Film: Slavery in New York
On Sunday, June 14 at the Weston Public Library, documentary and news producer Larry Epstein presents his film “The Hidden History of Slavery in New York,” followed by a Q&A session.
The program, sponsored by The Friends of the Weston Public Library, starts at 1:00 and is free and open to the public. Registration is highly recommended.
The documentary, a New York Emmy Award winner, was written and produced by Mr. Epstein and spawned by the curiosity of high school student Richard French IV, who wanted to learn more about New York City’s prominent and largely untold role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Mr. French is featured as a guide through the city’s slavery sites (many unacknowledged formally) and cites statistics about the robust New York economy that depended on the trade of enslaved people.
Also featured is Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy, who explains how the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries was centered not in the South, but in the North, with New Amsterdam at its epicenter and Wall Street as its largest market.
Mr. Epstein has written and reported on education, the environment, health, breaking news, human interest, and municipal government. He also won an Emmy as consulting producer for the documentary “Between Borders.”
1817 image: Creative Commons