New York City exhibits its slave past

October 09, 2005|Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff

NEW YORK -- A 2-foot-high well on the shiny hardwood floors of the New York Historical Society looks out of place, almost strange, inside the museum. Then, when observers bend over to look into the well, their senses are shaken even more, for it is not their reflection looking back from below, but the images of black women dressed like slaves, chatting away about family, work, and the troubles of the day in pre-Revolutionary War America.

Even more surprising, perhaps, than the women's reflections, made possible by video images projected from the ceiling, is that the women are discussing slavery in New York, not in the South.

The scene is part of an unusual and potentially controversial exhibit about slavery and how it was the engine for New York's economic vitality. Created by the nearly 201-year-old society that launched last year's Alexander Hamilton exhibition to mixed reviews, ''Slavery in New York" opened Friday in Manhattan and runs through March. Weaving a tale that begins in the 1620s and ends in 1827 when black New Yorkers were given their freedom, the exhibit takes visitors on a surprising historical tour through a New York few people know. A sequel is scheduled next year and will extend the tale past the Civil War.

''They [slaves] built the wall that became Wall Street. They built the road that became Broadway. They built great docks, and many of the most important buildings, including the first church in New York City," said Richard Rabinowitz, curator of the show. ''I think the exhibit starts with the assumption that most people do not know this, but we want all Americans to know that slavery was part of every colony and every state, from Maine to Georgia."

For two centuries, slavery was not only active in New York, but was fundamental in boosting the city's economy. During the Revolutionary War, New York had more slaves than any other city, with the lone exception of Charleston, S.C. Slaves accounted for 20 percent of the New York City population, far more than Boston, where 2 percent of the population were slaves, and Philadelphia, where slaves made up 6 percent of the city's inhabitants.

The $5 million exhibit, conceived by Rabinowitz a year ago and designed by the Boston company Krent/Paffett/Carney, Inc., occupies 9,000 square feet, and provides surprising information not included in school history books. For example, nearly every businessman in the city in the 18th century had a hand in slave trafficking. Also, contrary to popular belief, slavery was just as brutal in New York as it was in the South. Leaders in the city now known as a symbol of freedom and a hotbed of activism passed laws restricting blacks from owning land or passing it down to their children or even from congregating in groups.