How a Former Slave Became the Rockefeller of New York City’s Oyster Restaurants - The Tablet

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How a Former Slave Became the Rockefeller of New York City’s Oyster Restaurants - The Tablet

New York City had a booming oyster industry, as shown by this scene on Fulton Street in Manhattan. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) JAMAICA — Some biologists estimate that by the mid-1700s, New York Harbor held one-half of Earth’s oysters — a rich environment for one man to build a fortune as New York City’s “Oyster King.” Thomas Downing — a freeman born to formerly enslaved people in Virginia — became one of the city’s wealthiest citizens as the prop…