Council Member Proposes Trail of Underground Railroad Markers
City Council member Christopher Marte has introduced legislation to create an urban historical trail in Lower Manhattan (and beyond) to raise awareness about the role New York City played in the Underground Railroad, a secret network of routes and safe houses that bore enslaved persons out of the pre-Civil War South.
The legislation, called “the Road to Freedom Act,” will impanel a 13-member task force of government officials and academic experts to plan a walkable tour of relevant historical sites, “linked through unifying signage, programs, or maps.” The roster is slated to include sites that are well-known to local history enthusiasts, as well as those that have been overlooked.
The legislation envisions two such trails: one in Lower Manhattan, and the other spanning the City as a whole. Mr. Marte said, “the history of New York City’s role in the Underground Railroad remains underground. The Road to Freedom Act will lead New Yorkers to an understanding of our City’s role in liberating enslaved people and abolishing slavery. While we continue to be home to thousands of organizers and activists who are fighting against racist oppression, this legislation will build deeper connections to our past so that we can forge a better future.”
There are more than a dozen sites in Lower Manhattan that played significant roles in the abolition movement, and a known network of rescuers who helped fugitives escape from ante bellum plantations and settle in New York.
At 5 Broad Street, Downing’s Oyster House was a popular establishment serving wealthy bankers and politicians. Between 1825 and 1860, however, proprietor Thomas Downing and his son George sheltered escaped slaves in the basement while their patrons ate and drank upstairs.
At 330 Pearl Street, the Colored Sailors’ Home officially was an employment center for sailors, but it was also a station on the Underground Railroad. As many as 1,000 fugitive slaves were given shelter here, then sent on toward freedom.
The renowned Mother AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Zion Church, located in Harlem for nearly 100 years, was founded in 1796 at 158 Church Street. It was the first Black church in New York State, and called the “Freedom Church.” Frederick Douglass was conducted to this church on the Underground Railroad. Sojourner Truth was a member.
Many of the Lower Manhattan buildings used as stops on the Underground Railroad were subsequently demolished, but one that remains in something close to its original condition is Two White Street, at the corner of West Broadway. This is the landmarked Gideon Tucker House, which dates from 1809, but was by the 1840s the home of Rev. Theodore Sedgwick Wright.
Wright, a Black minister who served as pastor of the nearby First Colored Presbyterian Church, was not only a leading abolitionist, but also a secret conductor on the Underground Railroad. At considerable personal risk, he used the basement of his home as a safe house for escaped slaves.
Today, Two White Street is fondly known to local residents as “the liquor store,” in acknowledgement of a vintage sign that remains in the window, dating from a use that ended decades ago. Its current occupant is a Todd Snyder menswear boutique.