Slavery and Resistance in NYC – Walking Tour

Overview

Slavery and Resistance in NYC is a digital public history project developed in collaboration with renowned abolitionist and public historian Mariame Kaba. The project aims to make Mariame's in-person walking tour — highlighting sites of Black resistance and the legacy of slavery in New York City — accessible to a broader audience, including individuals outside of NYC, people unable to attend the limited live tours, and educators seeking to teach this history in classrooms.

My Role

• Initiated the project by reaching out to Mariame Kaba to propose a digital expansion of her walking tour.
• Led the project team, hiring and managing student interns to support research, design, and technical development.
• Trained interns in Mapbox Studio, MapboxGL JS, and scrollytelling techniques using HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
• Designed and coordinated two platform versions:
  • A dynamic scrollytelling map experience for deep, narrative-driven engagement.
  • A simpler Story map version for accessibility in classrooms, older audiences, and settings with limited tech infrastructure.
• Integrated historical content provided by Mariame Kaba with additional student research to enhance storytelling and context.
• Led UX and visual styling decisions to ensure the platform remained clear, respectful, and accessible.

My Approach

Building the digital walking tour was grounded in accessibility, historical accuracy, and community engagement:

• Two Platform Options: Developed both a dynamic and a static version to meet a range of audience needs, from individual learners to classrooms.
• Collaborative Development: Worked closely with Mariame Kaba to ensure the tour's political and historical framing remained authentic, while also empowering interns to contribute additional research and design ideas.
• Community-Centered UX: Prioritized legibility, and ease of navigation to ensure accessibility for all users.
• Mentorship and Capacity Building: Focused on student leadership development by providing hands-on technical training in digital mapping and web development.

Data Sources

• Primary historical narrative and site list provided by Mariame Kaba.
• Supplemental research conducted by student interns using academic archives and public historical resources.

Tools and Technologies

Impact

• Successfully launched and shared the platform at a public event with Mariame Kaba.
• Presented the project at the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) conference, where it received strong positive feedback from educators, professors, and community organizers.
• Provided a model for accessible, digital public history tools that can be adapted for other civic storytelling efforts.
• Helped expand the reach of Black abolitionist history beyond traditional academic and geographic boundaries.