Abolitionist Place is located in Downtown Brooklyn on Duffield Street between Fulton Mall and MetroTech. Duffield Street contains seven buildings that are said to have been associated with the Underground Railroad. It was renamed Abolitionist Place in September of 2007 in honor of those who took a stand against slavery. Luckily, Joy Chatel, the owner of 227 Duffield, is adamant about preserving this Civil Rights landmark.
227 Duffield Street was once home to abolitionists Thomas Truesdell and Harriet-Lee Truesdell. Thomas Truesdell worked for William Lloyd Garrison, an American reformer who published the first abolitionist newspaper. Harriet-Lee Truesdell worked as an officer in a woman's antislavery society. Their home and other homes on the block are believed to have been stops on the Underground Railroad (a network of supporters and safe houses throughout the North that helped many slaves flee the South before and during the Civil War.)
Former tenants of the home have reported findings of old stoves and iron cauldrons there, leading the current tenants to believe that the sub-basements of these houses served as feeding stations for escaped slaves passing through Brooklyn.
The area around Duffield Street is also rich in history. Polytechnic University's student center is located two blocks from Duffield Street. In 1860, the center was the Bridge Street African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn's first African-American church, as well as an abolitionist site. Then, just ten minutes from Duffield Street, Plymouth Church can be found. Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass all attended this church. It is well known for its connection to the Underground Railroad. In fact, the tunnels beneath the homes on Duffield Street were believed to have led to this church.