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THEN I'LL BE FREE TO TRAVEL HOME: SEGMENT 1 (Music: ThemeVocal starts, fades under) Narrator: In 1991 a
colonial burial ground was discovered in the lower Manhattan section of New
York City. It's all that's left of a sacred site that once held some ten, maybe
as many as twenty thousand people of African descent. The contributions they
made – the struggle of those Africans and their descendents against northern
slavery and for first-class citizenship – is an epic saga that defines who, and
what we are, as a people, and a nation. Here then, is the legacy of the New
York African burial ground: that never-ending struggle we call, "Then I'll
Be Free To Travel Home." (Music: ThemeViolin up full, then under) Franklin: I told you in the beginning. It look like everything that
was said in the beginning, it look like everybody's gonna be in that draft, in
that burial ground but Africans. My ancestors - our ancestors - and it hurts
when I see people have to grovel to get their thing over, you know what I mean? It's sad… it’s very sad. Narrator: What could trigger such an emotion? Why was elderly mother
Franklin, weeping at this 1992 public hearing about a New York burial ground? (Music: "Then I'll Be Free To
Travel Home") Narrator: She was worried about the bodies of her colonial
ancestors, and their ancient African burial ground. It’s still a great concern
some 14 years later. Doctor Michael Blakey has been the project director and
scientific director for the New York African burial ground project: Blakey: The African burial ground was not supposed to be there,
according to most American education, even one educated in New York City. Just
down the block from this cemetery, one would have learned that the African
presence in colonial New York was negligible. It really matters that their
story be told, that it be told properly, and that they be treated properly. Narrator: Treated properly so that their spirits, crying for
release, might now be set free to travel home to some final, peaceful resting
place. (Music: "Then I'll Be Free To
Travel Home") Narrator: Who were they? How
many free, how many enslaved? How were they laid out and why? And why are so
many early African-Americans buried in such a prime section of lower Manhattan? Wilson: There are also some references to the enslaved living on
Williams Street in lower Manhattan, and that frankly seems certainly more
likely, because this was the location where most of the settlers, non-natives,
lived in that area. Narrator: Director of the Office of Education and Interpretation for
the African Burial Ground, Doctor Sherrill Wilson: Wilson: Eventually, a fort was built by the Dutch at the tip of the
island, and again, African men were unquestionably used as builders, as
laborers, in building that fort and that fort was to keep out both the British,
early on, as well as the natives. Narrator: These first eleven enslaved African men were brought by
the Dutch in 1626. Enslaved African women were also brought to the cold,
alien place called New Amsterdam
between 1626 and 1630. (Sound: chopping/hammering) Narrator: The Africans were forced to clear land, work the docks,
build ships and roads, and, as the records show, also fight Indians. (RA) Selectmen to Governor
Kieft: The honorable director shall employ
thereto as many negroes from among the strongest and the fleetest as he can
conveniently spare, and provide them each with a hatchet and half-pike. Narrator: By 1644, the Africans were granted land and partial
freedom. Gracia Angola, Manuel de Reus, and Peter Santome and the others were
allowed to tend their land when the Dutch West India Company didn't need them.
Professor Edna Green Medford is Associate Professor of History at Howard University in Washington
D.C.: Medford: But they have an obligation to defend the colony in the
event of an attack, and they have to give a certain amount of agricultural
products to the Dutch West India Company every year, sort of as a tax or
tribute or whatever, but they're not totally free; and if they don't do this,
if they fail to abide by these rules, they can be re-enslaved. And in fact,
their children, those who are already born, and those to be born, were still
enslaved by the Dutch West India Company. Narrator: They were charged the price of a full grown slave to buy
the children's freedom. They gladly paid it. Family and community ties were
close and the early African burials took place nearby. Professor Medford: Medford: The burial ground
would have been in existence at least as early as 1712, because there's references
made to it in the records at that time. We don't know how much earlier than
that it was in existence, but we suspect it may have been there as early as the
1640s. Narrator: Colgate History Professor Graham Hodges places it even
earlier: Hodges: The African burial ground is first mentioned in maps of
Manhattan as early as the 1630s. It was separate from the burial grounds used
by the Dutch. It was located just outside of New Amsterdam. Narrator: Located outside the northern wall the Africans had built
to protect the Dutch from counter-attacks by native Americans. It’s now known
as Wall Street. And although the Africans often helped defend the colony, they
also had good relationships with the Indians. Narrator: Historian Christopher Moore traces his ancestry back to
colonial New Amsterdam: Moore: My earliest known African ancestor was a man by the name
of Emmanuel Angola, and he and his wife Christine Angola, had a child by the
name of Nicholas Manuel; they brought the child to be baptized in the church in
the fort in New Amsterdam in August of 1649.
