Crisis Decade (1850 – 1860)

…enslaved girls and young women. The press often presented these activities as Beecher’s patriarchal gift. But careful research shows that a number of these women were often actively involved in their own emancipation. [Henry Ward Beecher hate mail]. ca 1860. Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims and Henry Ward Beecher collection. ARC.212: Box 41. Brooklyn Historical Society. The general public hated the abolitionists for their radical views. Henry War…

Timeline

↤ 1789 1863 ↦ 1789 Life, History and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher, 1811. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University. Teacher’s Manual Section 1: Lesson 2 The horses usually rested about five hours a day, while we were at work; thus did the beasts enjoy greater privileges than we did. (John Jea, The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, 1811) John Jea lived and worked in Flatbu…

Abolitionist Biographies

…lavery Activist, homeowner, businessman, downtown Brooklyn resident. Robert Cousins was born in Virginia around 1800 and moved to Brooklyn in 1840. There, he joined the AME Church and the Brooklyn African Tompkins Society, a mutual aid organization committed to the “improvement of the members in morals and literature, by forming a library and other appropriate means.” By 1850, Cousins, his wife Sarah, and their children Emaly, Charles, and Joseph…

Games

…s, including churches, schools, and newspapers. Frederick Douglass During the Civil War, Frederick Douglass appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Montague Street. He spoke to a packed house about political and social rights for people of African descent. James Pennington Born enslaved in Maryland, James Pennington legally emancipated himself in 1851. He later moved to Brooklyn and became central to the anti-slavery movement, gaining an int…

A Gradual Emancipation (1783 – 1827)

…ry activists. Slaveholding Capital Life, History and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher, 1811. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University. Teacher’s Manual Section 1: Lesson 2 The horses usually rested about five hours a day, while we were at work; thus did the beasts enjoy greater privileges than we did. (John Jea, The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, 1811) John Jea lived and worked in Fla…

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…

Abolitionist Brooklyn (1828 – 1849)

…d to the emerging city. The abolitionists were a radical minority who had established the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia in 1833 with headquarters in Manhattan. It was the first movement in American history in which men and women, black and white, came together with mutual purpose – to end slavery immediately and demand political and legal equality for all Americans. In July 1834, anti-abolition riots flared across Manhattan. In re…

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….