Yankee Slavery Capital: New York City

     An excellent article in the New York Times tells the story of the black community of Seneca, destroyed to make way for part of Central Park.
     And:

"New York City in the late 18th century was an epicenter of the slave trade, holding more Africans in chains than any other city in the country, with the possible exception of Charleston, S.C."

     Least the article give some kind of sordid comfort to white residents of the Deep South, let us remember, as the State of Alabama and the City of Montgomery mark their 200th Anniversaries:

As of (Alabama) statehood in 1819, slaves accounted for more than 30 percent of Alabama's approximately 128,000 inhabitants. The slave population more than doubled during the 1820s and again during the 1830s. When Alabama seceded from the Union in 1861, the state's 435,080 slaves made up 45 percent of the total population. The largest numbers of slaves were held in bondage in counties located in either the Tennessee River Valley or the Black Belt region. Slavery, however, existed in every county.

SOURCE: The Encyclopedia of Alabama

HERE: Should you be in NYC And want to learn more about Seneca Village.