Hidden Histories: Black Stories of the Lower East Side NYC

Black History in New York City Begins in Lower Manhattan,

and in Particular the Lower East Side

The Lower East Side (LES) is popularly known in history as the place where colonial settlers from Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, first started to colonize the United States during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Yet there is a vast history of Black life in New York, and this history City Begins in Lower Manhattan, and in Particular the Lower East Side. Yet the systematic erasure of Black life and history of the LES must begin with an acknowledgment that this land belongs to the Lenni Lenape and other indigenous communities who have lived here for centuries. We must acknowledge the stolen land we stand on.

The first enslaved Africans in New York were brought by Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (Lower Manhattan) in 1626 as slavery continued to be an integral part of the economy and society into the 18th century. In the year of 1664 the British captured NYC from the Dutch and at that time 9% of the 8000 settlers were African enslaved and free men and women. The British institutionalized slavery and maintained many of the racist horrifying laws that the Dutch had introduced, for instance making it illegal for Blacks to be married in a church. New York City became the largest slave owning colony in the north and in 1711, at the intersection of present day Wall Street and Water Street, the first slave market called the “meal market” was established, where corn, grain and other goods were sold along with the buying and selling of enslaved Black African Americans. In the early 1700's, over 40% of white households in New York owned slaves. By the early 18th century enslaved Black people made up 20% of the New York Cities population. The first African American Black neighborhood was established in the LES and extended to Greenwich Village. This project “Hidden Histories: Black Stories in the Lower East Side, NYC” uncovers, documents, and celebrates this invisible history.

“Hidden Histories: Black Stories in the Lower East Side, NYC” is a collaboration with “Beyond Symbol: Culture + Reparations”, a Fourth Arts Block (FABnyc) project, which brings visibility to the hidden history of African-Americans in the LES, generates dialogue on the role of arts and culture in the reparations movement, and builds resources and collective action for reparations in New York City. FABnyc is an arts organization working to strengthen the cultural vibrancy of the Lower East Side. One of their ongoing projects is the People's LES that states on their website that their purpose is to "recognize and value the Lower East Side’s historic identity as a community of immigrants, workers, artists, and activists; develop a shared platform for both existing and new People’s LES stories and histories; commission public art works and murals related to those stories, and convene historians, artists, organizers, local leaders and residents in public dialogue which connect the past with the present, and help shape a future vision for the neighborhood".

Working in partnership with FABnyc, the graduate students in two courses, “Artistic Activism as Radical Research” and "Critical Pedagogy, Artists, and the Public Sphere" offered by the Art, Education, and Community Practice Program at Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University embarked on researching the contributions made by African-American in the LES, which led to an art intervention for the public sphere during May 2021 as part of the Lower East Side History Month, and the creation of a series of posters that will serve as a public curriculum about the New York African Free School.

This website is an ongoing collaborative project that begins to capture and archive the history of African-Americans in LES. Nine sites in LES are represented here, however there are more sites that need to be researched and added. As this is a living archive, we would like to capture written histories of African American experience in the LES from the public. You can contact Dipti Desai at dd25@nyu.edu if you are interested in contributing more information about these nine sites as well as any other additional Black African American sites in LES that we could add to this site. We hope that the space will become a historical repository for the future.

Students in Artistic Activism as Radical Research who worked on this collaborative project with their professor, Dipti Desai are: Arielsela Holdbrook-Smith, Kassandra Khalil, Cambria Monique Kelley, Paz López, Claudia Maturell, Edward Pang, KT Kennedy, and Madjeen Isaac.

Students in Critical Pedagogy, Artists, and the Public Sphere who worked on creating a public curriculum for the New York African Free School with their professor, Jessica Hamlin are: Paz López, Claudia Maturell, Edward Pang, Madjeen Isaac, KT Kennedy, Claudia Maturell, Sarah Poleman, Jaime Perez, Lourdes Mejia, and Fiona Scanlon-Black.

References

A short history of slavery in NYC. (2019), New York City Urbanism, Retrieved on April 26, 2021 from https://www.nycurbanism.com/blog/2019/6/18/a-short-history-of-slavery-in-nyc

Burrows, E. G. & Mike Wallace, M. (1999). Gotham: A history of New York City to 1898. London and New York, Oxford University Press

Harris, L.M. (2004). In the shadow of Slavery: African Americans in NYC 1626-1863. Chicago: Illinois, University of Chicago Press

Mosterman, A. C. (n.d). Life in New Amsterdam- Educators Resource Guide, Museum of the City of New York, Retrieved on April 26, 2021 from https://mcny.org/sites/default/files/2016-11/MCNY_Educator_Resource_Guide_Lesson4_0.pdf