The New York History Blog

Historical News and Views from the Empire State

Slavery

Proposals Sought for Sojourner Truth Monument

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The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced a request for proposals (RFP) from potential private sector partners to design, build and install a monument in commemoration of famed abolitionist and suffragette Sojourner Truth.

The monument of Sojourner Truth will be sited at the Walkway Over the Hudson along the Empire State Trail in Ulster County, where she was born. Truth was born into slavery circa 1797, sold three times, and ultimately escaped to freedom in 1826. She went on to become a noted abolitionist and women’s rights advocate until her death in 1883. [Read more…] about Proposals Sought for Sojourner Truth Monument

Escape from Slavery: The Life of William Grimes

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Brig Casket Boston Samuel Davis Master Entering the Port of Palermo“Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave” a 68-page pamphlet self-published in the city of New York in 1825, begins with a note addressed “TO THE PUBLIC.” In the introductory note, Grimes explained:

“Those who are acquainted with the subscriber, he presumes will readily purchase his history. Those who are not, but wish to know who Grimes is, and what is his history, he would inform them, generally, that he is now living in Litchfield, Connecticut, that he is about 40 years of age, that he is married to a black woman, and passes for a negro, though three parts white; that he was born in a place in Virginia, has lived in several different States, and been owned by ten different masters; that about ten years since, he ran away, and came to Connecticut, where, after six years, he was recognized by some of his former master’s friends, taken up, and compelled to purchase his freedom with the sacrifice of all he had earned. That his history is an account of his fortune, or rather of his suffering, in all these various situations, in which he has seen, heard, and felt, not a little.” [Read more…] about Escape from Slavery: The Life of William Grimes

An 1836 Utica Fugitive Slave Escape and Rescue

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The Hayden BuildingActivist, historian, author, and Utica native Deirdre Sinnott is set to present “Underground Railroad: The 1836 Escape, Arrest, and Rescue in Utica of George and Harry Bird” on Wednesday, September 26th at 5:30 pm at the Oneida County Historical Society.

The presentation is the culmination of extensive research by Sinnott and local Oneida County historians to demystify the 180-year-old story of two enslaved men who were encouraged by their dying mistress to run from their home in Woodstock, VA and find the path from slavery to freedom. [Read more…] about An 1836 Utica Fugitive Slave Escape and Rescue

New York Streets Named for Slave Traders

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slavery in new york city historyIn the 17th and 18th century, as New Amsterdam grew from a trading post into a village, a village into a town, and then a town into the port city of New York, its wealthiest residents were financially invested in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. And because they were among the most prominent of its early citizens, many of the city’s oldest streets are named after slaveholders and slave traders. An online database, New York Slavery Records Index, created by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, opens this forgotten history to public view.

During the past year a mayoral commission held public hearings and recommended that a statue of James Marion Sims, a 19th century American physician who experimented on enslaved African women, be removed from the Central Park wall at 103rd street and 5th Avenue in the City of New York. Unfortunately, the commission ignored much of the city’s deep connection to slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. [Read more…] about New York Streets Named for Slave Traders

Hall of Fame Inducts Three Who Resisted Fugitive Slave Laws

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Frances E. W. HarperThe National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) has announced the induction of three nineteenth century abolitionists on Saturday, October 20, 2018 in Peterboro NY.

The Inductee Committee recommended these three inductees to the NAHOF Cabinet of Freedom according to the results of reviews of public nominations by scholars in the field: [Read more…] about Hall of Fame Inducts Three Who Resisted Fugitive Slave Laws

Kidnapped! Black New Yorkers Caught in the Slave Trade

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Author David Fiske is set to give lecture on Free blacks from New York State who were kidnapped and sold into slavery before the Civil War has been set for July 17, 2018 at 6:30 pm at the Warrensburgh Museum of Local History, 3754 Main Street.

In “Kidnapped! Black New Yorkers Caught in the Slave Trade,” Fiske will tell the stories of several New Yorkers who were kidnap victims – some from upstate communities and others from New York City. [Read more…] about Kidnapped! Black New Yorkers Caught in the Slave Trade

New Paltz: Enslavement Among Dutch Reformed Churches

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Wendy E. Harris and Helene van Rossum are set to give a lecture on African enslavement among the Dutch Reformed Churches of New York’s Ulster County and New Jersey’s Raritan Valley on Saturday, April 7th at 4 pm at Deyo Hall, 6 Broadhead Avenue, New Paltz. [Read more…] about New Paltz: Enslavement Among Dutch Reformed Churches

Slavery and the Palatines Lecture at Clermont Sunday

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Two men pointing to a boy by Jan Luyken 1711Travis Bowman is set to give a lecture on slavery in New York on Sunday, March 11th at 1 pm, at the Clermont State Historic Site, 1 Clermont Avenue, Germantown.

Bowman will examine how slavery evolved in New York under the Dutch, British, and American systems of government and how the institution was utilized at a local and personal level among the Palatine immigrants and their descendants in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. [Read more…] about Slavery and the Palatines Lecture at Clermont Sunday

New York State Slavery Database Launched

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Birth registration of a slave in 1803John Jay College of Criminal Justice has announced the first New York Slavery Records Index, a publicly searchable compilation of records that identify individual enslaved persons and their owners, beginning as early as 1525 and ending during the Civil War.

The index will help to deepen the understanding of slavery in the State of New York. [Read more…] about New York State Slavery Database Launched

Frederick Douglass and the July 5th Movement

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Frederick Douglass“The Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

These were Frederick Douglass’ unyielding words from his momentous “Fifth of July Speech”* to the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society in Rochester’s Corinthian Hall in 1852.

Douglass had been asked to speak on Independence Day but with entrenched slavery supported by the recently adopted Fugitive Slave law, how could he? After all, he declared with authority, “What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and natural justice, embodied in the Declaration of Independence, extended to us….I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary.” But he was included “within the pale” of another anniversary which was annually observed by African Americans in the State, and it was a chief reason why he chose to speak the following day. During this pre-war period, the July 5th Movement captured and shaped blacks’ identity as a cohesive, active community. [Read more…] about Frederick Douglass and the July 5th Movement