NYC launches project to make historical records of enslaved people more accessible
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. (1902). “New York slave market about 1730.” Via New York Public Library Digital Collections.
The historical records of thousands of enslaved New Yorkers will be more easily accessible to the public through a new city project. Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday announced a plan led by the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) to transcribe digitized historical records from 1660 to 1827, helping historians and New Yorkers locate records of enslaved people and potentially trace familial roots. The Adams administration is calling on volunteers to help transcribe the records and build the project’s searchable database.
“We cannot build a better, brighter future without first acknowledging and accepting our past. This ambitious project allows everyday New Yorkers to understand the history of enslaved people who shaped our city into what it is today,” Adams said.
“For too long, enslaved people were forgotten and lost to the past. Today, with projects like this, we shed a light on their story, learn their names, and ensure that time does not leave them behind again.”
The Municipal Archives, a division of DORIS, preserves city government records dating from 1636 to the present. The agency has identified and digitized nine volumes of records from towns in Brooklyn, Queens, and Westchester counties, spanning from 1660 to 1838.
The documents include birth certificates naming enslaved children, and documents that granted enslaved people their freedom. The volumes range from 200 to 500 pages, including both original documents and hand-written transcriptions of records.
According to the city, these records exist because of the “Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery,” which was passed by the New York State Legislature in 1799 to grant freedom to children born of enslaved women after July 4, 1799. Because children were required to a period of indenture to enslavers until the age of 28 for men and 25 for women, records were kept of the birth of enslaved children.
Using From the Page, a transcription platform, volunteers will enter information from each volume into a form that DORIS will use to create a searchable guide.
The transcribed data will be accessible, helping researchers and the public locate records of thousands of formerly enslaved New Yorkers who lived in the five boroughs, many of which would otherwise be difficult to trace.
The new project comes as the city celebrates Black History Month, honoring the invaluable contributions of Black New Yorkers, as well as the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding.
In December, Adams announced “Founded by NYC,” a year-long celebration of the city’s 400th anniversary. Hosted in partnership with NYC Tourism + Conventions, the program will highlight the resilience and creativity of the five boroughs throughout its history, including perspectives from marginalized communities, such as Indigenous peoples, women, and people of color.
The project is another recent effort by the city to confront the impact of slavery and racial injustice. In September, the City Council passed a package of legislation that established a “Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation” process on slavery in NYC.
The legislation requires the city to conduct a reparations study, install informational plaques at the site of the city’s first slave market in Lower Manhattan, and create a task force to explore creating a “freedom trail” recognizing sites linked to the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement.
New Yorkers can learn more about the project here.
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