36 pages 1 hour read

New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

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Summary and Study Guide

Overview

In New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan, historian and writer Jill Lepore researches the little-known history of New York’s 1741 slave burnings. The book, published in 2005, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for History. Although slavery is typically associated with the southern United States, Lepore’s history reveals that New York also has a deep and dark history of engaging in the practice of human ownership.

18th-century New York boasts a large slave population, with around 2,000 of its 10,000 citizens being black slaves. In the winter and spring of 1741, New York’s Fort George and several other homes are burned, with several slaves suspected as the arsonists. Over the following months, New York’s Supreme Court launches an investigation into the arsons, believing that they are uncovering a massive conspiracy to overthrow the New York government. By the end of the investigation, many slaves are burned at the stake, while several white New Yorkers are hung from a noose.

Nearly all of the historical evidence stems from a single source: The Journal of the Proceedings in The Detection of the Conspiracy, published by Supreme Court Justice blurred text
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