If you go from Maine from the Micmac right down to the Seminoles in
Florida,, they're generally known as black indians, primarily because of the
relations, the inter-marriage between the Africans and the native Americans. Narrator: But those Africans had also been good for the Dutch
colony. Governor Peter Stuyvesant kept asking for more. His wish was finally
granted in August 1664. It contributed to the downfall of Dutch rule.
Christopher Moore: Moore: Just a few weeks before the arrival of the British ships
in the New York harbor, there was a ship called the Gideon which had 290 slaves
aboard. These folks were slaves, but they also had to be fed, so there was
literally very low food supply in the colony; local ministers talked Stuyvesant
out of trying to wage war for the colony. Narrator: Under the Dutch,
slaves could earn or buy their freedom, and be baptized and married. They could
sue each other and whites in a Dutch court. They could own, buy, or sell
certain property. All that changed under the British. Research Coordinator for
the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Historian Christopher
Moore: Moore: They could punish
their slaves for private offenses without trial, and they could literally
dispense any punishment except death or dismemberment, and up to 40 lashes.
There was even a law against nighttime burials which was very often a custom
for African burial rituals. Narrator: From the shells, beads, and other artifacts found in a
number of the graves, we know those Africans clung fiercely to much of their
native traditions. Doctor Michael Blakey: Blakey: Resistance to their dehumanization took place in that
cemetery on a regular basis. One of the fundamental ways of affirming humanity
is burial of the dead. The Africans were burying their dead, all but about
thirty, in coffins. They were laying them very carefully with respect to their
burial positions. They provided them with small offerings. Within the coffins a
few things were placed, including, for me, the nicest example is the silver
ear-bob; a little droplet-like piece of jewelry that was used in trade by the
Europeans with native Americans, and perhaps others, that was around, near a
child's neck; and this actually had some economic value, so those who laced the
ear-bob there could have kept it, melted it down, used it to good effect under
their desperate conditions. Instead, it was more important for them, given
their feelings about that child, and about themselves, to place it in the
burial for good. Narrator: The Dutch often manumitted or freed slaves after a period
of service. The British discouraged this. Slaves could no longer buy their own
freedom, own property, or testify in court. Not even free blacks could. But the
Royal African Trading Company still brought in more slave cargo, directly from
the African continent. (Sound: flogging/moans
&groans) Narrator: By the spring of 1712, many of the new captives had had
enough. An African called Peter the doctor inspired them to revolt. (Sound: gunfire/shouting) Narrator: Professor Graham Hodges: Hodges: A group of slaves - primarily from the Cormanteen nation,
which is named after a slave port in west Africa - who're known as very brave,
very tough vigorous people, banded together and started a series of fires on
the outskirts of town. As whites came to put out the fires, the Africans fired
upon the whites - with stolen guns - killed several of them. After that the
white colonists went for reinforcements; and the militia quickly gathered up
the remaining Africans who had been conspirators. Narrator: Mass hysteria swept the British colonies. This report ran
in the April 14th Boston weekly news-letter: (RA) Newsletter: We have about 70
negroes in custody and 'tis fear'd that most of the negroes here (who are very
numerous) knew of the late conspiracy to murder the Christians. Narrator: Nine whites had been killed by the African and native
American rebels. Most of the Indians charged were released. Punishment for the Africans
was brutal: (RA) Newsletter: Tom, slave of
Nicholas Roosevelt, burned with a slow fire for ten hours until dead and
consumed to ashes. Quaco, slave of Walter Thong, hung. Mingo, hung; Claus,
broken on wheel; Quacko, slave of Rip van Dam, hung. Titus, hung; Toby, hung;
Quacko, slave of Abraham Provoost, hung. Narrator: Forty-three rebels were officially charged with a crime.
The key one escaped punishment. Peter the doctor was acquitted and released.
But the fallout from the revolt was devastating. Professor Hodges: Hodges: Immediately after these trials, the local governance
passed a series of ordinances defining how difficult it would be for a slave to
be emancipated. Free blacks were not allowed to own property in the future.
This English code noir, established slavery as a full institution in New York. Narrator: Christopher Moore: Moore: There were several very racist laws in general. One in
particular was the prohibition against free blacks inheriting land; and that's
pretty much the death-knell for the free black community in Manhattan. Narrator: Fear and retribution produced those laws. But because of the profitable market they
had created, the Royal African Trading Company and other smugglers kept
bringing enslaved Africans. More slaves, more profits. More profits, more
slaves. But, more slaves meant greater fear and paranoia. Professor Hodges: Hodges: Nothing between 1712 and 1741 had been done to ameliorate
the condition of African-Americans; if anything, things were probably worse by
1740 than they had been in 1711. The “great negro conspiracy” of 1741 starts in
the spring of 1741 when a series of fires destroys Fort George, the English
military fort at the foot of Manhattan island. Several slaves are observed
cheering the fire, saying 'by-and-by, scorch, scorch, more and more;' that
there will be more fires. Narrator: On Saturday, 11 April 1741, the common council passed a
new ruling: (RA) Council: This board request
his honour the lieut. Governor to issue a proclamation offering a reward to any
white person that shall discover any person or persons lately concern'd in
setting fire to any dwelling house or store house in this city. (so that such
person or persons as be convicted thereof), the sum of one hundred pounds. And
any slave that shall make such discovery to be manumitted or made free. Narrator: Remembering the fires of 1712, New Yorkers feared another
slave revolt. Lieutenant-Governor George Clarke sent this report to his
superiors in England: (RA) Clarke: To appease their fears and secure them from danger, I
caused a guard of militia to mount the town hall every night and go the rounds
duly. Narrator: This was a very apprehensive climate. The testimony of a
16-year-old white indentured servant barmaid caused an even greater miscarriage
of justice - more wanton carnage - than had occurred less than thirty years
before. (Sound: gavel strikes, opening of
court) (RA) Court cryer: Oh yea, oh yea, oh yea, draw nigh and take heed. This
court is now in session. Narrator: It became known as
the "great conspiracy" or the so-called "negro plot" of
1741. Colonial expert Professor Graham Hodges: Hodges: Investigations indicated that a series of black gangs, the
Geneva Club in particular, run by a slave named Caesar, was behind the arson.
Many of the African conspirators met in taverns owned by whites, John Hughson
of course is the most famous of these; and Hughson's tavern was known as a
place where black conspirators could gather, drink, gamble, dance, frolic, and
plan the uprising. Narrator: But were the fires
simply diversions to cover robberies?
Lt. Governor George Clarke stated in his investigative report: (RA) Clarke: "Hughson enticed some negroes to rob their masters
and to bring the stolen goods to him on promise of reward. Narrator: Some historians,
like Professor Hodges, feel there was more to it than that: Hodges: Further investigation unraveled a whole conspiracy to
overthrow the English government, to
burn the town, and turn it over to the Spanish. I think that in general,
this conspiracy was much more widespread among the African American community
than other legal scholars have allowed. Narrator: Christopher Moore: Moore: They ended up executing thirty-one black men and also four
whites - two white men and two white women. Really all on the testimony of a
16-year-old indentured servant named Mary Burton. Narrator: The four whites
hanged were Margaret Kerry, who was accused of being involved with the slave
Caesar, John Hughson and his wife, and on very flimsy testimony, an Episcopal
priest named John Ury. Many of the executions took place near the African
burial ground. Christopher Moore: Moore: All thirty-five were hanged, or burned at the stake, right
in the vicinity of City Hall Park which was just south of the African burial
ground. In one case, a white man and a black man had been hanged together, and
they left them up for weeks; eyewitnesses said that the white man turned black,
and the black man turned white, they were up there so long. Narrator: Most of those put
to death were buried in the African burial ground. And this surprising
archaeological discovery often provided startling revelations of its own. McGowan: Two buttons here, two small ones, have anchors on the
surface as the motif… Narrator: Gary McGowan
supervised the handling of the artifacts found at the African burial ground. He
discussed an intriguing find with Professor Hodges while still cleaning and
cataloging samples: Hodges: Your preliminary feelings about this man was a naval, a
sailor of some type? McGowan: It has been suggested that, because of the motif of the
anchors, that there would be that connection between naval officer and the
remains. Hodges: That's quite possible; I don't know if he'd be an officer,
although there were certainly African-American sailors and soldiers who were
given honorary titles by the English during the American Revolution. Narrator: Was he perhaps a patriotic rebel in a captured British
officer's coat? Was he a British soldier, or, seemingly impossible, a British
officer? Surprisingly, he could have been any of those. And that's the story of
the American Revolution that's never been truly told. Professor Medford: Medford: The Revolutionary War was a great opportunity for African
Americans to secure their liberty. The British fairly early on, under
the direction of Lord Dunmore, in Virginia, offer freedom to any enslaved
people who can make their way to the British forces, and fight on the side of
the British, I mean, he's encouraging them to leave the plantations; and people
hear that and they do it in droves. Narrator: New Jersey's Hunterdon County resident Wilson Hunt issued
a runaway notice about an escapee named Bood, with this note of caution: (RA) Hunt: Any person who takes up said negro, is cautioned to be
particularly careful that he does not make his escape, as he is a remarkable
stout, cunning, artful fellow. Narrator: From the early 1770s to 1783, the number of runaways in the New York-New Jersey area
increased four-fold. But not everyone chose flight. Many plotted rebellion. As
a New Jersey report to the Continental Congress put it: (RA) Report: The story of the negroes may be depended upon, at least to
their arming or attempting to form themselves, particularly in Somerset County. Narrator: More blacks had been put to death during colonial days in
New York than in any other northern colony, and New Jersey ran a close second.
