Timeline of New York City Slavery from Dutch Colony to the Civil War

1525: Estaban Gomez of Portugal explored parts of the Hudson River and returns with fifty-eight Indigenous people who were enslaved.

1609: Henry Hudson’s voyage, which led to further exploration.

1613: First recorded non-native settler on Manhattan, Jan Rodrigues, was left stranded or to signify possession of the site. He was of African and possibly Afro-European descent.

1614: Establishment of United New Netherland Company, with exclusive rights to American pelts.

1614 or 1615: Construction of Fort Nassau (present day Albany), first Dutch settlement in North America.

1621: The States General of Netherlands awarded the Dutch West India Company, a joint stock company, a twenty-four-year monopoly on trade and settlement that included the American coast between Newfoundland and the Straits of Magellan.

1624: The first settlers in New Netherland arrived on Nut Island (now Governors Island) and dispersed to other settlements. Fort Orange, the first permanent Dutch settlement in North America, is built as a replacement for Fort Nassau.

1625: Walloon families settled in Manhattan under the directorship of Hollander William Kieft, who renamed the island New Amsterdam. Establishment of Fort Amsterdam.  Arrival of the “Animal Fleet:” three ship retrofitted and provisioned to carry farm animals to New Netherland.

1627: The Dutch West India Company owned the first African enslaved persons—twenty-two—in New Amsterdam, who arrived on the Bruynvisch on August 29. Settlers from England, France, Norway, Germany, Ireland, and Denmark joined the Walloons on the island. The Dutch colony heavily relied on enslaved labor, as there were few indentured servants from Europe. This continued under British rule.

1635: Completion of Fort Amsterdam at southern tip of Manhattan. The company used enslaved labor to build the fort, clear land, build roads, and tend to farms. The company also refused to teach enslaved persons skilled trades.

1639-40: Dutch West India Company’s fur and trade monopoly revoked. The WIC assumed a caretaker role to promote private enterprise for all citizens of the United Provinces, not just New Netherland.

1644: Eleven enslaved people petitioned for freedom and are granted conditional freedom if they paid an annual fee to the Dutch West India Company and worked for the company. However, the company dictated that their children were born enslaved and must serve the company. These former enslaved persons also owed a tax to the company, but Dutch colonists did not. Those granted this “half freedom” or “half slavery” formed the first Black community in Manhattan, on farms granted to them in the “Land of the Blacks,” located where Washington Square is today.

1646: Peter Stuyvesant named Director General of New Netherland, Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire.

1648: WIC allowed private slave trade in North America for a fee.

1650’s: Curaçao became major Dutch slave trading port from Africa.

1653: Municipal charter for New Amsterdam on February 2. New Amsterdam’s first municipal government consisted of two burgomasters (similar to mayor), five schepens (alderman and judge), and a schout (sheriff and chief legal officer). They were appointed by Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland, and his council. The Court of Burgomasters and Schepens met for the first time at City Tavern, “henceforth the City Hall.”

1654: The Dutch West India Company decreed that enslaved persons can be traded as chattels and increases slave trade to New Amsterdam, including directly from Africa, to create a major slave port after the loss of Brazil to Portugal.

1655: The first direct shipment of enslaved Africans arrived on the Witte Paert (White Horse).

1657: Establishment of the burgherright, a citizenship status that conferred the right to commercial activities.

1657-64: Thirty-five ships arrived in New Amsterdam with free people and indentured servants, tripling the number of residents.

1659: The Sphera Mundi arrived in New Amsterdam with five children from Curaçao to be sold at public auction.

1660: New Amsterdam was the most important slave port in North America and had the largest urban population of enslaved people.

1661: Enslaved persons could be traded outside of New Amsterdam, including Virginia.

1664: Richard Nicolls arrived on an English warship on August 26. Three more warships arrived two days later. Peter Stuyvesant, director-general of New Netherland, surrendered the colony to England on September 8. During September, six English and six Dutch officials negotiated articles that enumerated rights for the Dutch and led to a peaceful transfer of power. The slaveship Gideon arrived in New Amsterdam on August 15, 1664 with 290 captives. As England took control of the colony, the sale of the captives at auction proceeded on August 30 and September 1 and 12.

