Slavery officially ended in New York in 1827. When the Gradual Emancipation law passed after
the Revolutionary War, it did not pertain to all slaves in New York. Although slavery existed in
New York, the role that enslaved African Americans played in building New York City is often
ignored. Slavery in New York is examined in the short documentary entitled, “New York's History
of Slavery.”
For this assignment, please watch “New York's History of Slavery” and write a brief essay. The
link to the documentary can be found below.
What resonated most powerfully was the physical evidence of this forgotten history: the African Burial Ground National Monument. The film's discussion of the accidental 1991 discovery of this sacred site—which holds the remains of thousands of enslaved and free Africans who lived in 17th- and 18th-century New York—underscores the deliberate erasure of Black contributions to the city's formation. Seeing the reverence for the site and hearing about the lives of the individuals buried there provided a visceral connection to the past that statistics alone cannot convey. This burial ground, often literally buried beneath the city's modern infrastructure, symbolizes how the truth of slavery in New York has been systematically overlooked.
Ultimately, "New York's History of Slavery" argues that the city's prosperity was directly founded upon the exploitation of enslaved people, a fact that is often overshadowed by the focus on the abolitionist movement of the later 19th century. By bringing this buried history to light, the documentary challenges viewers to confront the full complexity of American history, acknowledging that New York's rise as a global metropolis is inseparable from the hands and lives of the enslaved individuals who built it.
Sample Answer
New York's Forgotten History of Slavery
The documentary “New York's History of Slavery” serves as a powerful and essential reminder that the institution of chattel slavery was not confined to the American South, but was deeply entrenched in the founding and development of New York City. The film details how New York, first under Dutch and then English rule, maintained one of the largest enslaved populations outside of the plantation South. A critical point highlighted is the sheer scale of the practice; by the mid-18th century, a significant percentage of Manhattan's population was enslaved, forming the labor force that built infrastructure, cleared land, and powered the colonial economy, making New York a major port in the transatlantic slave trade. The narrative further examines the slow, partial process of emancipation, beginning with the Gradual Emancipation Act of 1799, which ensured that slavery persisted in the state for decades, officially ending only in 1827. The documentary thus combats the widespread historical amnesia that has often obscured the city's dependence on enslaved African labor.