Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division

In 1762 Samuel Fraunces, a native of the French West Indies also known as "Black Sam,"established Fraunces Tavern at Broad and Pearl Streets in Lower Manhattan. Still at that location and today a historic landmark, the tavern was the site where, in 1768, the New York Chamber of Commerce was organized and where General George Washington dined during the Revolutionary years. Samuel Fraunces oversaw the dinner Washington gave for his officers in 1783, after he had successfully led the colonists' struggle for independence. Fraunces was highly regarded by New York's elite, and its members frequently patronized his inn.