Brooklyn’s anti-slavery movement began in the neighborhoods we now call DUMBO and Vinegar Hill. At the end of the American Revolution, this was the town of Brooklyn. It was one of six agricultural towns in Kings County until it was incorporated as the city of Brooklyn in 1834.

From 1810 onwards, this area was home to a self-determined free black community. The community built independent institutions to meet, study, pray, and combat the widespread racism around them. They established a powerful anti-slavery agenda for future generations of activists.