New York African Society for Mutual Relief established

The African Society for Mutual Relief was a mutual aid organization established in New York City in 1808. The New York Legislature granted their petition and the society became the first incorporated African American association. Members celebrated the event with a parade and took to the streets carrying silk banners and signs. 

The association grew quickly. In the beginning money was short, but in 1820 a former Haitian slave named Juliet Toussaint donated enough money for a plot of land and a meetinghouse at 42 Baxter Street. Located in the Five Points neighborhood, the African Hall for Mutual Relief became an important meeting place, a school, and a stop on the Underground Railroad. 

Leaders of the group included William Hamilton, its first president; Cato Alexander, an inn keeper; Philip Bell, editor and publisher of The Colored American; and Abraham Lawrence, president of the Harlem Railroad.  Its building was attacked in the 1834 anti-abolition riots.