Manhattan and Brooklyn slavery and abolition tour

From the earliest colonial days of New Amsterdam, when the Dutch dropped the first non-indigenous resident of Manhattan island, Juan Rodriguez, to act as a communicator with the native Lenape people, this has been a community dead set on business by any means. The successful Dutch trading port from the 1600's was supported by an initial population of slaves and slavery was a part of the city's trade right up until New York outlawed it in 1817. Even though New York has been a multicultural, tolerant place from the start, its success rests on the abuse of enslaved Africans. Learn about the difference between Dutch, British, and finally, American slavery in New York and the continued horrors of the Fugitive Slave Act after the state outlawed the practice. Visit the sites of two stops on the Underground Railroad, one visited by Frederick Douglass! See where Isabella Baumfree, a freed slave, became Sojourner Truth, after being inspired by God to devote her life to abolitionism and women's rights.

Start at Battery Park, the southernmost point in Manhattan, until 1898 the entirety of New York City, and head north. Stop at the National Museum of the American Indian, ironically also the site of the Dutch fort in which the city residents sheltered after a hot headed general started a war with the natives. Head north to Wall Street, named for the wall that the Dutch built to protect their colony from natives and, later, The British. Head East to the one of the main sites of open air slave auctions, now a modern intersection. See the site of the "half free" black home of Slijcksteeg. Learn about the possible slave rebellion and vicious reaction from city leaders. (Depending on day and time of tour) visit the African Burial Ground Museum. See the site of the first African American owned bookstore. Take the subway to Brooklyn Heights and visit Plymouth Church, site of a stop on the Underground Railroad, whose minister held dramatic mock slave auctions to raise money for abolition efforts.