Voices from The Green: African American Activism in 19th Century Jamaica, Queens

FAIN: ZDH-283307-22

King Manor Museum (Jamaica, NY 11432-6141)
Kelsey Brow (Project Director: May 2021 to October 2021)
Michael Colon (Project Director: October 2021 to January 2026)
Michael Colon (Co Project Director: August 2021 to October 2021)

Creating a virtual exhibition and walking tour following the life of Wilson Rantous in The Green of Jamaica, Queens, NY, the retention of two full-time employees, and the creation and hiring of a temporary graduate student researcher position.

The King Manor Association of Long Island (KM) requests support for Voices from The Green: African American Activism in 19th Century Jamaica, Queens, a virtual exhibition and self-guided digital walking tour. The walking tour follows the life and times of Wilson Rantous, a free Black man, born in 1807 who became a property owner in a free black community called the Green in Jamaica, Queens, NY and an early civil rights advocate. The virtual exhibition expands upon the content of the tour, telling the stories of other people who lived in the Green. Through a biographical exploration of this community’s history, this online exhibit and walking tour seeks to re-center the voices of people of color into the museums’ narrative. Collectively, these stores also uncover a long history of activism among the African American community in Jamaica, an underserved community that has many community organizations working still today to combat centuries of inequity and lack of access to resources.