Living History: New York’s Hand in Slavery

FREE with Museum admission

Would you like to learn about the world that people of the past lived in and how it continues to impact us today? Join our historical interpreters in the Museum and experience the past through the material culture left behind by leaders, activists, soldiers, and craftspeople from across history.

Discover how 18th-century northern cities such as New York made it possible for the island of Nevis to develop the most profitable sugar economy in the British West Indies.  Explore with historical interpreters how goods such as grain and meat and services such as insurance both made New York a wealthy port and also maintained the brutal sugar plantation system in the West Indies. Interpreters guide families through learning about how America in the 18th century fed into systems of oppression, like slavery. Families will learn about how similar labor practices today continue to impact and oppress some communities.  Discuss and get energized about how we can disrupt these harmful systems.

Image: Reproduction 18th-century trade items

Please note that this is not a drop-off program—child participants must be accompanied by an adult.

This program is offered in partnership with the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society.

Go to the New-York Historical Society’s Visit page for the most up-to-date information about safety requirements for program attendance, including vaccination and masking procedures.