The Land of the Blacks ( nl, t'
Erf
Erf or ERF may refer to:
Industry
* Enerplus, a North American energy producer whose stock is listed as ERF under the TSX and NYSE
* ERF (truck manufacturer), a former British truck manufacturer
Mathematics
* Error function, erf
* Exponential ...
van Negros, also Negro Frontier or Free Negro Lots) was a village settled by people of African descent north of
the wall
''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imp ...
of
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
from about 1643 to 1716. It represented an economic, legal and military ''
modus vivendi
''Modus vivendi'' (plural ''modi vivendi'') is a Latin phrase that means "mode of living" or " way of life". It often is used to mean an arrangement or agreement that allows conflicting parties to coexist in peace. In science, it is used to descr ...
'' reached with the
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
in the wake of
Kieft's War
Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New Nethe ...
. This
buffer area with the native
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
is sometimes considered the first free African settlement in North America, although the landowners had
half-free status. Its name comes from descriptions in 1640s
land conveyances of white-owned properties as bordering the
hereditament In common law, a hereditament (from Latin ''hereditare'', to inherit, from ''heres'', heir) is any kind of property that can be inherited.
Hereditaments are divided into corporeal and incorporeal. Corporeal hereditaments are "such as affect the se ...
or
freehold
Freehold may refer to:
In real estate
*Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple
*Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England
*Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...
"of the Blacks".
There were about 30 African-owned farms over about 130 acres centered in the modern neighborhoods of
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
and
SoHo
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, including all of the area surrounding
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...
.
The rights of the
Free Negro community gradually eroded after the
conquest of New Netherland
The conquest of New Netherland occurred in 1664 as an English expedition led by Richard Nicolls that arrived in New York Harbor effected a peaceful capture of New Amsterdam, and the Articles of Surrender of New Netherland were agreed. The conquest ...
in 1664 and the area's incorporation into the
Province of New York
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...
.
Development
The area was formerly known as ''Noortwyck'', where the ousted Dutch governor
Wouter van Twiller
Wouter van Twiller (May 22, 1606 – buried August 29, 1654) was an employee of the Dutch West India Company and the fourth Director of New Netherland. He governed from 1632 until 1638, succeeding Peter Minuit, who was recalled by the Dutch ...
had owned a large tobacco farm, ''Bossen Bouwerie'', built on the earlier
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
settlement of
Sapokanikan
Sapohanikan was a Lenape settlement of the Canarsee now located in close proximity to where Gansevoort Street meets Washington Street near the Hudson River in Manhattan. The people of the settlement were violently displaced under Dutch Governor ...
.
Africans in the area had experienced
slavery in New Amsterdam and were controlled by the
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
, not by private slaveholders. In 1644, eleven African men who had been under the WIC for "18 or 19 years" that likely included military experience, pressed their rights in the courts in a predecessor to
freedom suits
Freedom suits were lawsuits in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States filed by slaves against slaveholders to assert claims to freedom, often based on descent from a free maternal ancestor, or time held as a resident in a free state or te ...
, and became recognized as part of a new
half-free social class of the colony, being granted lands at about the same time. These "African Eleven", who would have arrived in 1625 or 1626, may have had seniority as the first enslaved men ever brought to the colony, predating the group from the ship ''Bruin Visch'' in 1628, which included the first African women.
Africans had largely built the
fortifications of New Netherland
New Netherland, or ''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch, was the 17th century colony of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory included southern Cape Cod to parts of the Delmarva P ...
, including
Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently the ...
and the northern
palisade
A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade.
Etymology
''Palisade' ...
, and combat veterans among them may have been given preferential treatment in the assignment of lands. Enslaved Africans are also depicted on the 1639
Manatus Map
The Manatus Map is a 1639 city map of New Amsterdam and other New Netherland settlements surrounding New York Harbor, with pictorial elements, and bearing the title '' on the North River''. Drafted during the period of Willem Kieft's directorsh ...
as living in quarters farther north at the mouth of the
Sawkill
The Sawkill or Saw-kill (the Dutch place-name for Saw Mill Creek) was the largest hydrological network on Manhattan island prior to the founding of the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1624. This stream began "within four blocks of the Hudson R ...
, though this is not recorded elsewhere, and may have been either an error or a temporary measure due to military efforts.
The settlement was created as a
buffer area (a sort of military
march
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
) by the succeeding governor
Willem Kieft
Willem Kieft (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647.
