5 Aim hioh Stand tall Be strono and do These ideals were sown in the soul of young Maritcha Rémond Lyons a child of New York City's striving class of blacks in the mid 1800s These people had ambitions for their offspring took ventures made sacrifices much after the fashion of other Americans Maritcha remembered Not all of them commonly called colored at the time had suffered enslavement Slavery never as thick in the North as in the South had ended in New York State in 1827 Above This photograph of Maritcha was taken around 1860
6 Maritcha's first home was in Five Points so called because of a five cornered intersection of three streets in the neighborhood Anthony now Worth Street Cross now Park Street and Orange now Baxter Street Maritcha was born some twenty years later on May 28 1848 At the time the black community was tiny less than three percent of New York City's roughly half million residents New York City was tiny too just Manhattan But even back then it was a hustle bustle high strung place of extremes shack and rags poverty amid colossal wealth virulent vice gambling drunken ness brawls alongside virtuous living
7 Like many black New Yorkers Maritcha lived in lower Manhattan Her first home was at 144 Centre Street in the mostly black and Irish neighborhood of Five Points a crime ridden slum by the time Maritcha was born She was not her parents first or only child There was a girl born in 1843 who died before age three Then a year before Maritcha came Therese When Maritcha was two she got a little sister Pauline and a few years later a little brother Albro Jr By the time Maritcha was about eight the Lyons family was living in and running a boardinghouse that catered to sailors at 20 Vandewater Street a large brick house about four blocks from the East River If Maritcha kept a diary it has yet to surface One can only wonder about her day to day activities and spats with sisters Therese and Pauline There is no indication that the Lyons family had servants so it is likely that Maritcha was helping with housekeep ing by the time she was six or seven Her chores may have included sweeping floors featherdusting furniture washing washing clothes on a washboard in a tin The logo of the boardinghouse on Pearl Street catering to black sailors established by the ship smith and abolitionist William Powell Before Maritcha was born her father became Powell's partner When Maritcha was about one her father bought out Powell and the Lyons family moved to 330 Pearl Street The Lyons home and boarding house moved to 64 Oliver Street in 1853 then to 20 Vandewater Street in 1856