1665: English Governor of the Province of New York Richard Nicolls appointed Thomas Willett the first mayor of New York City on June 12. The government of New York city is the mayor, five aldermen, and one sheriff. The governor granted the mayor and aldermen authority “to Rule and Governe” and appoint other officers of the city. The aldermen came to be called the Common Council (similar to today’s city council). They also presided as judges over court cases at the Mayor’s Court. The Duke of York’s Laws are proclaimed for the Province of New York, but they were inconsistently applied, and New York City and Albany had their own mayors and mayor’s courts. The laws mixed Dutch and English law and codified slavery for the first time. They also excluded town meetings that were a feature of other English colonies.

1673-4: Dutch control reestablished but relinquished as part of treaty of wider war. The Dutch receive Suriname in exchange for transferring power of the colony back to England.

1674: Newly appointed New York provincial Governor Edmund Andros established ties with the Dutch merchant community after the colony returned to English power. Andros appointed Dutch merchants to government offices and ensured that they kept their property and wealth. Andros decreed that the Duke’s Laws take effect for the entire province. Andros also made New York City’s port the only point of imports or exports for the province.

1681: New York City slave code prohibited houses or taverns entertaining Indian or Black enslaved persons and serving them “Wine Rumm and other Strong Liquors.”

1682: Province of New York slave code outlawed Indian or Black enslaved people gathering on Sunday or any time without consent of enslavers. The penalty included whipping.

1683: New form of government for Province of New York: a governor, executive council, and General Assembly were responsible for the laws of the entire province, although they were subject to royal approval. The governor continued to be appointed but the assembly was elected. The assembly was disbanded in 1686 but reestablished in 1691 and continued to govern until the Revolutionary War.  A province of New York law declared that professing Christianity would not free the enslaved.

1684: New York City slave code prohibited Indian or Black enslaved gatherings of more than four and they cannot be “Armed att Any tymes with gunns, Swords, Clubs, Staues Or Any Other kind of weapons…under the Penalty of being whipped att the Publique whipping poste Tenn Lashes, unless the master or Owners of Such Slaue will Pay Six Shillings to Excuse the Same That One of the Constables…”

1686: Governor Thomas Dongan issued a charter for the City of New York. It permitted the citizens of six wards to elect aldermen, assistants, assessors, and constables and formalized the powers of the city recorder. The aldermen, assistants, and city recorder sat on the Common Council. To protect European laborers’ jobs, a New York City slave code outlawed “Negroe or indian Slave” from working as a porter for goods being imported or exported. Trades and laborers were strictly controlled by the mayor and Common Council. The work of the enslaved was “found to be of very evill Consequence And tending greately to the discouragement and Losse of Such of the Inhabitants of this Citty as are Sworne porters.”

1689: Leisler’s Rebellion and colonists ruled New York.

1691: Reestablishment of English colonial rule. New York City enacted a slave code ordering “every Male Negro in the Citty with Wheele barrows and Spades performe one dayes Worke” per week on waterfront land. Another code prohibits enslaved persons from drinking alcohol or gathering without permission.

1702: On November 27, the Province of New York enacted a comprehensive slave code, including granting enslavers the authority “to punish the enslaved for their Crimes and offences at Discretion, not extending to life or Member [limb]” and limiting the number of enslaved people to three who can gather at one place except to labor. The code stated that “…slaves are the property of Christians…” Towns could appoint a “Common Whipper for their slaves.”

1703: Census of New York City. The category for Blacks is “negros.”

1706: On October 21, a law enacted by the Province of New York “to encourage the baptizing of Negro, Indian, and Mulatto Slaves” defined slavery as a racial category: “all and every Negro, Indian Mulatto and Mestee Bastard Child & Children who is, are, and shall be born of any Negro, Indian, Mulatto or Mestee, shall follow ye State and Condition of the Mother & be esteemed reputed taken & adjudged a Slave & Slaves to all intents & purposes whatsoever.” The act also stated, “That the Baptizing of any Negro, Indian or Mulatto Slave shall not be any Cause or reason for the setting them or any of them at Liberty.”

1711: Formal slave market established at Wall Street between Pearl and Water Streets. Enslaved people were hired and sold there until 1763.

