Inside Out Tours Unspools Lower Manhattan’s Untold Stories 

For Black History Month, we’re profiling Black-owned businesses in the neighborhood. Find the whole series here. 

It’s a cold, gray morning, and a bundled-up group is outside Bowling Green Park. The group is part of an Inside Out Tours excursion, and its members have journeyed enormous distances to Lower Manhattan from places like Brazil, Sweden and India. This particular tour focuses on the history of the American financial system — the booms and the busts, who came out rich and who fell victim to greed along the way. 

When thinking of Wall Street, it can be tempting to first think about the movies that glamorize a high-flying lifestyle. But this tour is an honest look, discussing the historical links between Wall Street and American slavery and diving into the ripple effects the financial system’s past has had on everyday people.

“What makes Inside Out Tours special is that it is a company with a social mission,” guide Jess Velona, a former enforcement attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), told the Downtown Alliance.

The award-winning tour company, which serves about 30,000 customers each year, was founded by Stacey Toussaint, who also serves as its managing director. Its ethos is all Toussaint’s vision. 

“Many of the stories we tell are stories of tenacity, resilience, ethics and creativity in difficult circumstances,” Toussaint said. “We talk about the people who stood up for the right thing during difficult times in history.” 

“Our hope is that these stories will inspire people to look at their own lives and think about how they can be impactful in a positive way,” she added. 

Inside Out Tours offers a wide range of experiences, including walking tours that educate about the origins of slavery in colonial New York, tell the stories of immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island and explore Harlem and its relationship to gospel music. In addition, the company offers private and virtual tours. Inside Out Tours is also “the first tour company in New York State to be launching scheduled tours for people with disabilities,” Toussaint said. 

Toussaint, a native New Yorker, spent a decade practicing law before she founded the company in 2009. She has always been passionate about travel, history and learning about other cultures, and she wanted to share her hometown’s untold stories to a wider audience. One of Inside Out’s earliest tours, for instance, focused on Emily Roebling, an oft-overlooked historical figure who oversaw the Brooklyn Bridge’s construction and was the first person to cross it. 

Tour participants often tell Toussaint how surprised they are by the history they’ve learned on her tours. The experience moves many, she says. 

“I’ve literally had people say to me that [the tour] has been life-changing,” Toussaint said. 

There’s plenty for New Yorkers to take away from the experience, too. During a recent tour of Wall Street, Velona discussed Broad Street’s origins as a canal. A man ordering his lunch at a food cart overheard and spun around. 

“I’ve been working down here for 30 years,” he called out, “and I never knew that!” 

You can book one of Inside Out Tours’ downtown offerings on the company’s website. 

main photo: Stacey Toussaint leading the NYC Slavery & the Underground Railroad Walking Tour, courtesy Inside Out Tours.