Life and career
Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director b ...
when Dutch people evacuated the region due to
Kieft's War
Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New Nethe ...
against the native
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
people. Although their freedom was only partial, it is sometimes considered the first free African settlement in North America, that status being more commonly given to
Fort Mose
Fort Mose Historic State Park (originally known as Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, and later Fort Mose; alternatively, Fort Moosa or Fort Mossa), is a former Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1738, the governor of Spanish Florida, M ...
founded a century later in Spanish Florida, also as a military measure. It has been argued by historians that
Atlantic Creole
Atlantic Creole is a cultural identifier of those with origins in the transatlantic settlement of the Americas via Europe and Africa.[Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo ( kg, Kongo dya Ntotila or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' pt, Reino do Congo) was a kingdom located in central Africa in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of the ...](_blank)
, that helped them to negotiate improved living conditions.
Landowning families built a common
cattle pen
A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. It may also perhaps be used as a term for an enclosure for other animals such as pets that are unwanted inside the house. The term describes types of enclosures that may confine one or many animal ...
that was shared by their community, and later helped to construct
the wall
''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imp ...
of Wall Street that replaced the initial palisade. Half-free status was not supposed to extend to children of the landholders under the Dutch rule, but in practice this seems to have been obviated, and plots were passed on to the next generation. Governor Stuyvesant diminished African properties by appropriating some of them to himself in
Stuyvesant Farm
Stuyvesant Farm, also known as the Great Bowery, was the estate of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland, as well as his predecessors and later his familial descendants. The land was at first designat ...
, some through purchases and some through fiat, though most stayed intact.
After the
seizure of New Netherland in 1664 and its incorporation into the
Province of New York
The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...
, the rights of the
Free Negro social group were gradually eroded. Stuyvesant affirmed some of the properties in a letter to the English in 1665.
Shortly after the English conquest,
Jasper Danckaerts
Jasper Danckaerts (7 May 1639, Vlissingen – 1702/1704, Middelburg) was the founder of a colony of Labadists along the Bohemia River in what is now the US state of Maryland. He is known for his journal, kept while traveling through the territor ...
wrote of the community in his travel memoir:
In 1702, the first of the
New York slave codes
The New York slave codes were a series of slave codes passed in the Province of New York to regulate slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an ...
were passed, which further limited freedom of the African community in New York. African land ownership in the area was effectively ended by anti-Black legislation passed after the
New York Slave Revolt of 1712
The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 was an uprising in New York City, in the Province of New York, of 23 Black slaves. They killed nine whites and injured another six before they were stopped. More than 70 black people were arrested and jailed. O ...
, which included a ban on inheritance of property. The revolt was blamed on two groups,
Smith's Fly Boys Smith's Fly Boys was one of two paramilitary groups formed during the New York Slave Insurrection of 1741 in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. W ...
in the modern East Village, and the
Long Bridge
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...
Boys, after a former crossing farther downtown over the
Broad Canal
Broad Canal is a short canal in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, previously larger and part of the now-vanished canal system that made Cambridge an active seaport.
The canal began in 1806 when Henry Hill, Rufus Davenport, and others laid out a can ...
.
There was not a municipal government for the village, but a series of land grants.
Village Preservation
Village Preservation (formerly the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, or GVSHP) is a non-profit organization which advocates for the preservation of architecture and culture in several neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan, New York. ...
, using a map from ''
The Iconography of Manhattan Island
''The Iconography of Manhattan Island'' is a six volume study of the history of New York City by Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, published between 1915 and 1928 by R. H. Dodd in New York. The work comprehensively records and documents key events of t ...
'', has documented 28 land grants, which were mostly contiguous in one area. Three of the land grants were a bit to the south, and not connected to the main part.
Legacy
A later neighborhood, after the dispossessions of property, was called Little Africa in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
. Its legacy is preserved at the
African Burial Ground National Monument
African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way (Elk Street) in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its main building is the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway. ...
.
A 2020 resolution by
Manhattan Community Board 2
The Manhattan Community Board 2 is a New York City community board encompassing the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, West Village, South Village, NoHo, SoHo, Little Italy, NoLIta, and a portion of Chinatown in the borough of Manhattan. It i ...
supported the commemoration of the African landholding community, otherwise publicly unmarked, and pointed to the suitability of a potential monument in
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...
. In 2021, a temporary digital exhibition at the Oculus, in the spaces of
Westfield World Trade Center
Westfield World Trade Center, also known as the Oculus, is a shopping mall at the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York, that is operated and managed by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. The mall opened on August 16, 2016, as the largest sho ...
, was put on by artists of Black Gotham Experience.
References
{{reflist
African-American history in New York City
Angolan-American history
Congolese-American history
New Netherland
Establishments in New Netherland
Populated places in New York established by African Americans
Province of New York
18th century in New York City
Military emancipation