Harper's Magazine illustration of the New York City slave market in 1643. (WNYC)
The New York and Slavery Walking Tour is a two-hour guided walk through Lower Manhattan. Elementary and middle school classes are invited to participate. Contact coordinator Alan Singer at catajs@hofstra.edu. There is no charge for individuals or classes to participate.
The walking tour starts at 10 AM on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. The assembly point is by the orange statue in the open area between the Municipal Building and 1 Police Plaza. This year high school students from the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School in Queens will be tour guides.
In preparation for the tour, classes can watch a video by Susan Modaress for Inside/Out of historic sites that tell the story of the history of slavery in New York City. Modaress explains “the very name Wall Street is born of slavery, as they built a wall in 1653 to protect Dutch settlers from Indian raids.”
The New York and Slavery Walking Tour is part of the “5 Boros to Freedom” Pinkster celebration. “5 Boros to Freedom” is a celebration of African American history in New York during the first two weeks of June. It was initiated by the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region. Their goal is to encourage independent programs in New York City and the Hudson River Valley.
The tour includes the following stops:
1. First stop at the south end of Foley Square near the fountain. 1741 Execution of Enslaved Africans (Foley Square). The site where enslaved Africans, free Blacks and White supporters accused of plotting the 1741 Slave Conspiracy were executed. White New Yorkers, afraid of another slave revolt, responded to rumors and unexplained fires with the arrest of 146 enslaved Africans, the execution of 35 Blacks and four Whites, and the transport to other colonies of 70 enslaved people. Historians continue to doubt whether a slave conspiracy ever existed.
2. African Burial Ground (Duane Street between Center and Broadway). The African Burial Ground is a 5 or 6-acre cemetery that was used between the late 1600s and 1796 and originally contained between ten and twenty thousand burials. Despite the harsh treatment that these African people experienced in colonial America received, the 427 bodies recovered from the site were buried with great care and love. They were wrapped in linen shrouds and methodically positioned in cedar or pine coffins that sometimes contained beads or other treasured objects.
3. Continue along Duane Street and make a left turn downtown on Broadway. Walk past New York City Hall to the entrance. William Havemeyer, elected mayor of New York City in 1845, 1848 and 1872, launched his political career from the family’s sugar refining business. The sugar was produced in the south and Cuba by enslaved African labor. Fernando Wood, as Mayor of New York City in 1861, called on the city to secede from the union along with the South. As a Congressman, he opposed the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution.
4. Continue downtown and cross the street at St. Paul’s Chapel (Broadway between Vesey and Fulton). Fourth stop is at the corner of Broadway and Fulton. St. Paul’s Chapel is the oldest church building in New York City. Built between 1764 and 1794. Enslaved Africans helped build the church but had to pray in a separate section and could not be buried in the cemetery. Hughson’s Tavern (Liberty and Trinity Streets). The location of the tavern where enslaved Africans, free Blacks and White supporters are supposed to have plotted the 1741 Slave Conspiracy. White New Yorkers, afraid of another slave revolt, responded to rumors and unexplained fires with the arrest of 146 enslaved Africans, the execution of 35 Blacks and four Whites, and the transport to other colonies of 70 enslaved people. Historians continue to doubt whether a slave conspiracy ever existed.
5. Continue south on Broadway to Wall Street and Trinity Church. This is the third church building. The first building was built by enslaved Africans in the 1690s. Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler are buried in the church yard. Schuyler’s father, Hamilton’s father-in-law was one of the largest slaveholders in the Hudson River Valley. Hamilton conducted transactions for the purchase and transfer of enslaved Africans on behalf of his in-laws.
6. Continue on Wall Street and to the site of the Wall Street Slave Market (Wall and Water Streets). A market for the sale and hire of enslaved Africans and Indians was established here at the Meal (Grain) Market in 1711 by the New York Common Council. City Bank headquarters are across the street. Financier of the Slave Trade (55 South Street). Moses Taylor was a sugar merchant and banker with offices at 55 South Street. Taylor became a member of the board of the City Bank in 1837, and served as its president from 1855 until his death in 1882. Taylor’s personal resources and role as business agent for the leading exporter of Cuban sugar to the United States was invaluable to grow of the institution now known as Citibank.
7. Cross Water Street and turn uptown. The seventh stop is at the entrance to the South Street Seaport. Slave Traders’ Meeting Place (Fulton and South Streets). The men who smuggled enslaved Africans referred to themselves as “blackbirders” and their illegal human cargo as “black ivory.” Their favorite New York City meeting place was Sweet’s Restaurant at the corner of Fulton and South streets.
8. Explore South Street Seaport. See the boats and the slave traders meeting place. To return to 1 Police Plaza take Fulton Street to Centre Street. Cross over to City Hall and go right uptown to Chambers Street. At Chambers Street cross Centre back to 1 Police Plaza. You will pass Abolitionist Meeting House (118 Williams Street between Fulton and John). Site of a boarding house operated by Asenath Hatch Nicholson, an ardent abolitionist. Starting in 1835, abolitionists met here to plan campaigns to end slavery. African Free School (William and Beekman Streets). The first African Free School was established at 245 Williams Street in 1787 by the New York Manumission Society. Forty boys and girls were taught in a single room. It was destroyed in 1814 and replaced by a new building on William Street near Duane.
Follow Alan Singer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReecesPieces8
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