Current Projects

In Pursuit of Freedom

Partners

Weeksville Heritage Center and the Irondale Ensemble Project

Project Description

Brooklyn Historical Society, in partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center and Irondale Ensemble Project, is creating In Pursuit of Freedom, a multifaceted public history initiative that will include a website, three exhibitions, historic markers, walking tours, an original theatre piece, scholarly symposia, education curricula, and a commemorative public art work. Through these components, the project will engage metropolitan and national audiences by tracing the history of abolitionism and anti-slavery activism in Brooklyn, providing new resources for preserving, interpreting and advancing public understanding of this dramatic and significant chapter in American history.

Consulting Historians

Manisha Sinha, Associate Professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst serves as lead historian on a scholarly advisory board that includes: David W. Blight, Class of 1954 Professor of American History, Yale University; Cynthia R. Copeland, educator and public historian; Bret Eynon, Assistant Dean for Teaching and Learning, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY; Graham Hodges, George Dorland Langdon Jr. Professor of History and Africana & Latin American Studies, Colgate University; James Oliver Horton, Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies & History Emeritus, George Washington University and Historian Emeritus, National Museum of American History;  Lois Horton, Professor of History Emerita, George Mason University; Gunja SenGupta, Professor of History, Brooklyn College, CUNY; Clarence Taylor, Professor of History and Black & Hispanic Studies, Baruch College, CUNY; Mike Wallace, Distinguished Professor of History, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY; Judith Wellman, Professor Emerita of History, SUNY Oswego; Craig Steven Wilder, Professor of History, MIT; and Shane White, Challis Professor of American History, University of Sydney, Australia

Funders

City of New York City in 2008, through an RFP that was initiated by the Downtown Brooklyn Development Corporation that will be administered by the Economic Development Corporation.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education; Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural (URR)

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

Nathan Cummings Foundation

National Grid Foundation

Con Edison

The Bay and Paul Foundation

New York Community Trust

Verizon Foundation

New York City Council Members: Bill de Blasio; Letitia James; Vincent Gentile; Stephen Levin; Domenic Recchia; Albert Vann; and David Yassky.

New York State Senators: Kevin Parker; Martin Malavé Dilan; and Daniel Squadron

New York State Assembly Members: James Brennan; Karim Camara; Steven Cymbrowitz; Rhoda Jacobs; Hakeem Jeffries; Joseph Lentol; Alan Maisel; Joan Millman; Annette Robinson; and Darryl Towns

Project Staff

Project Manager, Barbara R. Steele
Project Archivist, Larry Weimer
Project Historian, Prithi Kanakamedala

Project Contact:

Project Manager, Barbara R. Steele

bsteele@brooklynhistory.org

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