also, Aframs weren't just slaves in the South, they also were slaves in the North since the 1600s!
Years ago (in 2018) NBK (New Black Knowledge) made an excellent stream, with peer reviewed facts.
FIRST AFRICANS of NEW YORK w/ COMPLETE PROOF!Sign Up: (FREE!) NBK HISTORY BROTHERS Website http://newblackknowledge1.connectplatform.com Support New Black K...
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Never seen this book. Dewulf is probably a Dutch name in origin, because we know this name as “De Wolf”.
The Great Migration was just Aframs going to a region that they already existed in for hundreds of years!
I haven’t listened to the stream, but I see in the title a claim that Puerto Ricans were in New York before Black Americans?
That’s a ridiculous claim because Black Americans literally built Manhattan and “Wall Street”. And found the early thriving communities. It was also reviewed by NBK 8 yeas ago.
Even ChatGTP 5.1 gives us these facts in 2025, within a blink. Arguing with these folks for hours is completely pointless.
Black Americans have been foundational to building New York City — physically, economically, and culturally — from its earliest days to the modern skyline.
Here’s a breakdown by historical period:
1. Enslaved African Labor (1620s – 1827)
Black people literally built the first New York.
Physical Construction
- Fort Amsterdam (1625–1627): Built largely by enslaved Africans for the Dutch West India Company — this was the city’s military and administrative hub.
- Wall Street’s namesake wall (1653): Constructed by enslaved Black men to protect New Amsterdam.
- Roads & Infrastructure: Early roads such as Broadway and Bowery were cleared and paved by enslaved labor.
- Docks & Shipyards: Enslaved Africans built and maintained wharves essential to trade and shipping.
Manumission & Free Black Community
- By the mid-1600s, some Africans were granted “half-freedom,” allowing them small land plots north of the Dutch settlement — this became part of modern-day Greenwich Village.
- After the English takeover, slavery continued and expanded. By the 1700s, 1 in 5 New Yorkers was enslaved.
- The African Burial Ground, rediscovered in 1991 near City Hall, holds over 15,000 remains — the largest known colonial African cemetery in North America.
️ 2. Abolition, Activism & Entrepreneurship (1827 – 1865)
- New York abolished slavery in 1827. Many formerly enslaved people built new lives in the city.
- Black artisans (carpenters, blacksmiths, dockworkers) helped expand Manhattan northward.
- Black churches such as Abyssinian Baptist Church (founded 1808) became community and political centers.
- Entrepreneurs like Thomas Downing (oyster cellar owner) and William Brown (theater owner) created early Black businesses that attracted interracial audiences.
- New York’s Black residents fought for abolition — figures like David Ruggles, Frederick Douglass, and Henry Highland Garnet organized from Manhattan and Brooklyn.
️ 3. Labor and the Industrial City (1865 – 1910s)
After emancipation:
- Black dockworkers, carpenters, and laborers helped expand New York’s harbors and rail systems.
- The Pullman porters, many Black men, were central to rail commerce in and out of New York.
- Harlem began developing into a major Black neighborhood due to migration from the South and the Caribbean.
4. The Harlem Renaissance (1920s – 1940s)
This era transformed New York into
the center of Black American culture and global Black creativity.
Key contributions:
- Music: Jazz innovators like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and Billie Holiday defined the Harlem sound.
- Literature: Writers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Claude McKay redefined American literature.
- Business: Black-owned clubs, newspapers, and publishing houses flourished.
- Politics: The NAACP and Marcus Garvey’s UNIA had major New York headquarters.
️ 5. Civil Rights, Labor, and Urban Development (1950s – 1970s)
- A. Philip Randolph (Harlem) organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labor union recognized by a major corporation.
- Shirley Chisholm (Brooklyn) became the first Black woman in Congress.
- Architectural and construction workers: Black laborers were part of major city projects (housing, subways, schools).
- Cultural powerhouses like the Apollo Theater and Black radio shaped American entertainment.
6. Modern Influence (1980s – Today)
- Hip-hop, born in the Bronx, became New York’s — and the world’s — most influential cultural export, pioneered by DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash.
- Black New Yorkers have shaped fashion (Dapper Dan), film (Spike Lee), activism (Al Sharpton, Tamika Mallory), and business (Robert F. Smith, Ursula Burns).
- Black engineers, architects, and union workers continue to shape new developments — from the Freedom Tower to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
In summary:
, are easily dismantled when one looks at the masses of the country (and the country itself) they left vs their highly self selected emigrant populations.
a blind man could see that the 
is #1 
