Pinkster

Indeed, the world of Kings County — modern-day Brooklyn — comes to life through vivid, textured details about the children who coined Ben Daisy’s nickname after the dead woman who broke his heart; Culver’s pharmacy, where the newly escaped congregate in the back room; and Pinkster, an antebellum-era tradition in which the townspeople crown a “King Charles” to tease the children and parade for the elderly.

At its new look store, you can get a facial or a blow dry as well as try on new outfits in posh changing rooms - in which you can choose your own mood lighting - and finish off with a tipple at the Pinkster gin bar.

Pinkster gradually receded into the history books as the Afro-Dutch community lost touch with their colonial traditions.

"The body may have been enslaved but not the creativity or the soul or the spirit, and we need to honor that. Pinkster does that."

Pinkster was brought to the New World by settlers from the Netherlands, its name derived from the Dutch word "Pinksteren," meaning Pentecost, a Christian holiday falling on the seventh Sunday after Easter. Slaves and free colonists with African roots soon fused the holiday with their own traditions, giving Pinkster a distinctive American character.