#weeksville

[cartermagazine]

Weeksville, Brooklyn. Brooklyn is home to many monumental neighborhoods, but few come close to the history and culturally rich Weeksville. Originating in the mid-1800s sat a small African American village named Weeksville, formed during the post-abolition era. At that time, Weeksville and the surrounding Brooklyn area had one of the country’s densest rates of enslaved people. Brooklyn continued to develop, resulting in Weeksville’s absorption of the Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights neighborhoods. Despite the merger, echoes of Weeksville’s past still exist. Weeksville earned its name from a freed African American dock worker named James Weeks, who purchased a plot of land in the community following abolition in the state. As word spread that African Americans like Weeks were making a living in New York, more would head to the area for the same opportunity as long-standing families continued to sell off their land in the Brooklyn area. In the 1850s, the population boomed to over 500 residents, nearly half of the residents were originally born in the South. All with different stories and backgrounds, the occupations of these settlers included educators, health care professionals, and entrepreneurs. As time went on, the Weeks village would go on to operate a “colored” school, cemetery, senior home, and multiple churches. Not to mention, the village was amongst the highest rates for ownership of property and business among an African American settlement. Weeksville quickly became a safe haven for African Americans throughout New York. The community has changed over the years, but the history of Weeksville remains one of the most influential neighborhoods in New York State, particularly for African Americans. CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #historyandhiphop365 #cartermagazine #carter #staywoke #weeksville #brooklyn #crownheights #bedstuy #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #history https://www.instagram.com/p/Co9tQ9eLVR4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[8-rock]

During the early months of the pandemic, I got interested in animating some of my drawings and collages. Its a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun, and I’m always learning and experimenting with different platforms and techniques. I’ve previously posted the three drawings in this post. They’re the beginning of a series of 26 animations of Black women living in an imaginary building in Brooklyn. (I’ll post more on that later.) Working in series gives me the time to develop my skills and to explore a little world building, in the process. All 26 of the animations are complete, and I’ll be posting them in sequence, as I add sound to each. #Weeksville https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm0cGAZri4g/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[brooklyndadshow]

A trip to Weeksville

Sticking to my habit to do one museum a weekend, I went to Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn today. To be more specific I biked there in the freezing cold with a friend - something life affirming about biking in cold weather. I'm in very mediocre shape so biking the 8 plus miles was not a small feat and the wind was not kind to my finger tips - but without pedal assist I travelled accross Brooklyn to enrich my mind and learn a little history. I find learning about history to be a calming activity in the midst of what feels like the country and world in a state of upheaval. (My favorite History Podcast) So often we hear that things are unprecendented when that's just patently false - humans have been kind and cruel for as long as we've been around - Americans have doubted science and vaccines, been cruel to immigrants, supported colonist/imperialist wars overseas before. Do we learn from our history? A lot of times it seems we don't - but whenever you dive into history you learn there have always been people fighting the good fight. The black land owners of Weeksville sold land to other black land owners so that they could have a vote in politics - and keep abolition a voting issue by making sure that people elected knew abolition was a voting issue. This was a time when black men could vote in New York, but only if they had a certain amount of wealth - so the self determination of Weeksville for the time it was a community was a force for change - ahead of its time in many ways. They had integrated schools in a state and country that has long resisted integration well before Brown vs Board of Education - or our current anti-DEI Affirmative Action wave. Looking back can give us strength. Today's warriors for abolition, human rights, saving our planet - you are not alone and even when things seem bleak remember at every point in history we have always pushed progress and despite set backs have pushed the human race to a place that is more empathetic, more kind to every human being - we have never been extinguished and we never will. History shows us that strength and will of our communities. Let it give you and me the strength to get up another day and push forward.

[dispactke]

More Juneteenth Food Festival at the Weeksville Center in Brooklyn...

[ptseti]

Explore the history of the free Black community of #Weeksville, settled nearly 200 years ago in Brooklyn.

This weekend is your last chance to visit New-York Historical’s installation “Women Preserving New York”—closing on Sunday, July 14, 2024.

[lonestarbattleship]

"USS BROOKLYN (CL-40) underway. Photographed from an aircraft based in Naval Air Station Weeksville, North Carolina."

