Husbands and wives were often sold away from each other or enslaved by different people. Children were separated from their parents to begin work as young as six years old. In addition, family separation was common. Even extremely wealthy manor lords like the Philipses enslaved about a hundred people, many of them divided up over several properties.

Wealthy households may have enslaved up to a dozen or more. Tenant farmers and small farms usually enslaved only one or a few people. Unlike on Southern plantations, enslaved people in the North often lived in relative isolation from other African people. These same areas also had significant populations of enslaved Africans from the 1600s until emancipation in New York in 1827. Pinkster celebrations flourished in the areas of heaviest Dutch settlement: the Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey, and western Long Island. Despite its Dutch origins, by the early 1800s, Pinkster was considered a largely African-American holiday. In the Dutch New Netherland colony, especially in New York and New Jersey, enslaved Africans combined the Christian traditions of Pentecost with elements of African celebrations to create the unique festival known as Pinkster. 'The Dancing Couple,' by Jan Steen, 1663.

Forge of empires lords manor