1712: In March, the Common Council enacted “A Law Appointing a Place for the More Convenient Hiring of Slaves” at “the Markett House at the Wall Street Slip.” In April, a slave revolt in New York City. Twenty-one people were executed and six committed suicide. New York passed another slave code that further restricted the movements of the enslaved and discouraged enslavers from manumission by requiring a 200 pound bond to the government and an annual salary to the free person of 20 pounds. People freed after the law was enacted could not “possess any Houses, Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments within this Colony.”

1713: New York City slave code prohibited “slaves above the Age of fourteen years from going in the Streets of this City after Night” without a lantern or lighted candle, and “Any of her Majesties Subjects” within the city could apprehend enslaved people they found after dark. The penalty for those convicted was to “be whipped at the public whipping Post fourty lashes save one.” Britain awarded asiento: the exclusive right to supply enslaved persons to Spanish America.

1715: Parliament ended Royal Africa Company’s monopoly on slave trade.

1722: New York City slave code ordered burials of the enslaved take place during daylight.

1723: Census of New York province categories for people are “white” and “negroes and other slaves.”

1730: New York implemented new provincial slave codes that replaced previous ones for the colony. It included penalties for selling alcohol to enslaved persons and buying goods from them; limited the number of enslaved people gathering to three except when laboring; fines for harboring enslaved persons or runaways; and gave enslavers the power to inflict punishment.

1731: Governor John Montgomerie issued a comprehensive charter to New York City that defined the city as “one body corporate and politic” and granted the it the rights to valuable property on Manhattan and Long Island. The city had standing to buy and sell property and to sue and be sued in court. A New York City slave code prohibited enslaved people from gathering in numbers larger than three and from going on city streets in the nighttime without a lantern and must be “in Company with his her or their Master or Mistress or some White Person or White servant belonging to the family whose slave he or she is…” Colonists could apprehend enslaved persons and commit them to prison for a crime until the enslaver paid a reward. More than twelve people gathering at an enslaved persons funeral was prohibited. Census of New York province categories for people are “whites” and “blacks.”

1736: New York City slave code allowed imprisoning “all unruly and ungovernable servants and slaves” in the newly built Workhouse and House of Correction, the first city almshouse, “to be kept at hard labour and punished” by a justice with consent of the enslaver, who also had to pay to hold enslaved people there and for whipping them.

1741: Conspiracy or Slave Insurrection of 1741. Eighteen enslaved people were hanged, thirteen enslaved people were burnt at the stake, and four whites hanged. Seventy-one people were deported, including to colonies where the work was brutal and death rates were high.

1742: New York City slave code limited enslaved people from gathering at wells on Sunday. They can only go to the well nearest their abode. Enslaved also cannot ride a horse on the street or the common.

1754-1763: French and Indian War.

1772: Somerset case ended slavery in England and Wales. However, it does not end slavery elsewhere in the empire and has no impact on the large number of enslaved people in the West Indies British colonies.

1775-76: Colonists established control of New York.

1776: Devastating fire throughout the docks on the Hudson River and the western part of the city late on the night of September 20th and into the day of the 21st. The cause is unknown, and the British army had recently gained control of New York City.

1776-83: British rule reestablished and military occupation.  After the British promised freedom to any Black person who fought for the King, thousands of escaped enslaved people move to the city. After the war, the British helped more than 3,000 former enslaved people leave for Nova Scotia.

1783: British evacuate Manhattan and American control of New York. November 25 celebrated as Evacuation Day as British soldiers and loyalists departed and a procession by General Washington and the Continental Army through the city, which proceeded south and ended outside Cape’s Tavern on Broadway.

1784: In the fourth meeting of the Common Council after the Revolution, slave codes are passed. The enslaved must carry a candle at night or face fifteen lashes, be buried “by daylight,” and the punishment for riding a horse in a “disorderly manner” or for any “gaming” was whipping or a penalty paid by the enslaver. In September, constables were ordered to report the number and dwelling places of free and enslaved people.

1785: New York Manumission Society founded. New York State law banned the sale of enslaved people imported from outside the state starting in June of the following year, including freedom for the enslaved person as a penalty for an illegal sale.