Professor Graham Hodges. Hodges: There also had been in the early 1770s, a sense that, as
in the previous conspiracies, that African-Americans are preparing a move.
There's a greater sense that slaves are ready to rise up against their masters. [Station Break] Narrator: With their Revolutionary War in full sway, the rebellious
patriots were very worried about a full-scale black rebellion. (Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: And yet, from the opening battles, blacks fought for the
American rebels. Horton: It's no accident that the Revolutionary War was fought
with interracial units. Narrator: Doctor James Horton is Professor of History and American
Studies at George Washington University in Washington D.C.: Horton: Those original minutemen at Lexington, the original
minutemen who fought at Bunker Hill, all of these people - were some black,
some white, some native American. We know about the Boston massacre in which
Crispus Attucks, a former slave, part African, part native American, was the
leader. Narrator: Eyewitness accounts say Crispus Attucks struck the first
blow that launched the Boston Massacre of 1770. (Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: Attucks died on the spot. In 1775 Peter Salem and other
blacks fought at Lexington and Concord, the first official battle of the war.
He, Salem Poor, and others, also fought at Bunker Hill that spring of 1775.
Poor was commended for bravery by Colonel Jonathan Brewer, who wrote: (RA) Brewer: A negro man called Salem Poor of Colonel Frye's regiment,
Captain Ames' company - in the late battle at Charlestown, behaved like an
experienced officer, as well as an excellent soldier. In the person of this
negro centers a brave and gallant soldier. Narrator: But despite such gallant examples of blacks from
Massachusetts to Virginia fighting for the patriot cause, George Washington and
the Continental Army high command did not want slaves or free blacks in their
army. Doctor James Horton: Horton: Although African-Americans were in the very first battles,
when George Washington came to try to structure the military, at first, he
pushed not to enlist African Americans. Narrator: The army directive stated quite plainly: (RA) Directive: Agreed, unanimously, to reject all slaves, and by a great
majority, to reject negroes altogether. Narrator: Professor Edna Medford:: Medford: They're fighting
for their own freedom, against the British, but they're not willing to free
their own enslaved laborers. But when the British come forward and say we'll
give you your freedom if you'll leave those plantations, black people
understand. What they care about is their freedom; and they're willing to fight
and be loyal to whomever will give them their freedom. Narrator: For every white Nathan Hale regretting his one life to
give, there was a black Benjamin Whitecuff willing to risk being hanged, not
once, but twice, to gain freedom for himself and his people. Whitecuff, a black born free on
Long Island, originally volunteered to fight with the patriots. When Washington
and the Continental Congress rejected blacks from the Continental Army, he
joined the British in 1776. He operated as a spy for the British general Sir
Henry Clinton from a base on Staten Island. In 1778 he was caught by patriots
near Cranbury, New Jersey and hanged. (Sound: galloping hooves) Narrator: After the
Americans left him dangling, … (Sound: galloping hooves,
"cut him down immediately”) Narrator: …British cavalrymen swooped in and cut him down. Whitecuff
survived, relocated to Virginia, and continued to spy for the British. Captured
again, he was sentenced to be hanged by a Boston court. Once more the British
engineered an escape. Benjamin Whitecuff was just one of many extraordinary
blacks who served both sides in the Revolutionary War - on land and sea.
Professor Edna Medford: Medford: We have a tendency in this country, I think, to talk about
the role that African Americans played in the Revolution on the side of the
patriots. We need to remember as well, that much larger numbers actually
assisted the British, in leaving the plantations, and in fighting for the
British. (Sound: cannon firing, etc.) Narrator: What appealed to most blacks, was the chance to fight for
freedom in frontline units. (Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: The British formed
companies of black pioneers and guides in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
the Carolinas. These black units usually had white officers. But sometimes, men
like Colonel Stephen Bleuke, a free black born in Barbados, would lead them.
Bleuke became commander of the New York Black Pioneers and guides.
(Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: But by far, the most awesome black commander in the area
was the leader of the most extraordinary group of guerrilla fighters to operate
in the New York-New Jersey area: Colonel Tye and the black brigade. (Sound: drums/hoofbeats/gunfire) Narrator: Writer Christopher Moore: Moore: The chief architect of the anti-patriot force was Colonel
Tye, in New Jersey. There was a reward out for Tye's head; Colonel Tye was
really one of the champions of guerilla warfare in the Revolutionary War. He was
responsible for the capture of many of the American officers. Many of the captives of the Revolutionary
War were actually transported by the blacks back to Manhattan. Narrator: Between 1777 and
1780, this escaped slave and his men raised havoc with patriot forces -
especially in Monmouth County, New Jersey. (Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: Professor Graham Hodges: Hodges: What Titus Corlies had become, as Colonel Tye, was a
guerilla warrior in service of His Majesty's forces. In a famous raid, in
September of 1780, Tye attempted his greatest feat - to capture Josiah Huddy,
who was a very famous patriot. And a battle between Huddy, who is trapped in
his home who ran from room to room, firing off guns, suggesting there were many
people inside. Tye and his forces finally captured Huddy. On the way back to
New York they were accosted by American militiamen, in the battle, Tye receives
a wound on his wrist. Lockjaw set-in, and within a few days, he died. Narrator: Two years later,
during peace talks between the British and the victorious patriots, Tye was
avenged. British loyalists snatched the once again captured Josiah Huddy off a
British prison ship. They hanged him on the shore of Monmouth County. A black
man, probably a former member of the black brigade, performed the execution.
The incident caused an international uproar, and stalled the peace talks.
Professor Graham Hodges: Hodges: And it became a major bone of contention. So Tye is
remembered by New Jerseyans as a brave and fearless leader, who, had he been
allowed into the American side, would have helped them win the conflict much
earlier. Narrator: The war changed
the entire colonial social landscape. Professor Edna Medford: Medford: When the British evacuate New York, they do take scores of
African Americans with them. Some of them do go to England, some go to the West
Indies - some are sold in the West Indies by their British allies. But others
are taken to Nova Scotia, and they're promised land, at least, and for a while
they don't get what they were promised, and in fact, within a few years, people
have become so disgusted, they petition the British government to allow them to
return to Africa. Narrator: The American
patriots by and large also honored their pledge of freedom to their black
enlistees. But freedom for all was still just a distant dream. Professor
Medford: Medford: Slavery is going forward full tilt in the south, while
it's ending in the north. But even in the north, there are still enslaved
people into the 19th century. In New York, for instance, they debate for twelve
years about what kind of process they're going to put in place to release
enslaved people. And so by the late 1790s, they make a decision about what the
process is going to be, but slavery does not officially end in New York until
1827. Narrator: The two regions of the new nation were split. The north
wanted eventual freedom for all, and the south wanted to keep, and even
increase, slavery. Neither side would win, but the compromises they made would
end in a bloody Civil War, and tragically haunt and divide the country to this
day. As John Quincy Adams bluntly stated: (RA) Adams: The bargain between freedom and slavery contained in the
Constitution of the United States is morally and politically vicious,
inconsistent with the principles upon which our revolution can be justified. Narrator: Those enslaved Africans and former black bondsmen who
staked their future in the United States of America knew this. Their concerns
were immediate survival, freedom for all slaves, and full, first-class
citizenship. Doctor Sherrill Wilson: Wilson: Peter Williams, Sr. becomes one of the most affluent black
men during the post-Revolutionary War period in that he opened up his own
tobacco shop and house on Liberty Street. He and five other free black men sort
of temporarily left the John Street Methodist Church where they’d been members,
and started Mother Zion AME Church right near here on Leonard and Church
Street. Narrator: It was similar to the break Richard Allen and Absalom
Jones had made from the St. George Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia
nine years earlier. Adele Logan
Alexander is an Associate Professor of
African-American history at George Washington University in Washington
D.C.: Alexander: What Allen found was that his work in an integrated
church, which he had been part of for a number of years, his work there was not
appreciated; that he was limited in what he could do in his opportunities, in
his ability to shape the church to the needs of black people in the city of
Philadelphia. So eventually, after, well let’s say after a number of slights,
from the white church, he decided that the most important thing he could do was
separate himself from the mainstream church, and start an African-American
church that was quite separate. Narrator: Allen called it the African Methodist Episcopal church.
Between 1808 and 1821 a number of black worshippers founded separate churches
within their denominations. Near the
African burial ground in New York, the
Mother Zion founders also took the name African Methodist Episcopal Zion
church, to emphasize their African roots. Christopher Moore. Moore: In fact, the first church formed – independent church –
formed by free blacks, is the Mother AME Zion Church. And they build their
first church on Church Street and Leonard Street, just in the Tribeca region.
Around the corner from the AME Zion Church, the Abyssinian Baptist Church forms
on Worth Street. Narrator: Most churches had an African Dorcas society. These women
made clothing for poor children so they could attend the various African free
schools. They also helped clothe runaways being sheltered in the headquarters
of the African Mutual Relief Society, St. Phillips Methodist Episcopal, Mother
AME Zion, and other churches. Professor Edna Medford says that a host of other
nation-building groups and organizations sprang from these churches and the
efforts of their founders: Medford: The church was not just a spiritual center, but it was the
place where organizations for social clubs met; it was a place where people
could get relief if there was a great deal of poverty, if they were in debt and
they needed money; it was a place where they might be able to find a job or do
networking there… they could find a job. But it was also the place where the
skills of black leaders were honed. Narrator: Starting in the
1780s, Peter Williams, James Varick, and others, worked to end slavery with New
York Manumission Society members like John Jay, who would become the first
Chief Justice of the United States, and future Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton. The members faced a dilemma. The society's mission was to
end slavery, but they themselves owned slaves. In any event, they worked with
Varick and Williams to open the first African free school in November 1787.
