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- Charles Sumner's The anti-slavery enterprise, 1855
- Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was a United States senator from Massachusetts and a campaigner against slavery. This is a draft, ca. 1855, of a version of the speech delivered in New York on May 9, 1855, and published that year under the title "The anti-slavery enterprise." Internal evidence indicates that it was to be delivered to a Boston audience, probably on May 15, 1855.
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- Jupiter Hammon poem on Anne Hutchinson, 1770.
- Untitled poem attributed to Jupiter Hammon, a slave, who belonged to the Lloyd family, proprietors of the Manor of Queens Village in what is now the Village of Lloyd Harbor, N.Y. It was composed as a tribute to Anne Hutchinson, who advocated for civil liberty and religious freedom in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The poem is part of the Townsend family papers, and was written down by Phebe Townsend, youngest of Robert Townsend's three sisters. The Townsends interacted with the Lloyd family. Inscribed at the foot of page [3]: 'Compos[e]d by Jupiter Hammon, A Negro Belonging to Mr. Joseph Lloyd of Q[u]eens Villiage [sic] on Long Island. August the 10th 1770. Phebe Townsend.'
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- New-York African Free School records, 1817-1832
- These records cover the latter portion of the African Free-Schools' existence, ending two years before oversight for the schools was transferred to the Public School Society. They relate to classroom observation, student performance, behavior and promotions, as well as examples of lessons and student work. The records are in four volumes. The first includes regulations, by-laws, and reports, from 1817 to 1832. The regulations are for the format of the school's examination procedures, while the reports give numbers of students promoted for each quarter. These are limited to school No. 1. A substantial portion of the volume is also made up of observations of the visting committee, giving their impressions of the progress being made, along with the behavior and organization of the classroom and students. The second volume is also filled with reports and observations of the visiting committee, but these are limited to school No. 2, and cover 1820 to 1831. Added to the closing pages of the volume are several pages of lessons on adding, subtracting and division of money, with examples. The third volume includes extracts, compositions, addresses and pieces spoken at public examinations for 1818 to 1826, but early pages do include some material on promotions.The fourth volume complements the third with penmanship and drawing studies by the students (1816-1826). Of particular interest are copies of the speech given by James McCune Smith on the occasion of the Marquis de La Fayette's visit to New York in 1824.While there is little, if any, information on individuals in the first two volumes, attributions are often given for the material appearing in volumes three and four.
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- Petition of Citizens of New York to Abraham Lincoln, undated [circa 1862].
- Undated petition, probably circa 1862, to United States President Abraham Lincoln from citizens of New York requesting that the governor of New York be authorized to raise a number of regiments composed wholly or partly of African American troops, including the signatures and addresses of petitioners. In scroll form, appproximately 25 feet long. Printed document signed., Mss Collection - BV Petitions, New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, 212-873-3400.
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- Records of the Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans, 1836-1972 (bulk 1850-1936)
- The Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans was founded in 1836 and was originally located on Fifth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets in Manhattan. The Colored Orphan Asylum was among the earliest organizations in the country to provide housing, training, and employment specifically for African-American orphans. During the Draft Riots of July 14, 1863, the Colored Orphan Asylum was attacked by a mob. At that time, it housed some 600 to 800 homeless children in a large four story building surrounded by grounds and gardens. The crowd plundered the Asylum, then set fire to the first floor. The building burned to the ground. The records of the Colored Orphan Asylum document the activities of the institution from 1836 to 1972, with the bulk of the records falling between 1850 and 1936.
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- Slavery Collection, 1709-1864
- The Slavery Collection contains correspondence and legal and financial documents related to the North American slave trade, slave ownership, abolition, and political issues pertinent to slavery. The Slavery Collection is called an "artificial" collection because a third party placed unrelated items together according to subject matter. Researchers who have used this collection in the past, or those following citations in published sources, should be aware that it was rearranged in 1999 in order to facilitate intellectual and physical access. Certain material that formerly was not arranged, or was arranged chronologically, is now arranged by format. For example, depositions are now grouped together, rather than being interfiled with accounts, receipts or deeds of manumission.
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- Trade Book of the Sloop Rhode Island, Dec. 1748-July 1749
- Account book, 1748 Dec.-1749 Jul., kept aboard the sloop Rhode Island while on a voyage to Africa to procure slaves for her owners, Philip Livingston and sons, New York City. Peter James was shipmaster. Included are accounts for the purchase of slaves, gold, and other goods; for sales of rum and other provisions to the crew, various expenses, the purchase of provisions, an inventory of goods delivered to Captain David Lindsey, a record of the deaths of 37 slaves, etc. The trading was carried out on various locations between Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast.