On February 11, 1644, eleven Black men in the Dutch colony of New Netherland (present-day New York) submitted a petition for their freedom, marking the first recorded legal protest by Black people in America. They had served the Dutch West India Company for 17–18 years and were promised freedom on the same terms as other servants. In response, the Council of New Netherland granted conditional freedom to the petitioners and their wives, though their children remained enslaved.
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