Slaves, Ships, Brooklyn and New York....

5fish

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Maybe @PatYoung can add to this tale about the Brooklyn Ship yards and slaves... it is much more it goes into Black men as sailors, New York City, Black men and ship building, and owner of slaves in New York... It a good read about Slaves, Ships, New York...


Snip...

While New York City was becoming more cosmopolitan, Brooklyn clung to its Dutch roots, with nearly half the county’s population of Dutch heritage, despite the fact that Dutch rule had ended more than 130 years earlier. While the white population was largely homogeneous, more than one-quarter of the inhabitants were enslaved people of African descent, or 1,477 people, plus 322 free black people. Of all the counties in New York State, Kings County had the largest proportion of households that owned slaves, with nearly 60% ownership, far higher than in most southern states.

snip...

The turn of the nineteenth century was a pivotal moment for the economy and culture of Brooklyn. Legally speaking, by 1799, slavery was on its way out in New York. A law passed that year granted freedom to anyone born after July 4, 1799, with the caveat that boys born to enslaved mothers would remain enslaved until the age of 28, while girls would remain so until age 25. This essentially set a clock for July 4, 1827 to end slavery in New York. Another law passed in 1817 also set this emancipation date for anyone born before July 4, 1799. While gradual manumission and the changing economic landscape did tamp down slavery across New York, it remained steadfast in Brooklyn. By 1820, there were still 879 enslaved people in Kings County, almost exactly equal to the free black population, while just 518 slaves remained in New York City, where there was a thriving free black community of over 10,000.

snip... Black men and ships...

Beyond the Navy, black people were not just common, but an indispensable part of the waterfront workforce in New York in the early nineteenth century. Seafaring was an attractive profession, as it provided escape from some of the exploitation and indignities that black people, free and enslaved, were subject to on shore. While becoming an officer or a shipowner were out of reach for nearly all, it provided a great deal of personal and economic autonomy. By 1825, an estimated 18% of all seamen in the port of New York were black.

snip...

In urban areas, the political and labor dynamics were different, but the impacts were similar. The federal government in general, and the Washington Navy Yard in particular, were the largest employers of slaves in the District of Columbia, creating a vast slaves-for-hire industry. Many of these slave owners were Navy officers themselves, who profited by collecting the wages of their slaves from the government payroll. The main objection to this practice was not a moral one, but rather a practical and political one. While the Navy Yards played a vital role in national defense, they were perhaps equally important as tools of political patronage. They provided reliable and well-paying jobs, assuming you had the right connections. These jobs delivered reliable votes, and no politician wanted these jobs wasted on people who could not vote. In one of the more brazen examples of this type of corruption, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on a Congressional inquiry in 1859:
 

PatYoung

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Maybe @PatYoung can add to this tale about the Brooklyn Ship yards and slaves... it is much more it goes into Black men as sailors, New York City, Black men and ship building, and owner of slaves in New York... It a good read about Slaves, Ships, New York...


Snip...

While New York City was becoming more cosmopolitan, Brooklyn clung to its Dutch roots, with nearly half the county’s population of Dutch heritage, despite the fact that Dutch rule had ended more than 130 years earlier. While the white population was largely homogeneous, more than one-quarter of the inhabitants were enslaved people of African descent, or 1,477 people, plus 322 free black people. Of all the counties in New York State, Kings County had the largest proportion of households that owned slaves, with nearly 60% ownership, far higher than in most southern states.

snip...

The turn of the nineteenth century was a pivotal moment for the economy and culture of Brooklyn. Legally speaking, by 1799, slavery was on its way out in New York. A law passed that year granted freedom to anyone born after July 4, 1799, with the caveat that boys born to enslaved mothers would remain enslaved until the age of 28, while girls would remain so until age 25. This essentially set a clock for July 4, 1827 to end slavery in New York. Another law passed in 1817 also set this emancipation date for anyone born before July 4, 1799. While gradual manumission and the changing economic landscape did tamp down slavery across New York, it remained steadfast in Brooklyn. By 1820, there were still 879 enslaved people in Kings County, almost exactly equal to the free black population, while just 518 slaves remained in New York City, where there was a thriving free black community of over 10,000.

snip... Black men and ships...

Beyond the Navy, black people were not just common, but an indispensable part of the waterfront workforce in New York in the early nineteenth century. Seafaring was an attractive profession, as it provided escape from some of the exploitation and indignities that black people, free and enslaved, were subject to on shore. While becoming an officer or a shipowner were out of reach for nearly all, it provided a great deal of personal and economic autonomy. By 1825, an estimated 18% of all seamen in the port of New York were black.

snip...

In urban areas, the political and labor dynamics were different, but the impacts were similar. The federal government in general, and the Washington Navy Yard in particular, were the largest employers of slaves in the District of Columbia, creating a vast slaves-for-hire industry. Many of these slave owners were Navy officers themselves, who profited by collecting the wages of their slaves from the government payroll. The main objection to this practice was not a moral one, but rather a practical and political one. While the Navy Yards played a vital role in national defense, they were perhaps equally important as tools of political patronage. They provided reliable and well-paying jobs, assuming you had the right connections. These jobs delivered reliable votes, and no politician wanted these jobs wasted on people who could not vote. In one of the more brazen examples of this type of corruption, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on a Congressional inquiry in 1859:
At the time of the Revolution, Brooklyn had roughly the same percentage of slaves as Virginia.
 
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