New York: African Americans

Video

Duration

4:16

Poster Image

Slavery was embedded in New York's economy at every level—from large rural plantations upstate to a major slave auction site at the foot of Wall Street. The British pursued a strategy of offering freedom to enslaved people who left American enslavers, and during the occupation New York City became a nexus for Black Loyalists who had self-emancipated to serve the British army. At the war's end, these men and women faced terrifying uncertainty about whether Britain would honor its promises or return them to their former enslavers. Boston King—who had grown up enslaved in the American South, self-emancipated, served the British, and met his wife in New York—met the strict British criteria and was evacuated to Nova Scotia. But not everyone received that protection. King’s testimony captures the fear and confusion experienced by the city’s Black Loyalists in the wake of the Treaty of Paris.

Interviewees

Julie Golia
- Linda May Uris Director, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Library, New York Public Library
Meredith Mann
- Interim Charles J. Liebman Curator of Manuscripts, New York Public Library

More African American perspectives

View details

Connecticut

African Americans
Delaware

African Americans
Georgia

African Americans
Maryland

African Americans
Massachusetts

African Americans
New Hampshire

African Americans
New Jersey

African Americans
North Carolina

African Americans
Pennsylvania

African Americans
Rhode Island

African Americans
South Carolina

African Americans
Virginia

African Americans

African Americans

More African American perspectives

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

More from New York

Context

Declaration

Memory

Loyalists

Native Americans

Politicians

Women