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Most people think of US slavery in the southern context...
As far as this I think people's limited view of slavery in the U.S can come from Hollywood's portrayal of slavery. Hollywood as far as I know hasn't put out any movies dealing with northern slavery. If a movie is set in NYC in the 1700's it would need to have some slaves in it.
As I mentioned earlier ,there were in fact northern plantations with house slaves,field slaves and slave quarters,just like down south.The one I linked to was on Long Island and it encompassed all of what is now Shelter Island... the whole Island ! One family owned it all.The family that owned it and lived there was in the Rum trade.The field slaves on Shelter Island harvested the trees on the island and made barrels which were shipped down to another plantation owned by the same family down in the islands where they made the rum.The barrels of rum were then shipped back to Europe( and all over the world) on ships owned by the same family and crewed by more slaves.It was a huge ,international slave dependent enterprise run from Shelter Island,NY.
I have also heard of other northern plantations in Rhode Island,Massachusetts and Connecticut. I think there were more northern plantations than most people think.
Hamilton Heights section of Harlem was the Hamilton Grange Plantation. This plantation was owned by Alexander Hamilton one of our Founding Fathers, and our First Secretary of the Treasury. He was also a racially mixed person born on the island of Nevis. His official portrait is rumored to be "whitenized".
Bradhurst Ave in Harlem runs north and is adjacent to the section that was Hamilton Grange Plantation. This Ave was part of the land owned by the Bradhurst family, consisting of the Bradhurst Plantation, and was adjacent to the Hamilton.
Across the Harlem river was Morris Plantation now the Mott Haven, Melrose, and Morrisania sections of the Bronx. The Morris family owned this land.
There is plenty of information on NYC from the time of the earliest European explorations to the 1800's when slavery was part of NYC. The NY Historical Society, and the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture are 2 sources for much of early NY History concerning African Americans.
Most sources on the internet start with Harlem and the first wave of the Great Migration of Black people to Harlem from the south and the Caribbean in the late 1800's. But with most of Harlem being farm land and plantations prior to that, along with slavery not ending in NYC until about 20 years before slavery ended in the southern states, we know that Black people were in Harlem prior to the great migration. In fact some might conclude that the presence of Black people already there, created a certain comfort level to those from the South and the Caribbean that arrived in NYC during the Great Migration, to seek this section of the city out, and to move to it.
As far as this I think people's limited view of slavery in the U.S can come from Hollywood's portrayal of slavery. Hollywood as far as I know hasn't put out any movies dealing with northern slavery. If a movie is set in NYC in the 1700's it would need to have some slaves in it.
Most people are aware of the ports around Norfolk Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina as the places where most Slaves arrived. However the biggest US port for arriving slaves was Newport, Rhode Island. Much old money wealth in the New England states was created from the slave trade. More than any other place in the US. The wealth created in New England surpasses any amount created in the South from the slave trade.
I visited this past Spring. It is both indoors and out. It is worth watching the movie to even better understand the slaves' experience in lower Manhattan. It helped me better understand the significant presence as well as impact they had on the developing colonies.
There are displays, charts, graphics, some interactive elements. You will learn about the individuals who were laid to rest there based upon forensics as well as the items which were buried with them.
Outdoors is a very interesting monument which makes the visitor stop and contemplate the journey the slaves were forced into. The remains which were removed are reinterred in several burial mounds adjacent to the monument.
One word of advice -- if you or anyone in your party is has psychic sensitivities, they may be overwhelmed. One friend witnessed several spirits -- most were docile, one was aggressive and chased her from a section built to look like waterfront dock.
One word of advice -- if you or anyone in your party is has psychic sensitivities, they may be overwhelmed. One friend witnessed several spirits -- most were docile, one was aggressive and chased her from a section built to look like waterfront dock.
Would you advise bringing a dousing rod?
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