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Text: Africans In Early New York
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TEXT: Africans in Early New York
Slave traders preyed upon Africans from many parts of the continent — including regions that are now the countries of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Madagascar, among many others. They spoke different languages and practiced diverse customs and religions. Separated from their people, chained, and packed in ships’ holds, few ever returned to their homes.In 1626, traders brought the first enslaved laborers to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now Lower Manhattan. Under Dutch West India Company rules these “Company slaves” had certain rights: they could own property, file grievances, be baptized, and marry. In 1644, 11 male enslaved Africans petitioned and won partial freedom and over 100 acres of farmland that became known as “the Land of the Blacks.” In return, they paid the Dutch West India Company annually with corn, wheat, peas, beans, “and one fat hog.” This “freedom” was tenuous at best, and the company still considered children of freed parents enslaved. When England took control of the colony in 1664 New Amsterdam became New York and slavery codes became far more oppressive. By the 1720s, enslaved or free, no blacks owned land.Slaves accounted for about one quarter of colonial New York’s labor force. Often using skills they brought from their homelands, they worked side-by-side with free people and European indentured servants. Men cleared farmland, filled swampland, and built city improvements like Broadway and The Wall. Enslaved African women toiled in their owners’ homes, carrying large water vessels, cooking from raw ingredients over a fire, boiling water for laundry, and caring for their owners’ families in addition to their own. Children started work young. Common causes of death were malnutrition, physical strain, punishment, and diseases like yellow fever and smallpox. Despite extraordinary assaults on their humanity, these Africans and their descendants found dignity and community through familiar cultural rituals, including burial of the dead.
Description
TEXT: Africans in Early New York Slave traders preyed upon Africans from many parts of the continent — including regions that are now the countries of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Madagascar, among many others. They spoke different languages and practiced diverse customs and religions. Separated from their people, chained, and packed in ships’ holds, few ever returned to their homes.In 1626, traders brought the first enslaved laborers to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now Lower Manhattan. Under Dutch West India Company rules these “Company slaves” had certain rights: they could own property, file grievances, be baptized, and marry. In 1644, 11 male enslaved Africans petitioned and won partial freedom and over 100 acres of farmland that became known as “the Land of the Blacks.” In return, they paid the Dutch West India Company annually with corn, wheat, peas, beans, “and one fat hog.” This “freedom” was tenuous at best, and the company still considered children of freed parents enslaved. When England took control of the colony in 1664 New Amsterdam became New York and slavery codes became far more oppressive. By the 1720s, enslaved or free, no blacks owned land.Slaves accounted for about one quarter of colonial New York’s labor force. Often using skills they brought from their homelands, they worked side-by-side with free people and European indentured servants. Men cleared farmland, filled swampland, and built city improvements like Broadway and The Wall. Enslaved African women toiled in their owners’ homes, carrying large water vessels, cooking from raw ingredients over a fire, boiling water for laundry, and caring for their owners’ families in addition to their own. Children started work young. Common causes of death were malnutrition, physical strain, punishment, and diseases like yellow fever and smallpox. Despite extraordinary assaults on their humanity, these Africans and their descendants found dignity and community through familiar cultural rituals, including burial of the dead.
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2 minutes, 19 seconds
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