HISTORY REVEALED: 3-PART LECTURE SERIES
WEDNESDAYS IN SEPTEMBER 2026
History Revealed: A New York Slave Descendant's Review is a three-Part lecture series
created by Lisa Burriss, founder of Black Footprints NYC.
Through original archival research and descendant-centered storytelling, these presentations revisit New York's colonial past to examine histories that have often been overlooked, simplified, or omitted from traditional narratives. Each lecture invites audiences to engage directly with historical records while considering how these events continue to shape the present.
Donation Options: $35 per Lecture/ $60 two Lectures/$75 All three Lectures
Early Bird: $60 all three (until 8/30)
Members: $60 all three until (9/16)
A NY Slave Descendant's Examination of Dutch Slavery in NY
Sept. 16 2026
Lecture I
The Forgotten Slave Shipwreck: The Saint Jan (1659)
What happens when a slave ship sinks before reaching New Amsterdam?
Using Dutch records, shipping manifests, and eyewitness accounts, this lecture follows the tragic voyage of the Saint Jan, where enslaved African men, women, and children died daily from starvation, disease, and neglect before the shipwreck itself. Together we will examine the documented human cost of New York's early slave trade and explore why this story has remained largely absent from public memory.
Topics include:
- The voyage of the Saint Jan
- Dutch slave shipping into New Amsterdam
- The Bill of Lading and recorded deaths aboard the ship
- Insurance, profit, and the economics of human trafficking
- Why this history still matters today
Sept. 23, 2026
Lecture II
Breeding Slavery The Dutch Human-Breeding Farms of NY
Long before the United States existed, New York had already become part of a system that treated human beings as inherited property.
This lecture examines how reproduction became part of the economics of slavery under Dutch rule and how legal systems transformed families into financial assets. Through original records and descendant-centered interpretation, we'll explore a history rarely discussed in classrooms or public history.
Topics include:
- Enslaved families in New Amsterdam
- Laws governing inherited enslavement
- Birth, labor, and the economics of slavery
- Early Black communities in New York
- The lasting impact on American society
SEPT. 30, 2026
Lecture III
Historian Cover-Up: A Rape Crime in Manhattan (1654)
History often remembers laws—but rarely asks who was silenced.
This lecture explores a documented case from Dutch Manhattan involving sexual violence against an enslaved Black woman and examines how legal systems protected power rather than justice. Through surviving records, we'll consider how this early case reveals broader patterns of race, gender, and accountability that echo through American history.
Topics include:
- Dutch legal records
- Sexual violence under slavery
- Justice denied in colonial New York
- Historical silence and public memory
- Why descendant perspectives matter
VIRTUAL LECTURES
September - October 2026 Dates
A Tale of Two Deborahs in Black & White - Untold Stories of Women Fighting in the Revolutionary War in NY
written and created by Lisa Burriss
What happens when two women share the same name, live through the same war, and make very different choices in pursuit of freedom?
As America marks the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, join Black Footprints NYC for The Tale of Two Deborahs: In Black & White, a compelling journey through Revolutionary New York. By following the lives of Deborah Sampson and Deborah Squash, we'll explore how freedom, identity, and survival meant different things depending on who you were.
More than a lecture about the Revolutionary War, this presentation invites you to see familiar history through a different lens—one that asks not only what happened, but who had the power to choose.
Also offered as a Walking Tour!