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Commemorative Structures to Mark Land of the Blacks

M Fitzgerald

23/01/2022 20:39

Targeted Agency:

Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR), Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA)

Project Name:

Commemorative Structures to Mark Land of the Blacks

Description:

Structures in the form of flagstaffs, flags, and other monuments that mark the sites of African land ownership in Council District 3. From 1643 to 1716, twenty-eight parcels totaling over 130 acres were owned by free Black men and women, over 133 years before the United States existed. By the 1640s, the “Land of the Blacks” encompassed what today are Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo, NoHo, and Greenwich Village, and Black land ownership continued into the time of New York City. From 1643 to 1716, twenty-eight parcels totaling over 130 acres were owned by free Black men and women, over 133 years before the United States existed. These sites should be appropriately monumentalized by structures that honor and recognize this buried, forgotten, and ignored history and its role in shaping the neighborhoods that we know today.

Need:

Marking Land of the Blacks will broaden public memory of NYC’s African past; and elevate awareness of the Land of the Blacks, its residents, stories, history, and culture.