Date: May 15, 1943

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command: 80-G-68106

[judgemark45]

(6/8/1943) USS James O'Hara (APA-90)

Photographed by a ZP-14 Blimp from NAS Weeksville, National Archives Image

[reasoningdaily]

The operator of the venerable Bronx Zoo, one of the world's most famous wildlife parks, has apologized for two "unconscionable" racist episodes in its past, including placing an African man on display in a monkey house in 1906.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the Bronx Zoo in addition to three other zoos and an aquarium in New York City, said in a statement this week that in the "name of equality, transparency, and accountability, we must confront our organization's historic role in promoting racial injustice."

"His name was Ota Benga," the statement said. Bronx Zoo officials "put Ota Benga on display in the zoo’s Monkey House for several days during the week of September 8, 1906 before outrage from local Black ministers quickly brought the disgraceful incident to an end."

One of those ministers, the Rev. James Gordon, "arranged for Ota Benga to stay at an orphanage he directed in Weeksville, Brooklyn," the statement said. "Robbed of his humanity and unable to return home," Ota Benga died by suicide a decade later.

Harvey Blume, who co-authored the 1992 book "Ota Benga: The Pygmy At The Zoo," said the zoo's apology is too little and too late.

"And to whom was this apology? It's a little late for Ota," Blume told NBC News on Friday.

All known records about Ota Benga at the wildlife society are now being made available online as part of an effort to "publicly acknowledge the mistakes of our past," the Wildlife Conservation Society's statement said.

The organization, founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society, also denounced the "eugenics-based, pseudoscientific racism, writings, and philosophies" advanced by two of its founders, Madison Grant and Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr.

Grant penned an infamous eugenics book, “The Passing of the Great Race,” with a preface by Osborn.

The book was submitted as a defense exhibit for Nazi doctor Karl Brandt, a director of the Third Reich's "euthanasia" program, and other defendants in the Nuremberg trials.

Brandt, who was also Adolf Hitler's personal physician, was convicted by the war crimes tribunal in 1947 and put to death in 1948.

"Back in that day, science and anthropology were based on explicitly racist principles," Blume said. "That there was a hierarchy of races, culminating with the white race on top, looking down."

The role once-respected scholars played in propping up debunked scientific theories to justify white supremacy has been overlooked for far too long, according to the author.

"Madison Grant was one of Hitler's favorite authors," said Blume, who co-authored "Ota Benga: The Pygmy At The Zoo" with the late Phillips Verner Bradford, grandson of the man who purchased Ota Benga in Africa and brought him to America.

"These were not Nazis, but in some ways they were too."

The wildlife society said in its statement, which was first reported by The New York Times, that it is obligated to confront these episodes.

"We deeply regret that many people and generations have been hurt by these actions or by our failure previously to publicly condemn and denounce them," the statement said.

"We recognize that overt and systemic racism persists, and our institution must play a greater role to confront it. As the United States addresses its legacy of anti-Black racism and the brutal killings that have led to mass protests around the world, we reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that social, racial, and environmental justice are deep-rooted in our conservation mission."

The organization also announced it was hiring a diversity officer to help "ensure diverse pools of candidates for recruitment, promotion, and succession planning, including our board and leadership."

"Today we challenge ourselves to do better and to never look away whenever and wherever injustice occurs," the statement said.

[madamlaydebug]

The Hunterfly Road Houses of Weeksville are the discovered remnants of a free African-American enclave of urban tradespeople and property owners. The community provided safety for fugitive slaves and those later fleeing the Civil War draft riots of lower Manhattan. By the time of the Emancipation Proclamation, Weeksville was a thriving area with its own doctors, teachers, publishers, and social services.The Houses help fill a historical gap between slavery and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The Weeksville staff clearly promote the idea of a successful African-American project that can be remembered with pride.The discussion of Weeksville’s place within an always changing, mostly African-American neighborhood might forget the fact that it is, for everyone, a fascinating piece of American history with an equally amazing story of that history’s rediscovery.–bijan rezvani, producer

[airmanisr]

54605, Douglas SBD-6 Dauntless, NASM Silver Hill, Maryland, 09-08-1974 by Gordon Riley Via Flickr: Bureau Number 54605, was the sixth SBD-6 model produced. It was accepted by the U.S. Navy on March 30, 1944, and delivered a week later on April 7. It spent its entire operational career at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. From August to September 1944 it was used for tactical tests. From October 1944 to April 1948 it was used for flight tests. In May 1948 it was put in storage at NAS Weeksville, North Carolina. Stricken from Navy service June 30, 1948, it was earmarked for the national collection. This was perhaps the last SBD to serve with the U.S. Navy. Dauntless 54605 was accessioned by the Smithsonian in 1961 and restored in 1975.

[afam24]

A few African American Achievements

Towns started by African Americans.

Some still exist, but many lost population, and a few were destroyed.

.Greenwood, OK ("Black Wall Street")

.Twenty seven more towns in Oklahoma like Boley and Langston

.Nicodemus, KS

.Idlewild, MI ( resort place)

.Princeville, NC

.Hobson City’

.Weeksville, (Brooklyn, NY neighborhood circa 1835-)

.MOUND BAYOU, MS

.N. Brentwood, MD and at least 4 more like it in the DC/ Maryland area

.Eatonville, FL

.Rosewood, FL

.Glenarden, MD

...and more.

see Google images for old pictures, or Ytb

Detroit's black bottom.

Note: older black Detroiters (probably 75 and above) remember a more safe community

link

In the 1940s there was less than 13% single parent homes in the black community

Early 1970s, 24% according to Brooking Institute graphs. From the vantage point back then, that looked bad

In 2017 it is said to be 72% single parent homes in the black community

In the 1920s, there were 20% or so black population in the US prison system and 75% white. It almost reflected the outside population. This was a time when racism was blatant and blk men were jailed for something as simple as alleged vagrancy violations, part of the "Black Codes", yet still made up less of prison population. African Americans are said to constitute nearly 50% of the prison population today

A few charts

https://plus.google.com/113397656295474138470/posts/3DNqZwdJPhg

From Wikipedia on Greenwood, OK (Black Wall Street), about the 2 black men that started the extensive building in the community

...In 1906, Gurley moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he purchased 40 acres of land which was "only to be sold to colored".[8] Black ownership was unheard of at that time....

...Among Gurley's first businesses was a rooming house which was located on a dusty trail near the railroad tracks. This road was given the name Greenwood Avenue, named for a city in Mississippi. The area became very popular among black migrants fleeing the oppression in Mississippi. They would find refuge in Gurley's building, as the racial persecution from the south was non-existent on Greenwood Avenue...

In addition to his rooming house, Gurley built three two-story buildings and five residences and bought an 80-acre (32 ha) farm in Rogers County. Gurley also founded what is today Vernon AME Church.[2]

...Another black American entrepreneur, J.B. Stradford, arrived in Tulsa in 1899. He believed that black people had a better chance of economic progress if they pooled their resources, worked together and supported each other's businesses. He bought large tracts of real estate in the northeastern part of Tulsa, which he had subdivided and sold exclusively to other blacks. Gurley and a number of other blacks soon followed suit. Stradford later built the Stradford Hotel on Greenwood, where blacks could enjoy the amenities of the downtown hotels who served only whites. It was said to be the largest black-owned hotel in the United States.[2]..

"Negro" Colleges

1943 documentary

link

Actual Video footage of old African American towns

link

Inventors, Scientist, and contributions to society

. Lewis Latimer: improved on the lightbulb

. Granville T Woods sold many patents to GE and The Bell Company. Improved telephone sound quality with a transmitter device gt woods telephone patent#371,241, 1897

Under Geanville T ( possible typo). Name spelled right in description

https://patents.google.com/patent/US371241

USPTO

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=00371241&SectionNum=3&IDKey=DCADAF9BA63D&HomeUrl=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526d=PALL%2526p=1%2526u=%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r=1%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526s1=0371,241.PN.%2526OS=PN/0371,241%2526RS=PN/0371,241

. Joseph N. Jackson programmable remote 1975, patent#4081754)

. Jerry A Lawson; 70s video game pioneer

Gladys Mae West Made a huge contribution to Global Positioning Systems ( GPS)

. Pat Bath as an optometrist, she cured eye problems with her patented laser device

. Valerie Thomas: She developed real-time computer data systems to support satellite operations control centers (NASA 1964–1970) and oversaw the creation of the Landsat program . Invented an " illusion transmitter" (?).

. Frederick McKinley Refrigerated tractor trailer, Cofounder of ThermoKing ( known by most truck drivers)

Norbert Rillieux

Contributed to sugar process

Jan Ernst Matzeliger

Made major contributions to the mass production of shoes

. Russel Made a huge contribution to broadband and cellular technology in the 80s and 90s

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Russell

. C.R. Patterson made cars in the early 1900s

. Marie Van Brittan Brown (October 30, 1922 – February 2, 1999) was an African-American inventor, becoming the originator of the home security system ( U.S. Patent 3,482,037) in 1966, along with her husband Albert Brown, a patent was granted in 1969.

. A Haitian American made his version of the airship in 1906

https://www.google.com/patents/US643975

.... Charles.W. Chappelle’s successfully designed a long-distance airplane. He won a medal for being the only African-American to invent and display an airplane at the spectacular 1911 First Industrial Airplane Show held in conjunction with the U.S. International Auto Show at Manhattan’s Grand Central Palace in New York City.[13] His airplane invention was written about in several of the African-American media, one foreign Ghana newspaper described it as a quadruplane, and others just wrote about the excitement of there being an African-American airplane inventor and taking a place in the history of aviation.[14] The event had a host of the well-established attending and speaking, and was covered by the media for two weeks. And, his airplane invention was an excitement for the African-American community. In a May 1911 issue of The Crises: A Record of the Darker Races, Social Uplift (page 7) published by the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) in New York City, there is a brief mention of C.W. Chappelle and his aviation invention.

In 1911, the first African-American airplane company was formed in Manhattan’s New York City at the then West 53rd Street Hotel Macco with $10,000.00 capital, ...

Charles.W. Chappelle also established trade with indigenous people of West Africa in the early 1900s. One of his goals was to modernize African infrastructure with wealth gained from the companies he ran

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Chappelle

Video compilation of African and African-Americans building

link

Hair of black women, stereotypes, civil rights issues and more

link

[cartermagazine]

Weeksville, Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is home to many monumental neighborhoods, but few come close to the history and culturally rich Weeksville. Originating in the mid-1800s sat a small African American village named Weeksville, formed during the post-abolition era. At that time, Weeksville and the surrounding Brooklyn area had one of the country’s densest rates of enslaved people. Brooklyn continued to develop, resulting in Weeksville’s absorption of the Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights neighborhoods. Despite the merger, echoes of Weeksville’s past still exist.

Weeksville earned its name from a freed African American dock worker named James Weeks, who purchased a plot of land in the community following abolition in the state.

As word spread that African Americans like Weeks were making a living in New York, more would head to the area for the same opportunity as long-standing families continued to sell off their land in the Brooklyn area. In the 1850s, the population boomed to over 500 residents, nearly half of the residents were originally born in the South. All with different stories and backgrounds, the occupations of these settlers included educators, health care professionals, and entrepreneurs. As time went on, the Weeks village would go on to operate a “colored” school, cemetery, senior home, and multiple churches. Not to mention, the village was amongst the highest rates for ownership of property and business among an African American settlement.

Weeksville quickly became a safe haven for African Americans throughout New York.

The community has changed over the years, but the history of Weeksville remains one of the most influential neighborhoods in New York State, particularly for African Americans.

CARTER™️ Magazine

[lboogie1906]

Weeksville was a nineteenth-century free African American community located in what is now Bedford-Stuyvesant. In 1838, only 11 years after slavery ended in New York, it was formed by a free African American man named James Weeks when he purchased land from Henry C. Thompson, a free African American man. He encouraged other African Americans to settle on the property as he sold lots to the newcomers who named the community Weeksville.

It became a thriving African American community. It was a refuge for southern African Americans fleeing slavery and for African Americans who desired to escape racial violence and draft riots in New York and other cities. By 1850, it was the second-largest community for free African Americans in pre-Civil War America.

The community was known for employing African Americans in urban occupations and it was a community where African American doctors, professionals, and entrepreneurs were able to practice skills and develop clientele. They established churches, schools, benevolent associations, an elderly home, and an orphanage. It saw the creation of The Freedman’s Torchlight, one of the first African American newspapers.

