DRAFT The new nation was built on the labor of enslaved people, and slavery was protected by the US Constitution until 1865. The struggle for freedom was inseparable from the struggle for civil rights, as enslaved people and their allies fought for emancipation and equal recognition as citizens. From the beginning, there were also those who resisted this fight for justice.  
  
Enslaved people fought for their own liberation, and early abolitionists challenged the system. While New York was once the largest slaveholding state in the North, it later became a center of antislavery activism and civil rights reform. After slavery was abolished locally in 1827, many New Yorkers helped lead the national abolition movement—culminating in the 13th Amendment of 1865.  
 
After emancipation, activists shifted their focus to securing civil rights for African Americans. New Yorkers led efforts in their own communities and on the national stage. That work continues today, as generations strive to fulfill the founding ideals of liberty and equality for all.