The New York Manumission Society was founded in 1785 to promote the abolition of slavery in the state, and in 1787, the Society established the African Free School in New York City, an institution dedicated to educating Black children and preparing them for freedom. When Mary Emiston embroidered her sampler at the school in 1803, however, slavery was still very much a reality of life in New York, as the state was among the last in the North to make provisions for ending the practice. The Gradual Emancipation Law of 1799 granted freedom to children born on or after July 4, 1799, but they remained indentured to their mother’s owners until adulthood—age 28 for males and 25 for females. An 1817 amendment abolished slavery for the majority of New York residents on July 4, 1827. By the time the African Free School was absorbed into the New York public school system in 1835, it had educated thousands of Black children in reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. Boys were also taught astronomy, a necessary skill for seamen, and girls were trained in domestic skills such as sewing. At the time of Emiston’s enrollment, the school was located at 65 Cliff Street, and the sewing instructor was Miss Abigail Nicholls. Needlework by Black schoolgirls is rare. The majority of such samplers were created in Baltimore schools run by the Oblate Sisters, an order of Roman Catholic women of African descent. Apart from the Baltimore examples, only a handful of other samplers have been identified that are known to have been made by Black students. Emiston’s sampler, with its hopeful message of freedom, precedes the other known works by over 25 years and represents the earliest of these rare examples of Black schoolgirl needlework.