October 10, 2005

'Slavery in New York' explores city's forgotten past

"Slavery in New York," the new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society, sets out to debunk the popular notion of the North as the great liberator of the slave-owning South.

The history of the colonies and New York City, even before it was renamed New York, is intertwined with slavery. The "wall" of Wall Street was built by slaves, and later, Wall Street bankers insured the slave ships, Southern plantations and traded their agriculture commodities. New York's economy was so dependent on slavery that on the eve of the Civil War, New York City's mayor proposed secession to join with the South, said Richard Rabinowitz, the show's curator and writer.

"Slavery" at the NYHS is not only the largest show ever exhibited at the museum, but it's also one of the first major exhibits in the U.S. on the history of slavery in the colonies.

In 1703, 42 percent of New York's households had slaves; the only city with more was Charleston, South Carolina. By 1775, in New York there were 3,100 slaves, accounting for 30 percent to 40 percent of the city's workforce.

Slavery was part of every American colony until Vermont got rid of it in 1777; emancipation "came grudgingly and not completely" in New York until 1827.

At the preview of the exhibit earlier this summer, curators explained the challenges of finding documents and artifacts that actually belonged to slaves. Most of the items in the show come from the existing collection of N-YHS, which was actually founded by a slave owner.

The exhibit is rich in documentation from the white man's side: bills of sale, ships' ledgers, newspaper ads offering rewards for runaway slaves and household items crafted by slaves, but not owned by them.

The exhibit fills all the galleries on the main floor, and until Oct. 16, Abraham Lincoln's hand-written draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is on display downstairs.

The current show, which continues until March 5, covers the city's early history of slavery. In November 2006, the second part of the show will cover slavery in New York after 1815.

The exhibit takes great pains to make exhibit appeal to children, and indeed one of the curators' goals is to change the curriculum in schools to better teach the country's history. Among the unique installations is a "water well" that requires viewers to look down into a video well to see the reflection of several slave women gossiping. There is also a "respond to the exhibit" video booth where visitors can record their own thoughts, which will later appear on videos in the exhibit.

Related:
Old North: Recalling the Real Slaves of New York (Washington Post)
The Peculiar Institution as Lived in New York (New York Times)

October 10, 2005 07:15 PM in History, Kids, Museums, Upper West Side

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