The DeGrasse Family of New York City

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Friday, March 27, 2026 | 6pm to 7:30pm

25 West 43rd Street, Suite 1000
between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan

Prof. Prithi Kanakamedala will present on their project examining the life of George DeGrasse and his family, who lived on land in New York City donated by Aaron Burr in the early nineteenth century. DeGrasse, listed as being born in Calcutta, India, and often claiming to be Burr’s former servant, becomes the focus of a reevaluation in light of new research suggesting Burr may have had a secret Black and Indian family in the Caribbean. This work explores the possibility that the DeGrasse family represents an early Indo-Caribbean presence in New York, and will culminate in a digital site and book chapter as part of a broader book project.

Project funded by the 2025 CUNY Faculty Research Support Program

Author Bio

Prithi Kanakamedala is a Professor of History at Bronx Community College/CUNY, and a faculty member in the M.A. in Liberal Studies Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. An active public historian here in the city, Prithi works with a range of cultural organizations. Her research looks at community-building, race, and citizenship in Brooklyn and New York’s 19th-century free Black communities. She is the author of Brooklynites: the Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities that Shaped a Borough (NYU Press, 2024).