Forty black boys and girls comprised the original student body. (Sound: classroom chatter,
giggling children) Narrator: This was the start of the free public school system in New
York City. Inspections by city officials and other curious visitors were
constant. An article in the May 12, 1824, issue of the Commercial Advertiser
newspaper stated: (RA) Advertiser: We never beheld a white school of the same age (of and
under the age of 15) in which, without exception, there was more order and
neatness of dress and cleanliness of person. And the exercises were performed
with a degree of promptness and accuracy which is surprising. Narrator: The students learned math, astronomy, geography and
navigation. The teachers knew that jobs would be scarce, and many of the boys
would become sailors. Writer Christopher Moore: Moore: There were lots of attempts by the free blacks to look
after one another. Because in the face of the incoming European immigrants and
local politicians, who really relegated them to second class citizens. They
really needed one another; so you did start to see the development of early
black institutions right here in New York City. Narrator: Members of the
African Society petitioned the common council in 1794: (RA) Society: Praying the aid of this board in purchasing a piece of
ground for the interment of their dead. Narrator: A new site was
needed. The original African burial ground was already over-crowded and would
soon be closed. But there was also concern for the living. The African society
may have been the seed for the African Society for Mutual Relief. And many
members of that organization were graduates of the African free school and
worked with each other in other religious, civic, and social connections.
Christopher Moore: Moore:. The African Grove theater was on Bleecker Street in
Greenwich Village; but it had a problem in that it was trying to be serious, it
was trying to present black dramas, and Shakespeare, performed by blacks. And
whites in the community just simply hated that; there were just simply riots,
so the African Grove theater had to close. In fact, it denied the community of
one of the great actors of the 19th century, who was also a graduate of the
African free school, an actor by the name of Ira Aldredge. You had an African
benevolent society which developed in lower Manhattan. Narrator: But the dominant, obsessive drive was for the total
abolition of slavery - a drive led by activist newspapers. [Station Break] (RA) Russwurm: It is our earnest wish to make our journal a medium of
intercourse between our brethren in the different states of this great
confederacy. We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for
us. Narrator: John B. Russwurm, an African free school graduate, and
Samuel E. Cornish, Phoenix Society founder, wrote those words in the first
issue of Freedom's Journal. It was the first black newspaper in America. It
came out on March 16th, 1827. It was addressed to the nation, not
just New Yorkers. Russwurm, Cornish and the others knew that ending slavery was
an international, not just a local
problem. David Walker was one of their U.S. correspondents. From his
post in Boston, in 1829, he had them publish a stark warning that became known as Walker's Appeal: (RA) : "O Americans!!! I call God - I call angels - I call
men, to witness, that your destruction is at hand, and will be speedily
consummated unless you repent! Narrator: That was a small
quote from David Walker’s strong text. The promise of the American Revolution
had gone unfulfilled for the majority of blacks. Slave rebellions, similar to
the Gabriel Prosser revolt in Virginia in 1801, began to occur: (Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: Denmark Vesey's in south Carolina in 1822, (Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: and Nat Turner's,
again in Virginia in 1831-- right on the heels of David Walker's fiery appeal. (Sound: small arms fire/cannons) Narrator: This of course led
to even greater repression in the south. The number of escapees and runaways
grew as the Underground Railroad began to really take shape. Alexander: We can talk about William Still in Philadelphia, … Narrator: Professor
Alexander: Alexander: …we can talk about Harriet Tubman. She worked with white
people who provided what were often called safe houses; often these people were
wealthy whites; sometimes they were Quakers. And all around the edges of the
south, you see them in Maryland, in New York State, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio.
These safe houses provided places that slaves who came out of the south on the
Underground Railway, could go to. Narrator: But even when they reached northern cities, runaways and
even free blacks, still faced very real danger. Professor Edna Medford: Medford: There were significant numbers of free black people who
got caught up in this, who were illegally captured, and taken into slavery -
people who were not fugitives at all. Narrator: Writer Christopher Moore: Moore: We had a situation in New York City where you had
blackbirders and freebooters, who would in fact just grab you off the street,
kidnap blacks and send them back to the American south. Narrator: To avoid them, many escapees clustered in the city's
notorious Five Points section, where they formed support gangs. Crammed into
this area under tight, unsanitary conditions, was over ten percent of the
city's black population. And jammed in with them, were almost a third of the
city's newly arrived poor: immigrants from Europe, primarily, Ireland. These
hard-living residents in Five Points fought each other, cops, and blackbirders.
