BROOKLYN, N.Y. — With Juneteenth, June 19, around the corner, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of “More Than a Brook: Brooklyn Abolitionist Heritage Walk,” an interactive audio tour that explores Brooklyn’s history and vital role in the National Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad.
Commissioned by the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) and created by Kamau Studios and Black Gotham Experience, the tour allows individuals to use their smartphones and other devices to participate in a three-part audio experience that guides them through 18 stops within the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Fulton Ferry, Downtown Brooklyn, and Fort Greene, each which holds historic landmark sites associated with New York City’s abolitionist history.
This interactive tour is meant to share New York City’s significant role in the effort to abolish slavery and assist those seeking to escape, while also capturing the multiple ways individuals and institutions engaged with the anti-slavery movement and continued the fight for freedom.
“New Yorkers walk through Brooklyn every day, unaware of the history right under their feet and surrounding them,” said Adams. “This interactive audio tour allows all of us to celebrate the heroes who stood up against injustice, risked their lives, and fought for the freedom they deserved. To build a better future, we must first examine and understand our past. This Juneteenth, our city recommits to reckoning and recognizing our role in the historic fight for racial equity and justice.”
The audio tour takes participants along a 4.5-mile walkable path to witness various parts of Brooklyn’s history, such as the residences of abolitionist Lewis Tappan and Harriet and Thomas Truesdell, and religious spaces, including Plymouth Church, Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, and the Friends Meeting House.
The tour also discusses important local historic figures in the Abolitionist Movement, including…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply