Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn) | New York, NY

 

For decades, Bedford-Stuyvesant, along with Harlem, has been one of the cultural centers of New York’s African American population. Following the construction of the A line subway between Harlem and Bedford in the 1930s, African Americans left an overcrowded Harlem for more housing availability in Bedford-Stuyvesant. From there, African Americans eventually moved into the surrounding areas of Brooklyn, such as East New York, Crown Heights, Brownsville and Fort Greene. After experiencing difficult times (economically and socially) for much of the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, the neighborhood, commonly referred to “Bed-Stuy” by most New Yorkers, began an over decade long upswing in the mid-1990’s that continues to the present day, fueled by affordable housing stock, especially the many blocks of handsome brownstone rowhouses, and a steady decline in crime and improved public safety.

Interesting trivia about Bedford-Stuyvesant:

• Originally formed by the merger of two communities: Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights
• Filming location for “Do the Right Thing” (1989) and “Dave Chapelle’s Block Party” (2005)
• Well-known residents have included: Shirley Chishom, first black woman elected to Congress; Jackie Robinson, baseball great; Randy Weston, jazz pianist; Eubie Blake, musician; and Floyd Patterson, world heavy weight champion boxer.
• Home to one of the oldest free black communities in the U.S. , Weeksville, founded by African American freedmen in 1838.

Recommended websites to learn more about Bed-Stuy and the rest of Brooklyn, New York.

• VisitBrooklyn.org: the official website of the Brooklyn Tourism and Visitor’s Center
• Heart of Brooklyn: a informational site for the leading cultural institutions located near Grand Army Plaza in central Brooklyn: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Prospect Park, and Prospect Park Zoo
• Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation: the nation’s first community development corporation, partners with residents and business to improve the quality of life of Central Brooklyn by fostering economic self sufficiency, enhancing family stability and growth, promoting the arts and culture and transforming the neighborhood into a safe, vibrant place to live, work and visit.
• Bed-Stuy Banana: According from an author that describes herself as a yellow girl raised in a white suburb shacked up with a white boy and had a tan kid in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a primarily black neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York. Here’s a look at the few blocks that comprise our world and a little bit beyond.
• Weeksville Heritage Center: community/neigbhorhood preservation organization dedicated to preserving the historic Hunterfly Road Houses, the last surviving residence of 19th century Weeksville, one of the nation’s earliest free African American communities.

Photo: Brownstones in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, courtesy of Bed-Stuy Gateway