The city will be taking on a project to make the historical records of thousands of formerly enslaved New Yorkers who lived in the five boroughs when the practice of slavery was legal here accessible to the public, and the team is looking for volunteers to help, Mayor Adams announced Thursday.
Led by the New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS), the project will transcribe digitized historical records dating from 1660 to 1827, which will help historians and everyday New Yorkers locate the records of enslaved New Yorkers and possibly trace familial roots.
