ERA 1: BEFORE EMANCIPATION (1664-1868)

The same year that New Amsterdam becomes New York, the namesake of Rikers takes ownership of the island. While New York has been mythologized as a refuge for those escaping forced servitude, enslavement would not be outlawed in the state until 1827. Free black communities, meanwhile, were kidnapped and sent to southern plantations by prominent government figures like Richard Riker, in exchange for financial incentives from slaveholders. The mid 19th century saw the opening of the city’s first prisons and the establishment of the NYPD. At the onset of the Civil War, Rikers Island would serve as a training ground for black Civil War regiments.