When the Dutch arrived to what is now present-day New York they had already experience the colonization of other colonies. The first African brought to the colony came only a few years after the Dutch West Indian Company settled in New Amsterdam. The work that they had to fulfill at the beginning was maintaining the fort, unloading the ships and other types of maintenance work for the company. The usually had criminal working with them as punishment for their mistakes. This helps to have an understanding of how harsh and cruel their working experience may have been.   Many of these slaves were freed by their owner and became landowners themselves. Most of these slaves were taken from the Portuguese during the voyage from Angola to Africa and since the Portuguese had established the plantation system in Angola from quite some time, they (the Africans) were already Catholics. After being freed these slaves were given a piece of land and but still were require to pay some retributions and fees to their previous owners.
Thornton, John K. "Blacks in New Amsterdam." Footsteps Jan.-Feb. 2006: 8+. General OneFile. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.
Swan, Robert J. “The Other Fort Amsterdam: New Light on Aspects of Slavery in New Netherland.”Afro-Americans in New York Life and History 22, no.2 (July 1998):1-19.