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African American Studies: Slavery in New York

This guide highlights African American Studies resources that are available via the Fordham University Libraries.

Slavery in New York State

Try the following background resources to learn about the abolition of slavery in New York:

Find entries for "abolitionism" in The Encyclopedia of New York City and The Encyclopedia of New York State from the Reference Shelf.

Landy, Craig A. “‘When Men Amongst Us, Shall Cease to Be Slaves’: The Bicentennial of New York’s 1817 Final Act of Emancipation.” Judicial Notice, no. 12, 2017, pp. 43–53.

Selection of Books

As always, please check the library catalog for additional books on this topic.

The Last Slave Ships [electronic resource] : New York and the End of the Middle Passage by John Harris
Yale University Press, 2020.

The Kidnapping Club [electronic resource] : Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War by Jonathan Daniel Wells
Bold Type Books, 2020.

Pretends to Be Free : Runaway Slave Advertisements from Colonial and Revolutionary New York and New Jersey (Revised and expanded ed.) by Graham Russell Gao Hodges and Alan Edward Brown (editors)
Fordham University Press, 2019.
Call number [RH & LC Stacks] E445.N56 P74 2019

Slavery and Freedom in the Mid-Hudson Valley [electronic resource] by Michael E. Groth
SUNY Press, 2017.

Emancipating New York : The Politics of Slavery and Freedom, 1777-1827 by David N. Gellman
Louisiana State University Press, 2006.
Call number [RH Stacks] E445.N56 G45 2006

Slavery in New York by Ira Berlin; Leslie M. Harris (editors)
New Press, 2005.
Call number [LC & RH Stacks] F128.9.N4 S55 2005

New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan by Jill Lepore
Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Call number [LC & RH Stacks] F128.4 .L47 2005
*See link to replication data on this page

Black and White Manhattan : The History of Racial Formation in Colonial New York City by Thelma Wills Foote
Oxford University Press, 2004.
Call number [RH Stacks] F128.9.A1 F66 2004

In the Shadow of Slavery [electronic resource] : African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 by Leslie M. Harris
University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Call number [LC & RH Stacks] F128.9.N4 H37 2003

Jim Crow New York : A Documentary History of Race and Citizenship, 1777-1877 by David N. Gellman; David Quigley (editors)
New York University Press, 2003.
Call number [RH Stacks] E185.93.N56 J56 2003

Stories of Freedom in Black New York by Shane White
Harvard University Press, 2002.
Call number [RH & LC Stacks] F128.9.N4 W48 2002

Somewhat More Independent [electronic resource] : The End of Slavery in New York City, 1770-1810 by Shane White
University of Georgia Press, 1991.
Cal number [LC QuinnX Stacks & RH Stacks] F128.44 .W54 1991

Laws

An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, Laws of 1799, Chapter 62.
Image and transcription of the law passed to gradually abolish the institution of slavery in the State of New York.

An Act Relative to Slaves and Servants, Laws of 1817, Chapter 137
Image of subsequent gradual abolition law from the New York State Archives. See HathiTrust Digital Library for a transcription.

Open Access Digital Collections

New York Public Library Digital Collections on Slavery
Over 1,800 images, books, essays, and other documents relating to slavery from NYPL. Limit your search to by city name to see items relating slavery within New York State.

New York Heritage Digital Collections
A collaborative project of eight Empire State Library Network highlighting digital collections from around New York state.

New-York Manumission Society Records, 1785-1849
Contains 11 volumes of records for the New-York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves (commonly known as the New-York Manumission Society) covering its activities from its founding in 1785 through its dissolution in 1849.

NYC's Early African American Settlements
Research guide from NYPL with links to primary sources for New Amsterdam’s “Little Africa,” Manhattan’s Seneca Village, Brooklyn’s Weeksville community, and Staten Island’s Sandy Ground neighborhood.

Replication Data for New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan by Jill Lepore
Contains demographic information about the City of New York in the 1730s and 1740s compiled by Jill Lepore for her book on the alleged slave rebellion in 1741. (See listing for her book on this page.)

The African Burial Ground in New York City

African Burial Ground Final Reports
Provides access to reports conducted by the U.S. General Services Administration and Howard University covering the historical, bioanthropological, and archaeological significance of the African Burial Ground found at 290 Broadway.

The African Burial Ground in New York City by Andrea E. Frohne
Syracuse University Press, 2015.
Call number [RH Stacks] F128.9.N4 F76 2015

Breaking Ground Breaking Silence : The Story of New York's African Burial Ground by Joyce Hansen; Gary McGowan (Illustrator)
Henry Holt, 1998.
Call number [RH Stacks] F128.39 .H36 1998

Pierre Toussaint Resources

Memoir of Pierre Toussaint, Born a Slave in St. Domingo by Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee
Crosby, Nichols and Company, 1854.
Special Collections Call Number: SPEC AMER 1854 68

Pierre Toussaint : A Biography by Arthur Jones
Doubleday, 2003.
Call number [RH & LC Stacks] E185.97.T736 J66 2003

Additional Resources & Guides

Historical Newspapers & Periodicals
See the News & Magazines tab for historical newspapers & periodicals.

Early American Resources
Search through our library databases with early American content.

Census Resources

Census of Slaves 1755 - Lower New York
Partial digitized booklet from Columbia University Libraries. Albany, New York, and Suffolk counties are missing.

Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: New York
Typed 1790 census returns with summary statistics for the State of New York. It does not list the names of the enslaved but it will show if a family had enslaved and/or free people of color laboring in their homes.

U.S. Census Bureau Data
See our page U.S. Census Bureau Data for more options.

Public History Projects

Northeast Slavery Record Index
A searchable compilation of records that identify individual enslaved persons and enslavers in the states of New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Freedom on the Move
Compiles citations and transcriptions of ads appearing in newspapers searching for runaway, fugitive, or self-emancipating slaves. Search the database to see listings for New York.

Slavers of New York
A group of activists, educators, and researchers using historical data and street art to expose the legacy of slavery in NYC.

Sojourner Truth Resources

Image credit via the 1878 edition of Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Narrative of Sojourner Truth, A Northern Slave, Emancipated from Bodily Servitude by the State of New York, in 1828 by Olive Gilbert; Sojourner Truth
Published by the author, 1850.

Narrative of Sojourner Truth : A Bondswoman of Olden Time, Emancipated by the New York Legislature in the Early Part of the Present Century; with a History of Her Labors and Correspondence, Drawn from her "Book of Life" by Olive Gilbert; Sojourner Truth
Publication Date: 1878
Reprint from Oxford University Press, 1991.
Call number [LC QuinnX Stacks & RH Stacks] E185.A5 G5 1991

Sojourner Truth : A Life, A Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter
W.W. Norton, 1996.
Call number [Westchester] E185.97.T82 P35 1996

Reference & Instruction Department

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