History

From The Peopling of New York City

Jill Lepore, a Harvard professor, cultural historian, and much-sought-after essayist for magazines such as The New Yorker and Harpers, bequeathed to us her knowledge about and skills at unraveling historical mysteries. In an appendix to her New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan, Lepore also provided an excellent list of everyday slave holders and slaves involved in events that resulted in rumors of conspiracy, city-wide hysteria, and the interrogation and execution of dozens slaves in Lower Manhattan during 1741. Although no real proof of a slave conspiracy (to burn Manhattan and kill all of the whites dwelling there) ever materialized, many innocent people lost their lives.

These people hailed from Europe and the African Diaspora, making their way to New York City from England, Scotland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Africa, and assorted places in the Caribbean. With each of us taking five of the people listed, we hoped to answer some questions about 50 particular immigrant New Yorkers. What sorts of lives did they lead in the wake of the so-called slave conspiracy? Did they and their family members continue to profit from the Atlantic slave trade and America's "peculiar institution," or did the loss of their "property" in 1741 change the course of their lives in important ways? Most of us never found materials that could help us answer those questions, but we learned other important things as we wended our way through different archives around New York City, in a quest to find colonial immigrants who eluded us more often than not. Elusive or not, our immigrants allowed us to enjoy some success in the archives, which we would like to share with you.

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