Timeline of NJ. PA. & NY
Pre-Historic
The Lenape, a sub-group of Algonquin Nation, occupy areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The name Manhattan reportedly comes from their word Manhattan the Island of Hills.
1612 –Juan Rodriguez, a free Black and crewman aboard the Jonge Tobias, arrives with European merchants. He remains behind to become an active trader with indigenous natives.
1623 –Governors of the Netherlands send representatives to colonize Manhattan. The governing body is known as the Dutch West India Company. Laying claim to the island, it becomes formally known as New Amsterdam.
1625-26 –Number of African men are enslaved and transported to New Amsterdam by the Dutch West India Company. These men supplied the critical labor needed to build the colony.
1628 –Three enslaved African women are transported to New Amsterdam for the comfort of the companys Negro men. No surviving records document their names.
1644 –Enslaved Africans formerly held by the Dutch West India Company are given conditional freedom after nearly 20 years. They are given land for farming with the stipulation they annually contribute produce or risk re-enslavement. They are soon replaced by growing numbers of enslaved Africans.
1664-54 –Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam to the British who rename the colony New York for the Duke of York in England.
1697 –Trinity Church, considered the first Church of England, charters a church for New York. After completion, a ban forbids burials of Africans in its churchyard.
1702 –The first of many British laws aimed at controlling enslaved Africans and Native Americans in New York City is passed.
1704 –Elias Neau establishes the Catechism School for Negroes at Trinity Church, NY City.
1709 –A marketplace is established at Wall and Water streets in lower Manhattan for the purpose of buying and selling enslaved Africans.
1712 –In April, A slave revolt in New York City leaves nine Whites dead and seven wounded. The insurrection by enslaved Africans and Native Americans occurs at Maiden Lane in lower Manhattan. Those who were implicated in the insurrection were executed and reportedly buried in the African Burial Ground.
1740 –Philipsburg Manor, in 1749’s New York City, was one of the biggest colonial ports. The Philips family was merchants who traded goods produced at Philipsburg Manor through the Port of New York. The Philips Family did not live at Philipsburg Manor. The farm, mill, bake house and boat were run by 23 enslaved African Americans.
1741 -In February, rumors spread in New York City that Blacks and poor Whites are seeking to seize control of the city. Eighteen Blacks are hanged, and rumors of this second insurrection reportedly lead to similar executions and burials at the site.
1771 — John Murray was Governor of New York for a brief period in 1770 before being appointed governor of Virginia in 1771. When it becomes clear that there will be war between Britain and the American colonies, Murray, a royalist, issued a proclamation offering freedom to slaves and indentured servants willing to fight for the crown.
1773 — The Revolutionary War begins. African Americans who fight for the British forces are offered their freedom. By 1775, George Washingtons decision to offer freedom to African Americans helps win a definitive victory for American forces.
1783 –The British evacuate New York City after their defeat in the war. African Americans who fight for the British relocate to Nova Scotia, England, the Bahamas, and Sierra Leone.
1787 –The N.Y Manumission Society creates the first of six African free schools.
1789 –The U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting, in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania is elected the first House speaker.
Ten Amendments to the Constitution the Bill of Rights are ratified by the states in 1791.
1794 –Africans petition the Common Council for a second African burial ground, which was established on Christie Street in lower Manhattan.
1799 –In New York City, the Gradual Emancipation Act is passed, paving the way for enslaved Africans and their children to eventually gain their freedom.
1800’s –Free Black oystermen first come to Sandy Ground in the early 1800s from Snow Hill, Maryland where restrictive laws hampered their ability to prosper from the trade. Most residents of what grows into a self-sufficient community work in the oyster industry, bur some farm the areas sandy land. A variety of other trades and professions are also represented.
1822 –James Varick became the first superintendent, or bishop, of the A.M.E. Zion Church in 1822. Born of a slave mother in upstate Newburgh, he was a shoemaker and tobacco cutter by trade. He had been attending the John Street Methodist Church a white church in Manhattan, for perhaps 30 years when, in 1796, he and other African-American members began holding separate services. In 1800, they dedicated a new building, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. In addition to his ministerial work, Varick ran a school, was the first chaplain for the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, and was a vice president of the African Bible Society. He was among blacks who unsuccessfully petitioned the state constitutional convention for the right to vote in 1821.
1827 –The Freedoms Journal, the first African-American newspaper in the United States, is established. New York enacts a law to gradually abolish enslavement. Census records indicate that, despite the law, enslavement continues until the 1840s.
1847 –Frederick Douglass and Martin Delaney begin publication of The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper, in Rochester, NY.
1848 –The Free Soil Party is organized in Buffalo, NY.
1853 –In July, delegates from several states establish the National Council of Colored People in Rochester, NY, to encourage the mechanical training of Black people.
1860 –Until the Civil War in the 1860s, each state has its own laws about slavery. At this time, slavery is legal in many southern states, including Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi. States that do not allow slavery include New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and California. Some areas, called territories, are not yet states. In 1864, they are given the choice of whether or not to allow slavery.
1863 –On June 13-17, there are five days of rioting in New York City. This is called the Draft Riots of 1863, where mobs destroy an African-American orphan home in 1863. Anti-Black rioting rocks many northern cities before, during and after the Civil War. Protests against the draft law launch a week-long riot in New York City in July. Troops rushed back from the front at Gettysburg help put down the protest.
1895 –Black leader and abolitionist Frederick Douglass dies in Washington, D.C.
1905 –W.E.B. Dubois, William Monroe Trotter and other prominent Black leaders establish the Niagara Movement in Fort Erie, NY, a conference that is the forerunner of the integrated NAACP.
