Dutch New York Histories

Past Programs

Thursday August 3, 2017 @ 6:30pm

Dutch rule in New Amsterdam and New Netherland (1609-1664) was short in comparison to other colonial empires, but it has had a lasting cultural impact seen in present-day street names, cities monuments and more.

A new book, Dutch New York Histories:Connecting African, Native American and Slavery Heritage, authored and presented by Jennifer Tosch, Dienke Hondius, Nancy Jouwe, and Dineke Stam of the Mapping Slavery Project, explores the connections between African, Native American and Dutch heritage. This eye-opening guide also focuses on traces of the Dutch presence still visible in New York City and State from the early 17^th century forward, including relevant locations where the histories of Native Americans and Africans converge in and around New York City.

An enthusiastic public filled the Langston Hughes auditorium to learn about this little-known history.

Watch video here

Sojourner Truth only spoke Dutch until the age of ten

Rhinebeck Cemetery – African Burial Ground and grave of Jack, native of Africa

For More:

Digital exhibition Black New Yorkers, “The Dutch Years”

The Sojourner Truth Project

Ira Berlin and Leslie Harris, eds., Slavery in New York

Jeroen Dewulf, The Pinkster King and the King of Kongo: The Forgotten History of America’s Dutch Owned Slaves

Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol

Susannah Shaw Romney, New Netherland Connections: Intimate Networks and Atlantic Ties in Seventeenth Century America

The Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery—funded by a generous $2.5 million gift from Ruth and Sid Lapidus matched by The New York Public Library—is the only facility of its kind based in a public research library.

The initial gift also included 400 rare items of printed material, making the Schomburg Center home to one of the world’s premier collections of slavery material. Sid Lapidus continues to donate items as he acquires them.

The Center's mission is to generate and disseminate scholarly knowledge on the slave trade, slavery, and anti-slavery pertaining to the Atlantic World. The Center supports the work of researchers with long-term and short-term fellowships. Given the centrality of Atlantic slavery to the making of the modern world, the Lapidus fellowships ensure that slavery studies are a cornerstone of the Schomburg Center’s broader research community.

To raise awareness and historical literacy, the Lapidus Center engages the public with a variety of programs, an annual nonfiction prize, exhibitions, conferences, and partnerships with local, national, and international institutions.

Dr. Michelle Commander
Associate Director and Curator