316 Kent Avenue at South 3rd Street In the mid–19th century, Brooklyn was a hub for the domestic and international sugar markets. The city’s sugar barons were not slaveholders, but they did prosper from the labor of enslaved people working on plantations in Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Frederick Havemeyer, who founded Havermeyer, Townsend & Co. in 1856, realized the big money was not just in storing sugar but in refining it on site. His company was the largest of an elite group of fifteen or so sugar refineries to operate in Brooklyn. By 1910, the Havemeyer company was renamed Domino Sugar. Plans to convert the former factory into condos are in the works. Walk up Kent to South 1st, make a right and keep moving ahead to Driggs Avenue.

South 1st Street, between Bedford and Driggs Avenues This block, now filled with tenements, empty lots, and industrial buildings, was once residential. James Warner, a hatter, lived at 99 South 1st Street (the door numbers have since changed). As one of Williamsburg’s many active abolitionists, he took great interest in the formation of a new political party called the Liberty Party. Established in 1839, the Liberty Party was committed to the abolitionists’ goals of ending slavery, promoting a free labor market, and opposition to colonization. The party failed to gain a foothold in American politics. Continue down South 1st St. to Roebling Street, and then turn right, walking down Roebling until you are back at South 3rd Street. Our next two stops are across the street from each other, on S. 3rd, between Roebling and Havemeyer Streets.

Old address 164 South 3rd Street, between Roebling and Havemeyer Streets Before construction of these tenements in the late 19th century, this was a block of single–family row houses, including the home of Simeon Jocelyn. He came from a long line of white, New England Congregationalists who were deeply opposed to slavery. Along with Arthur Tappan and William Lloyd Garrison, Jocelyn attended the First Annual Black Convention, held in Philadelphia in 1830, and became committed to fighting for black civil rights. Jocelyn was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and served as pastor of a black Congregational church there before moving to Brooklyn. He lived on this block with his wife and six children and made his living as an engraver. His brother Nathaniel Jocelyn was a famous artist in New England, whose sketches memorialized the African captives of the sensational Amistad trial. Both brothers, along with Lewis Tappan and James Pennington, fundraised for the successful return of the Africans to Sierra Leone. Jocelyn was also the pastor of First Congregational Church, located farther down the street.

Old address 162 South 3rd Street, between Roebling and Havemeyer Streets James McCune Smith lived directly across the street from Simeon Jocelyn. McCune Smith was an African American doctor and an active abolitionist in Manhattan prior to the Civil War. In 1843, he became the “in–house” doctor for the Colored Orphan Asylum, an organization founded in 1835 to support poor families and children. He moved to Brooklyn after the horrific Draft Riots, in which many black New Yorkers were tortured and murdered by angry white mobs. It is a bit of a walk to our next stop. Continuing down South 3rd Street, cross under the BQE and proceed two more blocks to the corner of South 3rd and Hooper Streets. We have two stops right here.

South 3rd and Hooper Streets This corner was the site of Simeon Jocelyn’s First Congregational Church. From his pulpit, Jocelyn preached the gospel of abolition and was an effective behind–the–scenes organizer, whose presence at anti–slavery conventions and committees was critical.

Old address 281 South 3rd Street, just off Hooper Street Williamsburg resident James Hamlet became the first kidnapping victim after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. He was working as a porter in Manhattan when Maryland businessman Gustavas Brown saw him and claimed that he was a runaway from his mother’s home in Maryland. Hamlet, who lived here on 3rd Street with his wife and three children, was arrested and sent to Baltimore. Although Hamlet attempted to tell the authorities that he had been born free, his testimony was not permitted. The anti-slavery community raised the money needed for Hamlet’s release. A week later, he returned home to Brooklyn. Pamphlets telling his story were printed and circulated, and the incident was used as a rallying cry against the Fugitive Slave Law and slavery in general. Walk one block east on South 3rd Street and turn left on Union Street.

