Presented by:
DiSpirito
Series Hosted by Rocco A Cook-Along FREE!
NOBU DOWNTOWN
Thursday, February 11 at 4:00pm
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Learn to Cook with Lower Manhattan Chefs!
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the Downtown restaurant community.
The Slave Market At
ADVERTORIAL
Pearl Street And Wall Street
The layers of history run deep through Lower Manhattan. This Black History Month we will be looking at those
places in our neighborhood that illuminate the stories of the African diaspora in New York. Kamau Ware, founder of
the Black Gotham Experience, has authored a series of pieces to help show us exactly what ground we stand upon.
Every great city has an interesting origin story, yet most people still do not know that New York City was born out of
the English Slave Trade in 1664. On November 30, 1711, the Common Council of New York City established a slave
market at the corner of Pearl Street and Wall Street to regulate the selling of Black bodies.
A commemorative plaque was placed on the corner of Water Street and Wall Street in 2015 to acknowledge this
history, but the actual site of the market is one block west. When standing at the location of the market, the contours
of the eastern edge of the island are visible. Pearl Street is not a straight line but one that curves, bending the urban
landscape to a forgotten rhythm where the river once met the shore. Ships that docked along Pearl Street during the
time of English control of the island would have carried provisions to the West Indies, where sugar plantations made
white gold with enslaved labor.
The enslaved who also arrived on these same docks were a vital yet captive workforce that kept the rotation of goods
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trading interest. Similar to the shoreline that once sent waves against Pearl Street, the connection between New York
City and slavery is visible and actively impacting the landscape of the city today if you know where you stand.
Schneps Media February 4, 2021 9
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