Middle class blacks like David Ruggles fought for freedom and for full,
first-class citizenship. He was a free black and former sailor from Norwich Connecticut.
He settled in New York around 1827 or 1828. (RA) Ruggles: Rise brethren, rise! Strike for freedom, or die slaves!
Come up and help us! In our cause, more words are nothing - action is
everything! Narrator: David Ruggles was
a man of action who was committed to the cause. He was a prolific writer and
pamphleteer. He was also a traveling agent or sales-rep for two abolitionist
papers, the New York Emancipator, and the Journal of Public Morals. Moore: David Ruggles was a real hero in that time. Narrator: Christopher Moore: Moore: You had the David Ruggles boarding house on Lispenard
Street, in which David himself also developed the first library; it was a black
bookstore that was there. It attracted none other than Fredrick Douglass. He helped
develop what was called the Vigilance Committee, which helped literally
thousands of Africans, not only to escape via the underground railroad, but
also, defended them, those that were caught.
Narrator: In its 1837 report, Ruggles stated: (RA) Ruggles: The total number of persons protected from slavery by the
Committee of Vigilance to January 16, 1837, is three hundred and thirty five. Narrator: Ruggles himself is
reputed to have brought over six hundred people to freedom, including Frederick
Bailey, now known to us as Frederick Douglass. They became firm friends. In
Douglass' own words: (RA) Douglass: He was a whole-souled man, fully imbued with a love of his
afflicted and hunted people, and took pleasure in being to me, as was his wont,
"eyes to the blind, and legs to the lame."
Narrator: But even as
Douglass' career soared, Ruggles' health began to fail. He left New York and
settled in Northampton, Massachusetts. One year later, he died of an intestinal
disorder, just before his fortieth birthday in 1850. Horton: 1850 is a key date
because in 1850 there is the Compromise of 1850, which contains the fugitive
slave law. Narrator: Doctor James
Horton: Horton: This is the most severe fugitive slave law the nation has
ever passed. This is a fugitive slave law which gives an accused person no
right of self-defense, no right of jury trial, no right to a lawyer; no right
even to speak on his or her own behalf. Medford: Life was not great for black people. Narrator: Professor Medford: Medford: In terms of
education, when they did have access to education, it was segregated education,
as well; so there was this division of the races, in the north. Freedom did not
mean full citizenship rights. Narrator: That was very evident in the way New York segregated its
public schools after absorbing the African free schools into the public school
system. sot horse-drawn cart(horses hooves/cart wheels, etc. Narrator: Second class citizenship could also be seen, and felt, in
New York's segregated public transportation system. Historian Christopher
Moore: Moore: Well I know that a hundred years before Rosa Parks, we had
our Rosa Parks story in New York City, and that was the story of Elizabeth
Jennings who was forced off of a streetcar in 1854 in lower Manhattan. Narrator: Elizabeth Jennings
attempted to ride a streetcar to Sunday church services and was assaulted by
the conductor. She was pushed from the car two times and eventually arrested.
The black community was outraged: (RA) Outraged woman: The article in Frederick Douglass' paper says it quite
well. An expression of public sentiment condemnatory of the outrage committed
upon the person of Miss Elizabeth Jennings, a highly respectable female, most
brutally outraged and insulted. Narrator: Jennings sued the
Third Avenue Railroad Company. She was represented in court by a young lawyer
named Chester A. Arthur, who would later become the President of the United
States. The all-white male jury awarded Miss Jennings damages in the amount of
five hundred dollars. Doctor Sherrill Wilson: Wilson: The judge is appalled by this and he says he can't imagine
what a black woman could do with five hundred dollars, and decides to give her
two hundred and fifty dollars and court costs. In any case, very importantly,
this overturns the Jim Crow laws on public transportation. Narrator: For Elizabeth
Jennings and the New York black community, it was one of the last positive
milestones. The city's atmosphere grew more tense and hostile, even as north-south
tensions began to mount. The nation's still shaky union was about to unravel
over the same issue: slavery. Professor Horton: Horton: John Brown
actually stays at the home of Frederick Douglass; they discuss John Brown's
plans. Frederick Douglass is in favor, in theory, of John Brown's plans; but
Frederick Douglass thinks that John Brown hasn't worked it out carefully; he
thinks that the plan is not going to succeed. Frederick Douglass thinks that
John Brown may want to be a martyr. (Sound: small arms fire)
Narrator: In October of
1859, abolitionist John Brown unsuccessfully raided the federal arsenal at
Harper's Ferry. He was executed on December 2nd. George Washington University
Professor Adele Alexander says that news of Brown's raid galvanized opinions on
slavery in America: Alexander: The south was convinced that the north was populated with
madmen like John Brown. John Brown was tried and executed, and so the
abolitionists in the north had a martyr. They had a heightened awareness of a
moral cause, and certainly that event, in 1859, was yet another trigger for the
Civil War. Narrator: One year after
Brown's execution Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860, and
