Slavery, race, community, and family were vital to the history and development of colonial New Amsterdam and New York. Examining familial and community networks of diverse women, especially enslaved women, reveals multiracial and dynamic connections among ordinary people who shaped the trajectory of the city’s history. In this program, historians Nicole Maskiell and Deborah Hamer discuss various aspects of women’s community building, what it meant to have a family network, and what these connections tell us about slavery in Manhattan.

Nicole Maskiell is an Associate Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. Her book, Bound by Bondage: Slavery and the Creation of a Northern Gentry, centers slavery as a crucial component to the rise and enduring influence of the moneyed Northeastern elite.