Slavery in the early days of Bay Ridge

 When discussing the topic of slavery, students often infer that there was no slavery in the north. Even adults do not want to believe that the north had slaves, and that those in New York City were always opposed of slavery. This was not the case. There were slaves in the City as well as in the area of Bay Ridge. When introducing this topic, it can be shocking to students and even their parents. It is important that when teaching the topic of slavery, that the teacher presents the facts and accurately portrays the experience of slaves. As always, the topic should be age appropriate for the students in the grade level. 

When we think of Bay Ridge, often times we think of rural beginnings, or its modern 'small town in a big city' feeling. Residents are not really aware of the fact that Bay Ridge contained slaves. The first slaves to arrive in the area came in 1660, when the Dutch West India Company sent several slaves to help prepare the village of New Utrecht. These slaves were not owned by the any individual in New Utrecht as the people living there could not afford them. According to Henry Stewart's How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge, "From 1698 to 1755, New Utrecht's population was less than three hundred; slaves constituted 18 to 42 percent".(p14). This is a significant number as it shows that in the population, slaves made up a large portion of the population at that time. 

As time passed, and more people moved into the area of present day Bay Ridge, they were able to own slaves. A majority of the people were Dutch descendants who had large farms. To help work the farms, those who could afford slaves would have them. According to Henry Stewart's How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge, in the 1790 census, "75 percent of white households had in New Utrecht had owned slaves - a higher proportion than in South Carolina." (p.15). By having this data, it helps to challenge the narrative that people in the north did not own slaves. The ratio of slaves to white people in our area was greater than that of South Carolina, a place where the north always assumed had much more slaves. 

This image was assessed from the Long Island Star, 1810 via the Hey Ridge Article "Bay Ridge’s Forgotten Slaves". 

A great example of this would be the $15 Reward for a runaway slave named Squy. The image above was an advertisement in the Long Island Star, from 1810. The advertisement is a reward for $15 for the return of a runaway slave. There is a description of the man's appearance as well as a description of a facial scar from a horse. It also states that it is illegal for someone else to employ the slave, or they will be prosecuted by the law. The name of the person who put out the advertisement was Jacob Cropsy, who resided in Yellow Hook. Yellow Hook was the former name of Bay Ridge, and for local residents they might recognize the name Cropsy, as there is an Avenue in Brooklyn named after the family. 

Due to the large amount of slave labor used in the area, when the idea of emancipation came about in the 1840s, many of the Dutch families refused to support it. Since these families relied so heavily on the slaves, they did not want to have to pay or free them. Sadly, these Dutch families felt no shame in owning slaves and would often brag about how great their relationships with the slaves would be. Obviously the Dutch owned people and did not treat them as well as they wanted the generations to remember, as some were quoted as saying they needed to whip their slaves in order to get them to work. 

As slavery became illegal throughout New York City, the former slaves were not integrated or accepted into the white societies of New Utrecht and Bay Ridge. Despite living in this area, none of them remained. Despite there being no more physical slaves in the area, the white people still kept reminders of the past. General Robert E. Lee worked at Fort Hamilton and brought his family to live in Bay Ridge from 1842-1847. His mother kept a southern style of home, where they had black servants working for them. Despite being located in a northern town, the remnants of the south, and their attitudes towards African Americans remained and was socially acceptable at the time. In the 20th century some wealthy families in Bay Ridge would host 'southern plantation style' dinner parties where they would force the serving staff to serve in blackface. They would also have racially insensitive cakes that highlighted horrific stereotypes of African Americans. It is events like this that show racism was not something that the north was immune to. 

When looking at local history, it is important to note that there are parts of the past that places are not proud of. For example, the Dutch tried to change the narrative of their relationship with their slaves. This is why documents are so important, as well as the need to preserve information relating to people of color in American History. 

This topic is pretty heavy, but should still be teachable to students as they need to be aware of the whole history of the place they live in. A project that works on the socioemotional skill of empathy and understanding of others would be beneficial for discussing this lesson. An activity that can be suggested for this topic would be to have students to read and react to the chapter from Henry Stewart's book How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge as well as HeyRidge's article Bay Ridge’s Forgotten Slaves. The teacher might have to edit or provide passages for younger grades as some information is not age appropriate. By exposing students to what occurred in their own town to slaves and African Americans, it can teach them to be more tolerant and understanding of those who are different from them. It will also teach them to have empathy for marginalized and abused populations such as slaves. When schools cover the unit of slavery, it can seem so distant to students as the information taught mainly pertains to the south. When students discover that there were slaves in Bay Ridge, or their hometown, it can allow for a more personalized understanding of the horrors of slavery. It will also show how widespread it was and that the racist thoughts towards African Americans was still occurring. 

This is a great lesson for understanding that we need to honor and respect the slaves who suffered here, in Bay Ridge and New Utrecht as well as all over the United States. 

The information above was gathered from resources such as 

Stewart, Henry. How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2019.

Stewart, Henry. Bay Ridge's Forgotten Slaves. HeyRidge.com, August 16, 2017.