1788: New York State enacts a comprehensive slave code that confirms slavery is hereditary and for life: “That every negro, mulatto or mestee, within this State, who at the time of the passing of this act, is a slave, for his or her life, shall continue such, for and during his or her life, unless he or she, shall be manumitted or set free…the children of every negro, mulatto or mestee woman, being a slave, shall follow the state and condition of the mother…” The law listed penalties for harboring or assisting runaways and selling alcohol to enslaved persons. It also formalized the manumission process. Taking enslaved persons out of state for sale was prohibited, with freedom for the enslaved person as the penalty. This ended the legal slave trade into and out of New York but selling enslaved persons within the state remained legal.

1790: New York City enacted a law that servants or enslaved people can be sent to the Bridewell prison. First U.S. Census categories for people are “heads of families,” “free white,” “all other free persons,” and “slaves.”

1799: First New York State emancipation law enacted. It allowed children born into slavery after July 4, 1799, to be freed, but only after a long period of indentured service: 25 years for women and 28 for men. Those who were born before July 4 remained enslaved.

1800: Second U.S. Census categories for people are “head of family,” “free white,” “all other free persons, except Indians, not taxed,” and “slaves.”

1805: New York City enacted a law that enslaved person can be confined prison only with the order of a magistrate. No time limit was placed on confinement if the enslaver paid expenses.

1812-14: War of 1812 with Britain.

1812: New York City slave code permits enslavers to commit enslaved people to prison with the approval of a magistrate.

1813: New York City enacted a law that the enslaved can be committed to Bridwell by a magistrate for up to sixty days at the expense of the enslaver.

1814: New York City Common Council repealed 1813 slave code.

1816: New York City jury ward census categories for people are “white inhabitants,” “aliens,” “coloured inhabitants, not slaves,” and “slaves.”

1817: New York law was passed to emancipate those enslaved before the enactment of the 1799 law.

1818: New York City Common Council changes law on commitment of the enslaved so they can only be imprisoned for a crime and enslaved people imprisoned without a magistrate’s order would be discharged after three days.

1821: New York City slave code allows the enslaved to be held in Bridewell for over sixty days for “running away or for other misbehaviour” if the enslaver put up a bond.

1825: Establishment of Seneca Village, a free Black community with many property owners. The city acquired their property through eminent domain as part of the creation of Central Park, and they were forced to move by the end of 1857.

1826: New York enacted universal suffrage for white men age twenty-one, but required Black men to own property worth $250, be “over and above all debts and incumbrances,” a citizen for three years, and a taxpayer to vote.

1827: Slavery ends in New York and is commemorated by a parade in New York City on July 4th and 5th. However, slavery continued in other ways, including temporary visitors from other states who brought enslaved persons (for up to nine months); fugitives who would be returned to enslavers in slave states; slave ships were allowed to anchor and restock in New York ports.

1827-1860’s: Despite slavery ending in New York, many slave ships are outfitted in the port or operate illegal slaving operations. In August 1856, Walt Whitman claimed “It is safe to say that two or three slavers per month have fitted out and sailed from New York for at least the last ten years.”

1834: Nativists rioted against abolitionists and Blacks in New York City.

1834: British law for gradual emancipation throughout the empire goes into effect.

1841: New York abolished the right of non-residents to keep enslaved people.

1862: Nathaniel Gordon executed in New York City on February 21 for participating in the illegal slave trade. He was the only slave trader executed in the United States.

1863: New York City Draft Riots.

1898: Consolidation of the five boroughs.

Next: Enslaved People

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Includes information from New York City, 1664-1710: Conquest and Change, In the Shadow of Slavery, 12-21; Prof. Benton essay on dating the beginning and end of slavery in New York; “Tale of the White Horse” and “To ‘experiment with a parcel of negros:’ Incentive, Collaboration, and Competition in New Amsterdam’s Slave Trade, Journal of Early American History by Dennis J. Maika; the Walt Whitman Archive, Minutes of the Common Council, The colonial laws of New York from the year 1664 to the revolution, Vol. I, Laws of New-York, from the year 1691, to 1751, inclusive: published according to an act of the General Assembly, and Laws of the state of New York: passed at the sessions of the Legislature held in the years 1777-[1801], Vol. II.

Copyright 2025 Paul Hortenstine