It offered political and intellectual freedoms and was a site for abolitionist action. Community members participated in a wide range of anti-slavery actions and promoted equal rights for free African Americans, including voting rights campaigns, the Black Convention movement, and resistance to the 1863 New York City Draft Riots. It encouraged Freedmen’s schools in the South and supported Black Nationalists’ aspirations. It had become an emblem of community empowerment and racial pride. The community was home to over 500 families comprised of doctors, ministers, tradesmen, teachers, and laborers.

It was overtaken by the growth of Brooklyn and almost forgotten amidst urban renewal plans of the 1950s when many of its old buildings were replaced by newer structures. A rediscovery and working to save four wooden cottages, known as the Hunterfly Road Houses. It achieved landmark status in 1971. In 2005, the four homes were fully restored and open to the public. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[dmandl]

Weeksville.

[camplofi]

FLASHBACK: Both Sides On Bondfire

All comments, questions, and general feedback can be sent to radiobsots@gmail.com.  Record a voice message and send it my way or leave one at the Speakpipe page!

You can subscribe to Radio BSOTS via the following options: RSS feed ||| Apple Podcasts ||| Spotify Amazon Music ||| Goodpods ||| TuneIn ||| iHeartRadio

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This episode's track list:

1.  The Hot 8 Brass Band - "Homies" (2012) [Bandcamp] 2.  DJ EFN - "Paradise (feat. Talib Kweli, Wrekonize & Redman)" (2015) [Bandcamp] 3.  DJ Vadim And Sena - "Work Hard" (2015) [Bandcamp] 4.  Markis Precise - "Back To Life (feat. Eligh)" (2015) [Bandcamp] 5.  Blitz The Ambassador - "JuJu Girl" (2015) [Bandcamp] 6.  Core Rhythm And Zajazza - "Grown Folk Biz (feat. Homeboy Sandman And Eagle Nebula)" (2015)  [Bandcamp] 7.  Romare - "Nina's Charm" (2015) [Bandcamp] 8.  Semi Hendrix - "Jesus Pressed Mute" (2015) [Bandcamp] 9.  Sebastian Paul - "Birth" (2015) 10.  Public Enemy - "Corplantationopoly" (2015) [iTunes] 11.  Benjamin - "Those Memories (Sneak Up On Me)" (2015) [Bandcamp] 12.  NxWorries - "Link Up" (2015) [Bandcamp] 13.  The Greg Foat Group - "The Hunt" (2015) [Bandcamp] 14.  Mbongwana Star - "Malukayi (feat. Konono No. 1)" (2015) [iTunes]

For over eight years, Bondfire Radio was my home away from home, a place where I built community with a number of immensely talented people.  It was the place where I learned how to celebrate the successes of others and how to truly be a team player while championing music from unsigned, independent and major label artists as both a broadcaster and a music director.  Being a part of #teamBondfire was everything to me and I was gutted when it was announced that the station's end was unavoidable.  Our last broadcast day was on Saturday, December 30, 2023, and I truly believe that we went out on top.  That entire day was absolutely magical and I'm sure that a number of us involved are still trying to process what it all meant to us as individuals and as a collective.

With my Bondfire broadcast days behind me, I wanted to revisit an earlier episode from 2016.  In an attempt to bring the BSOTS on Bondfire broadcast experience to the podcast feed, I thought it would be wise to share some of the indie cuts that I was playing on the station during my first year.  It's a fun mix of tunes with some special guests along the way that offers an accurate overview of what my early broadcasts were like.  This one's for my Bondfire family and for anyone that never got the chance to hear my broadcasts live while the station was still around.  Best believe that I am #teamBondfire for life!

Black Pioneers In Radio promo produced by Bondfire Radio co-founder Coole High.  ID drops courtesy of Fave, Kahlee, EJ Flavors, Core Rhythm, and Jonny Sonic.

Other key info: Macedonia on Mixcloud The Weeksville Project BSOTS On Bondfire archives

Another BSOTS podcast episode for the people...

[mace-god]

(via The Complex Story of Black Baseball Prior to 1880)

A brief history of black baseball in Brooklyn decades BEFORE Jack Robinson. Weeksville had their own team