"No part of colonial North America relied more heavily on slave labor than New York," said Leslie Harris, associate director of the department of African American Studies at Emory University, at "In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863," the first of a series of lectures hosted by Carnegie Mellon's Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE). Harris recently published her book In the Shadow of Slavery, which traces the history of slavery in New York City from 1626 to 1863.

According to Harris, African Americans are often overlooked in books exploring the history of New York City. Harris explained how in 1991 a "negro burial ground" was discovered underneath lower Manhattan. She said this incident encapsulates how African American history in the North has been forgotten.

Slavery has deep roots in the North. The early Dutch settlers introduced slavery to New Amsterdam, later renamed New York under British rule, in 1626. In the 1650s, New Amsterdam emerged as a center of slavery in North America. By the end of the seventeenth century, there were more blacks in New Amsterdam than in any other North American city.

At that point, slavery in the North was far different from the modern conception of slavery, the southern plantation model. Slaves in the North were typically servants in a home or urban laborers, not farmers. Seventeenth century Europeans relied on and had confidence in their slaves; slaves were allowed many rights, including the right to sue and receive hourly wages. According to Harris, they were used to "make things happen." 

"The economic role of slavery before the [mid-eighteenth century] was less clear," said Harris.

However, it wasn't long before Europeans realized that free slave labor could provide economic benefits.

In 1720, there were 5,700 slaves in the New York colony. By 1771, there were just over 19,000, giving Manhattan the largest slave population in the North and the third largest in the colonies. Slaves performed every type of labor and competed in the labor market with whites. In New York, colonial slaveholders owned an average of 2.4 slaves, while in the South, slaveholding was much more concentrated, with many slaves being employed on one plantation.

"Ownership of slaves spread widely across the white population," said Harris. "Slavery was identified with wealth creation in North America."

Though slavery was widespread, it was not universally accepted.  Some began questioning slavery even before the Revolutionary War. Led by the Quakers and Methodists, this abolitionist movement had little effect. However, the war and its republican ideology provided a political and secular argument against slavery. The ideology was one of virtue and personal liberty. According to Harris, slavery was the antithesis of that ideal.

Nevertheless, New York State didn't outlaw slavery until 1799, and even then blacks were given only gradual emancipation. The children of slaves were to remain enslaved with their parents' masters; females for 23 years, males for 28.

"There was no sudden emancipation. [The whites] feared full emancipation," said Harris.

When slavery finally ended in New York in 1827, a new struggle emerged in the labor market. Immigrant workers were cheaper and whites were scared of blacks. For this reason, blacks were unofficially relegated to certain types of jobs, such as chimneysweeps and, to some extent, sailors, which were considered 'black jobs.'

Politically, blacks were also segregated from whites. Blacks were able to vote only if they owned property, while whites were given that right simply by age and gender. Essentially, blacks had to demonstrate their worthiness to vote.

Harris said, "The legislature drew an indelible line between blacks and whites."

In 1826, only 16 blacks could vote in New York County. Even by the start of theCivil War, only 300 of 15,000 blacks in the area could vote.

Although progress was slow, emancipation had a tremendous effect on the lives of blacks. After emancipation, freed slaves were ablefor the first time to form a community. Many of them became big advocates of ending slavery in the South.

After Harris's talk, Samantha Gross, a Masters student in History at Carnegie Mellon, said, "[Harris told] an important story; one that needed to be told."

Harris received her PhD at Stanford University and is a professor of history at Emory. In the Shadow of Slavery is an updated and expanded version of her doctoral dissertation.