42 Baxter Street

As soon as it was legal for black New Yorkers to organize, they did so. In 1808, the African Society for Mutual Relief was founded. (The Society may have met in secret earlier, but there are no records to prove it.)

African Society for Mutual Relief - description

Mapping the American Past (MAAP) illustrates places and moments that have shaped the long history of African Americans in New York City.

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Willoughby and Duffield Streets

In September of 2007, Duffield Street in downtown Brooklyn got a new name.

Abolitionist Place - description

132 West 138th Street 

Known for its charismatic leadership and community outreach, the Abyssinian Baptist Church was formed in 1808 by a group of African Americans and Ethiopians who refused to accept the segregated seating in the First Baptist Church of New York City.

Abyssinian Baptist Church - description

Kenneth Jackson, Jacques Barzun Professor in History and the Social Sciences, Columbia University, on the Abyssinian Baptist Church.

Abyssinian Baptist Church - Kenneth Jackson commentary

Robert O'Meally, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English, Columbia University, on the Abyssinian Baptist Church.

Abyssinian Baptist Church - Robert O'Meally commentary

290 Broadway

The African Burial Ground is a federally designated historic landmark and archaeological site that was used as a cemetery by free and enslaved people of African descent during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

African Society for Mutual Relief - description

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