyn (1828 – 1849)

…ed in close quarters, inhabiting the same streets and public spaces. They lived in neighborhoods that are known today as Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO and Vinegar Hill. [70 Willow Street]. Eugene 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…

Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…orn 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 to showcase it at the American Institute Fair in 1853 (a precursor to the World Fair), so it was exhibited by a white man instead. The invention won the silver medal. Despite this success, Murrows was unable to secure financing for his business – the Brooklyn Brush Manufacturing Company. In…

A Gradual Emancipation (1783 – 1827)

…n Brooklyn Heights. In fact, 82 streets named after Brooklyn’s slaveholding families still exist in the borough today. Gradual Emancipation New York State Archives, New York (State). Dept. of State. Bureau of Miscellaneous Records. Enrolled acts of the State Legislature, 1778-2005. Series 13036-78, Laws of 1799, Chapter 62. Teacher’s Manual Section 1: Lesson 2 It took twenty-eight years for New York State, and therefore Kings County, to end slave…

For Educators

…were widespread in Brooklyn and beyond. Through courage and conscience, the residents of neighborhoods we know today as Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, Weeksville, and Williamsburg insisted that slavery be brought to an immediate end and demanded legal and political equality for African Americans. Brooklyn’s abolitionists and anti-slavery activists were ordinary people who came from all walks of life—educat…

Timeline

…n Brooklyn Heights. In fact, 82 streets named after Brooklyn’s slaveholding families still exist in the borough today. 1799 New York State Archives, New York (State). Dept. of State. Bureau of Miscellaneous Records. Enrolled acts of the State Legislature, 1778-2005. Series 13036-78, Laws of 1799, Chapter 62. Teacher’s Manual Section 1: Lesson 2 It took twenty-eight years for New York State, and therefore Kings County, to end slavery. In 1799, New…

Civil War & Beyond (1861 – 1867)

…lavery activists, whose husbands were prominent abolitionists as well. The fair raised $1,100 (or about $30,000 today) for the Colored Orphan Asylum. [Borough Hall with Montague Street on right]. 1880. Eugene L. Armbruster photographs and scrapbooks. V1974.1.1299. Brooklyn Historical Society. In 1834, the Remsen and Pierrepont families donated land for the construction of a grand City Hall to reflect Brooklyn’s new city status. After fourteen yea…