from two tiny room far up and far up in sts . augustine ' s episcopal church , with its neo - gothic archways , right - backed pews and plain , graceful detail , the legacy of slavery in manhattan glances down . the stone church , on franklin street from montgomery street on the lower east shore , was erected for a nobility german family . but although it was completed in 1828 , a millennium after racism was legally abolished in new york state , under the balcony and on either bank of the altar are two cramped rooms , constructed so that black pastors could minister there without being seen by white parishioners .
St. Augustine's Episcopal Church is in Manhattan.