Address [New York African Society for Mutual Relief]

Walter N. Beekman. Brooklyn: New York African Society for Mutual Relief Inc., 1946. 5 ½ x 8 ¼ in. Offset. Saddle stapled in wraps. 16 pp.

Transcript of a speech by the vice president of one of the first Black mutual aid organizations in the United States, and one of the final publications produced by the organization before its dissolution in the late 1940s. The New York African Society for Mutual Relief, formally founded in 1808, was one of the earliest Black mutual aid societies in the country, and the first in New York City. Dues allowed the creation of a social safety net for Black people in the city, most remarkably supplying health and life insurance at a time when insurance companies would not provide coverage to Black people.

After a generous donation from Juliet Toussaint, a former enslaved person from Haiti, the organization purchased a building at 42 Baxter Street (then Orange Street). The African Hall for Mutual Relief served as a meeting place, school, and a stop on the Underground Railroad - and was unfortunately a subject of white ire during the anti-abolition riots of 1834.

The speech reproduced in this pamphlet was given at the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library by the Vice President of the Society, providing a history of the organization and its place in New York City life, not long before its dissolution and at a moment of exuberance in the city - just months after the end of World War II.

Very good. Three copies located in OCLC as of April 2022. A scarce document of early mutual aid efforts in New York.