Mapping the African American Past (MAAP)

Willoughby and Duffield Streets

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

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.

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

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

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.

Kenneth Jackson, Jacques Barzun Professor in History and the Social Sciences, Columbia University, discusses the African Burial Ground.

Kellie Jones, Associate Professor, Columbia University, discusses the African Burial Ground.

Dowoti Desir, Executive Director of The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, discusses the African Burial Ground.

Rodney Leon, African Burial Ground Memorial architect, discusses the site.

135-137 Mulberry Street

Soon after the Revolution, in 1785, a group of wealthy, powerful white men formed the New York Manumission Society. Although many were slave owners, their mission was to aid the enslaved, and to gradually end slavery in the state.