Abolitionist Movements and Black Community Building
"A view of the attack against Fort Washington and rebel redouts near New York on the 16 of November 1776 by the British and Hessian brigades" by Thomas Davies.
The Revolutionary War (1775-1783) had a strong front-of-the-line presence in New York. The Battle of Fort Washington in November of 1776 occurred in today’s Washington Heights, displacing occupants who laid down roots, including the Dyckman family. The ever-present conflicts of the war on New York soil was a window of opportunity for African men. Many occupying colonists on the island of Manhattan fled the city to upstate New York because of the turbulence of battles and British occupying soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Some of those fleeing enslavers left their enslaved behind to fend for themselves, who found themselves attaching
to marauding armies (Hodges 1999, 140). New York, like many other states, permitted enslavers to send their enslaved as replacement military for the Patriots with promises of freedom. That said, Patriots were hesitant to admit African soldiers into battle, so many sided with the British and even “secretly wished the British army might win, for then all Negro slaves will fain their freedom” (Hodges 1999, 144).
Those free and enslaved Africans who sided with the British loyalists were seen as “Black Pioneers,” coined by General Henry Clinton in the early stages of the war (Sir Henry Clinton to Sir William Howe 1777). Whether previously enslaved Africans believed they would remain free after the war, the prospect of fighting with the British gave them such pieces of equality as well as skills and opportunities to openly communicate with white soldiers to learn about American-British conflict and other cultural aspects of white colonial rule. Those free and
"Peter Salem Shooting Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill." Getty Images.
enslaved Africans who remained in New York City would continue to pursue efforts, spread knowledge, and seek freedom. These early stages of what would go on to be the first abolitionist movements in New York, were aided by the mutual connection of Africans and colonizers through religion.
After the war, various Black abolitionist movements sprouted throughout New York City. For the first time in the City, there were numerous free Blacks living in the city while there were many still enslaved. Black elites used religious faith and mutual aid to establish Black community institutions. In New York, and throughout colonized regions, there was a presence of religion among the colonizers and enslaved people. Enslaved Africans continued practicing their religion but were also influenced by the strong presence of Christianity that was practiced by their enslavers. The devastations of war created a connection of Blacks and whites who worshiped with each other both on and off the battlefield.
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"A.M.E. Zion Church, corner of West Tenth and Bleeker Streets, New York City." Public Domain.
African Americans in Upper Manhattan fled to the city to meld into the Black masses who were finding ways to contribute and live in a white society. There was a presence of white abolitionists in New York City, many of which were influenced by the Black and white comradery of the war, as well as a large Quaker population that had been active in New York since the 1760s. In 1785, a handful of those white leaders, including Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, founded the New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves and Protecting Such of Them as Have Been or May Be Liberated, later to be known as the New York Manumission Society. The Society’s first purpose was to “press the New York state legislature for abolition” and also “lobbied slave owners to manumit their slaves voluntarily, offered legal representation of slaves seeking manumission, and protected free blacks and slaves against kidnappers” (Berlin and Harris 2005, 119). This Society proved to be influential as New York saw an influx of manumissions of enslaved in 1799 through the Gradual Emancipation Law of 1799, one of the earliest records of mass manumission in the United States.​
In the early 1780s, a group of black men, including Reverend Peter Williams Sr., William Hamilton, and James Varick, formed the New York African Society “to oversee the spiritual and economic needs of their community” (Berlin and Harris 2005, 186). Many of the members of the Society would go on to create their own places of worship after being disappointed with the treatment of black worshipers at the John Street Church. Several created Mother Zion, other “black Episcopalians petitioned Trinity Church for a separate place of worship that would eventually lead to the created of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church”, with its first pastor, Peter Williams Jr in 1826 (Berlin and Harris 2005, 186). To provide aid to the members and their families, the society’s most important and love-lived association was created called the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, with William Hamilton elected as president in 1810. Churches, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (A.M.E. Zion or "Mother Zion") on West Tenth Avenue and Bleeker Street in today's Greenwich Village, spawned African communities. Greenwich Village, coined "Little Africa," may have appeared to be a desirable and safe location for Francis Cudjoe who presumably relocated to this area after his manumission.
The importance of a social union and religious outlets gave African Americans sanctuary from the white society that bred, and continues today, hatred and racism. The presence and importance of churches can be seen at the site of Seneca Village, a free Black community in Upper Manhattan located near today’s 84th Street and Central Park West, which was destroyed through eminent domain to build Central Park as a part of the 1811 grid development plan. Despite its small population of approximately 350 people, its three churches were centers for community-making.
Buildings of Seneca Village seen on Central Park and grid plan. Viele, 1856.
“The link between the important institution in Black community life and the Black households was clear,” as the New York Manumission Society founded one of its most significant acts, the African Free School of New York City in 1787 (White 1990, 173).
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Many African Americans living in Upper Manhattan created their own communities, like Seneca Village. There were also free Black individuals who operated within the elite white society while living in the outskirts of New York City proper. Continue on to learn about Upper Manhattan’s affluence Black tavernkeeper, Cato Alexander.
Bibliography
Berlin, Ira, and Leslie M. Harris, eds. Slavery in New York. New York: New Press, 2005.
Hodges, Graham Russell. Root and Branch: African Americans in New York and East Jersey,
1613–1863. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
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Davies, Thomas. "A view of the attack against Fort Washington and rebel redouts near New York on the 16 of November 1776 by the British and Hessian brigades." The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. New York: NYPL Digital Collections. November 16, 1776. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-7aee-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
Sir Henry Clinton to Sir William Howe, January 11, 1777, Newport, Rhode Island, Clinton
Papers, 20:13, Clements Library.
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Taylor, J.E. "Peter Salem Shooting Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill." Corbis Historical, Getty Images. n.d.
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Viele, Egbert L. "Map of the lands included in the Central Park, from a topographical survey, June 17th, 1856; [Also:] Plan for the improvement of the Central Park, adopted by the Commissioners, June 3rd, 1856." Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division. New York: NYPL Digital Collections, June 3, 1856. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/6850fc74-5e61-8806-e040-e00a18067a2c.
White, Shane. Somewhat More Independent: The End of Slavery in New York City, 1770–1810.
Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1990.