The public art, buildings, and events along today's Black Heritage Trail were the homes, businesses, schools and churches of a thriving black community that organized, from the nation's earliest years, to sustain those who faced local discrimination and national slavery, struggling toward the equality and freedom promised in America's documents of national liberty.

Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University  

Black Heritage Trail New York City

 At the final stop on the tour, Kaplan discusses the historic Fraunces Tavern/Museum, the location of Washington's farewell address to his troops. The tavern remains today, owned by the Sons of the Revolution. 

 The monument Triumph of the Human Spirit is one of the world's largest site-specific installations, venerating the experience of African American enslavement. Towering at over fifty feet and weighing more than 300 tons, the massive black granite sculpture was built on a rediscovered African burial ground. The sculpture depicts an abstract female antelope form, mounted on a boat shaped base. According to the artist, the piece is inspired by "Chi Wara" an antelope effigy from West Africa that symbolizes a responsibility for continuing the next generation and for celebrating a successful harvest. Triumph of the Human Spirit serves as a monument to honor all Africans brought to America but is also dedicated to all ancestors as well as the future generations to come. 

 Architectural historian Gail Cornell talks about the history of Foley Square and the African Burial Ground. 

The Great Dock

Immigration Port of New York

The site is now occupied by the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

David Ruggles Bookstore

Woodhull Stock Brokerage

Five Points was a neighborhood around the intersection of Worth Street, Baxter Street, and Cross Street, which no longer exists. It became a world-famous slum in the 1840s.Five Points was also where many abolitionist organizations were located. There was the Chatham Chapel, where black and white abolitionists met, and the African American Mutual Relief Hall. Churches such St. Philip’s African Episcopal Church and the African Bethlehem Church were part of the Underground Railroad, as were many of the homes in the area. Five Points was a dangerous neighborhood, but it was also a safe haven for those fleeing slavery.Founded in 1808 and located on Worth Street, the Abyssinian Baptist Church first moved to 166 Waverly Place (pictured) and then farther north to West 40th Street in 1902. n 1923, the congregation moved into the Tudor Gothic–style church at 132 West 138th Street (Odell Clark Place), where it became the largest and most influential black church in New York.

Intersection of Pearl Street and Chatham Street

Five Points

North side of Chatham Street (Park Row) between Pearl and Duane streets

Behind city hall

African Burial Ground National Monument

Foley Square, Thomas Paine Park

Ted Weiss Federal Building

Located near the African Burial Ground National Monument.

Exterior wall at entrance to the building

At Collect Pond

In front of the Triumph of the Human Spirit sculpture

Intersection of Duane and Lafayette Street, On the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building plaza

Intersection of Reade and Center Street, Between the Municipal Building and Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse

First location William Alexander Brown house's backyard

119 Elm Street (today’s Lafayette Street, near Canal Street)

David Ruggles House

David Ruggles Boarding Home

Greenwich Village Historic District

African Free School No. 3

Plymouth Church

Central Park’s perimeter from West 82nd to West 89th Street during the first half of the 19th century, before the area became Central Park, was home to Seneca Village, a community of predominantly African-Americans, many of whom owned property.

Black Heritage Trail New York City

Tour Stops