270 Union Avenue Brooklyn’s three schools for African American students were led by the black community itself. The school in downtown Brooklyn, which eventually became Colored School No. 1, was founded in 1827. In the 1840s, Colored School No. 2 opened in Weeksville. And the African Free School in Williamsburg, later renamed Colored School No. 3, opened in 1841. Of the three Colored School buildings, this is the only one still standing. The original location was on North 1st Street, between Berry Street and Bedford Avenue. This building was constructed in 1879. It became PS 69 in 1887, and although there were technically no more “Colored Schools,” it remained segregated until the Board of Education closed the school in 1901. The building was used as an annex to other schools until 1934 when the Board of Education relinquished it to the city. The building was used for municipal purposes until it was sold as a private residence. Continue down Union, one more block to South 4th Street, which becomes Meserole Street at that corner. Turn onto Meserole and proceed down a block and a half, between Lorimer and Leonard Streets.

Old address 68 Meserole Street, between Lorimer and Leonard Streets Today, there are modern apartment buildings at this address, but in the mid–19th century, this was the site of the Turn Verein Hall, an important German immigrant community center, gymnasium, and beer hall. Such halls began in Germany as athletic recreation centers, specifically for gymnastics. But in America, they became gathering places, where community members could learn English, gain job skills, and celebrate German culture and heritage. During the Draft Riots of 1863, black people fled to Williamsburg and found shelter at the Turn Verein Hall. The Germans gathered in force, guarded the entrance to the hall, and saved many lives. The Turn Verein Hall later moved to the corner of Gates and Bushwick Avenues, in Bushwick, where part of the building still stands and is now a Spanish–speaking church.

Old address 90 Meserole Street, between Lorimer and Leonard Streets Just a few doors down the block from the Turn Verein Hall stood the residence of Freeman Murrow, an African American inventor. In the early 1850s, he invented and patented an adjustable brush for whitewashing, painting, and varnishing. He experienced significant racism and was unable to market the brush himself. He formed the Brooklyn Brush Manufacturing Company to reflect his own capabilities as a black man. His company sought to “Cultivate, strengthen and employ our inventive genius, as authors and producers, equally with other men.” Walk back to Union Avenue, walking one block south to Montrose Avenue. Turn right along Montrose, taking the right fork (New Montrose Avenue) to Broadway. Turn right on Broadway, and continue eight long blocks to Bedford Avenue, passing the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza, the Williamsburg Savings Bank and Peter Lugar’s. Stop at Bedford Avenue.

Old address 45 4th Street, near Bedford and Broadway Street names and locations in this area were changed as Williamsburg grew, especially when the Williamsburg Bridge was constructed, so it is sometimes hard to pinpoint locations. Lewis H. Nelson moved to Williamsburg in 1853. His Hair Dressing and Shaving Saloon was originally located somewhere near the corner of Bedford Avenue, then 4th Street, and he lived and worked at this location. Nelson also had a long career as an activist and reformer. He helped establish the African School in Williamsburg, and like many other African American activists, protested New York State’s discriminatory voting practices. For our last stop, walk down Bedford Avenue, away from the bridge, for one block, stopping at the corner of Bedford Avenue and South 8th Street.

Old address 80 South 8th Street, today South 8th and Bedford Avenue William and Willis Hodges were born free in Virginia. William left quickly when he was accused of forging free papers for enslaved black people, arriving in Brooklyn in the late 1830s. After considering a farm in Carrsville, the black community next to Weeksville, he decided to buy in Williamsburg, where he purchased several lots and built a brick house on South 8th Street and Bedford Avenue. He and Willis opened a grocery store on the ground floor of his building and helped establish the African School in Williamsburg, which would later become Colored School No. 3. Both brothers were active in advocating for black voting rights in New York and were early supporters of Lincoln’s Republican Party. William and Willis represented a new phase of African American activism—they sought to end slavery directly through political participation.