The virtual Staten Island African American Heritage Tour brings Staten Island’s Black History right to your fingertips.

This year’s police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd reignited a national conversation about Black people’s place in America and in its history. In Staten  Island, this summer’s activism exposed residents to the borough’s  lesser-known, and often overlooked, Black History. Many people, however,  only learned about the Sandy Ground Settlement. Debbie-Ann Paige,  Staten Island Public Historian and Professional Genealogist, wants  residents to realize that Black History on the Island goes beyond Sandy  Ground.

“When I first came back to Staten Island, if you said  African-American History everyone would say, ‘Well, have you spoken to  the people at Sandy Ground?’” she recounted. “While I was working on my  thesis, I realized that there was such a deeper, broader, longer, more  in-depth history of African-Americans on Staten Island.”

In order  to excavate these hidden Black histories, Paige, along with Faith  D'Alessandro and the Staten Island Chapter of the Afro-American  Historical and Genealogical Society, created the Staten Island African American Heritage Tour application. The website and mobile application (available in the App Store and Google Play Store)  provide a virtual tour through the noteworthy times and places in  Staten Island’s Black History. The app leads you through two tours: the  Gateway to Freedom Driving tour along the former Underground Railroad  route, and a virtual tour that provides a survey of Black historical  points of interest on Staten Island.

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PFT5 jingle by Patrick Meagher, Read by Sean Ghazala, Produced by Emily Nadal