eleven southern states seceded from the union. (Sound: booming canon fire) Narrator: The shelling at Fort Sumpter was almost an afterthought
for a Civil War that was already inevitable. (Sound: small arms fire) Narrator: With a difficult
war in full force, the government needed troops. The Conscription Act of 1863
allowed the government to draft men 20-45 years of age. But it had two
provisions that were crucial: the draft could be avoided by paying three
hundred dollars, or, you could send a substitute instead. Those were the seeds
that eventually exploded into what still ranks as probably the greatest civil
disturbance in the United States - the New York draft riots of July 1863. Burrows: The upshot, when the draft began, was the greatest civil
disorder in American history - the New York City draft riots, … Narrator: Edwin Burrows is Professor of History at Brooklyn College
of the City University of New York: Burrows: …which essentially paralyzed the city for a period of four
or maybe five days, and required ultimately the use of troops fresh from the Gettysburg
battlefield to suppress it. Narrator: It was a massive civil disorder. Burrows: At one point, the high point of the rioting, federal
troops were using howitzers in the streets of New York against rioters. This is
a confrontation on a scale that has simply not been seen, before or since, in
American history. Alexander: The Irish resent terribly having their jobs being taken over
by these black people, who were economic competitors. Narrator: Professor Alexander: Alexander: They're out of a job, they're subject to a draft in a war
that most of them care nothing about. A war that's going to eliminate slavery
and create even more competition between these blacks who presumably will continue to usurp
their economic position. So the draft riots started out primarily as a protest
against the government, which was about to draft them into this army that they
didn't want to be a part of; but then
things turned even uglier, and it became very personal. And they started
attacking black people individually, and in groups, on the streets of New York.
We hear stories of black people who were hanged from lampposts in downtown
Manhattan; who were chased into the Hudson River, again the dock areas, and
drowned in the river trying to escape. One of the worst stories was of the
burning to the ground of what was called the colored orphan asylum in New York;
a white woman who had a black child was beaten to death when she tried to save
her child. A number of black people simply escaped on boats, and went to New Jersey
and never came back. So what had started as a protest against the government,
really became a race riot as well. Narrator: Since they also couldn't pay the three hundred dollar fee
that would exempt them from service - as most well-to-do New Yorkers were doing
- angry mobs took it out on the nearest, already hated targets: blacks, and
sympathetic anti-slavery whites.
(Sound: crowd noise/rioting, small arms fire) Narrator: Professor Burrows: Burrows: It was way too big for any civilian police department; the
police, in a number of cases made heroic attempts to stop the mob, but were
unsuccessful, and many policemen were savagely beaten, and driven out by the
mob. Narrator: And yet, even as these late arrivals to the shores of the
former New Amsterdam killed over one hundred descendants of Africans, who had
been here since 1626, other blacks, in the service of a country reluctant to
embrace and accept them as equal citizens, once again heroically gave their
lives. (Sound: small arms fire) Narrator: 247 black men in
the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment died in the assault on Fort Wagner on
the South Carolina coast in July of 1863. Professor Medford: Medford: Those men had arrived there ready for battle although they
were exhausted from marching; they were hungry; they were not in the best
physical shape, because of what they had endured just in terms of getting to
that point. But they did not give up; they moved forward; and so once and for
all they were able to prove, that they had the bravery, that they had the
"stick-to-itiveness" to actually proceed in the war. It is something
that, Abraham Lincoln was not sure of; there was some statement made that soon
after you bring black men into the military the weapons that they use would be
in the hands of the Confederates. 'Cause there was a belief that black men were
not brave. African Americans always knew that black men would be able to rise
to the occasion, but it was white men who were not certain of it. So that
battle, even though it was lost, was a win for African Americans, certainly,
because it showed once and for all, that they were very serious about seeing
this war through, and that they would sacrifice. Narrator: The 54th
Massachusetts were men from almost every part of the country. They were the
first of almost two hundred thousand blacks who fought for the Union - just as
their ancestors and descendants have battled every American foe, in every
American war. Lower Manhattan would never again be a major enclave for blacks
in New York. But African Americans settled in other New York area pockets:
places like Weeksville and Cypress Hills in Brooklyn; on up the central valley
of Manhattan to Harlem; even further north along the Hudson river, to Tarrytown
and Sleepy Hollow; places where other African ancestors had long ago, even
before the revolt of 1712, plunged roots almost as long, and deep, as those in
little Africa and the African burial ground. END OF EPISODE ONE (Music under Credits) |