History Of Slavery In New York
Slavery in New York began when the Dutch West India Company imported 11 African slaves to New Amsterdam in 1626, with the first slave auction being held in New Amsterdam in 1655. The British expanded the use of slavery, and in 1703, more than 43 percent of New York households held slaves, often as domestic servants and laborers. Others worked as artisans or in shipping and various trades in the city.
During the American Revolutionary War, the British troops occupied New York City in 1776. The Crown promised freedom to slaves who left rebel masters and, by 1780, 10,000 blacks lived in New York. Many were slaves who had escaped there from slaveholders in North and South.
After the American Revolution, the New York Manumission Society was founded in 1785 to work for the abolition of slavery and for aid to free blacks. The state passed a law for gradual abolition in 1799; after that date, children born to slave mothers were free but required to work an extended indentured servitude into their twenties. All slaves were finally freed on July 4, 1827.
Read more about History Of Slavery In New York: Dutch Rule, English Rule, American Revolution, Abolition, Civil War
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