The story of slavery in New York unfolds over a period of two centuries, from about 1626 until July 4, 1827, when slavery was abolished in the state. It starts with the first Africans brought by the Dutch to what was then New Amsterdam.
The Dutch engaged in a system of half-slavery, meaning the Africans they forced to work for them could later be freed. One important document in the show is a centuries-old piece of paper, borrowed from the state library in Albany, that grants freedom to one of the slaves.
That system changed entirely when the British took over, after 1664. ``The British create a much more severe regimen, we call it the tightening vise,'' Rabinowitz said.
Roughly chronological, the exhibit proceeds to demonstrate how slaves became an everyday part of life — in 1703, 42 percent of New York households had slaves, compared to 6 percent in Philadelphia and 2 percent in Boston — and a lucrative business — between 1715 and 1740, 500 different merchants invested in slave voyages. That's practically every merchant in business at the time, Rabinowitz said. Slaves did everything, from manual construction labor to agricultural work to household cleaning.
Organizers hope the show, which will not travel, brings out a wide audience and exposes a reality most people may not have known.
``It's been a very important subject for scholars, and I think it's time for this to be a part of the public dialogue,'' Rabinowitz said.
—Associated Press
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