Unearthing our Past –An article on Trinity Wall Street’s relationship to slavery in New York

Summary

Trinity Church Wall Street archivist and historian Gwynedd Cannan published this article on February 13, 2004, in Trinity News. The goal was to address the question of Trinity’s relationship to slavery in New York City in light of the opening of the African Burial Grounds memorial near the church. Although Trinity did not own slaves, prominent early members were slave owners, and the first church building was built in part by slaves. Trinity made the controversial decision to minister to enslaved individuals pastorally, and some members, including John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, founded the New York Manumission Society to lobby for anti-slavery laws and assist African-Americans. The article is in three sections: The Use of Slave Labor, Catechizing and Education, and Burial Segregation.

The  source of this article is the Trinity Church Wall Street’s blog. There is a  video at the bottom of the  web page that provides contemporary perspective as well as additional history click here .

(February, 2019)