Upcoming NYC Memorial Recognizes 18th-Century Slave Market

There's a common misconception that slavery was primarily a "Southern thing." But New York City played a very prominent role in the slave trade both before and after slavery was abolished in the state. This summer, the city's remembering this darker period in its history with a new memorial recognizing the slave market that used to exist in Lower Manhattan.

 

In the mid-18th century, slaves made up about 1/7 of New York City's population.  That's according to Eric Foner, a history professor at Columbia University. And he says the slave market that was open on the corner of Wall and Pearl Streets from 1711-1762 was no monopoly.

 

"If you look at colonial newspapers in New York, they all have little ads, you know, 'Brought in Five Slaves,' from here and there," Foner said. "Someone at his wharf or at his shop would be selling various goods, including slaves."

 

Foner says New York was a major center for importing slaves as well as the goods that slaves helped produce, like sugar and rum, from the West Indies and Africa. He says New York merchants would also ship slaves to farms along the East Coast.  

 

"There were many farmers - Brooklyn was a farming area, Westchester, parts of upstate [New York] - we're not talking about giant plantations, but people who had a number of slaves working," Foner said.

 

But Foner says slaves made major contributions within the city itself. 

 

"[Slaves] worked on the docks, they worked on ships, they worked in craftsman shops and hauled things around the city as so-called 'cartmen;' and the elite used slaves as domestic workers in their homes," Foner said. 

 

Foner says New York's involvement in slavery continued long after the official slave market shut down.

 

"People don't realize that even after slavery was abolished, this city was very tied to the 'Cotton States' of the South, so we had a long connection with slavery up to the Civil War, even after slavery no longer existed in New York state," Foner said.

 

Foner says it's crucial New Yorkers understand both the good and bad parts of their history.