The Hunterfly Road Houses of Weeksville are the discovered remnants of a free African-American enclave of urban trasdespeople 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
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Danielle Officer at Weeksville, Pamela Green, Kadrena Cunningham, Marcia Goldman, the David Rumsey Map Collection, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and Christian Virant and Zhang Jian of The Buddha Machine.
A wonderful story. See
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/workspace?sip0=,RUMSEY~8~1~28815~1120989,143,36,1635,1060,1920,1080,3770,1787,5232,3392,1&xwr=16&ywr=9
for a map showing Hunterfly Road and surroundings in 1874
Fascinating piece of New York history. Again…you have topped the knowledge that we have. Great.
Each installment of The City Concealed series is extremely informative and fascinates me. Keep up the great work.
Who knew that these secrets of NY even existed!! All of the segments produced in this series have been a surprise. I’ve learned a more about NY with each new story. I await the next one. Thank you to the producers for uncovering the forgotten treasures of New York’s history.
judie,
although we didn’t get to the brooklyn tour, pls check out the Weeksville video. Note, it will be coming on PBS, soon.
Can’t seem to get the video to work
MAR 23 09
Are the BLACK Weeksville Houses in Bed-Sty Brooklyn Firer ‘proof’, sprinklers,etc.?
Thank you
Hathor38@aol.com
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Cheers, Keep it up.
___________________
rozy
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My maternal great-grandfather (Moses P. Cobb) purchased a home in Weeksville in the 1800’s. He was born a slave in 1856 in Kinston, NC. He became his neighborhood’s first black policeman in 1892. So, I know all about Weeksville. http://brooklynrail.org/2003/10/local/lets-make-a-landmark-bed-stuys-weeksville-becomes-a-tourist-attraction
This was my first article,keep up the good work.
thanks
Interesting, my father and family grew up in one of those houses. Not only an African American neighborhood as my grandparents were a biracial couple.
Beautiful piece! Thank You producers…
I plan to share this INVALUABLE info with my HS students… as we’re often exploring ways to discover more of the truth abt ourselves as people of color and, as young media-makers… to learn more abt the truth in story-telling in these ways.
Well done!!!
I grew up in the community of Ocean Hill back in the l960’s. My sister and i use to walk down Atlantic Ave. and have passed The st. called Hunterfly St. and never realized that history was right in the doorstep of our community. This is quite astounding To my knowledge. My cousin and i were talking about this amazing Black history in The Bed-Sty Community and plan to visit the Weeksville Heritage Center soon. Thanks for this inspiring piece of history. I feel so proud to know that such valuable knowledge is bridging the gap of the true facts regarding the success of great African American History.
I was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and lived on Rochester Avenue and Pacific Street in the Kingsborough Houses with my sister, mother and father. I attended PS83 from 1949 to 1955. We walked the two blocks to school every day; either down Bergen Street or Dean Street never knowing the history surrounding us. I came upon your web site while trying to find a picture of PS83. I am putting together a scrapebook containing a written and pictorial account of my lfe for my grandchild. How wonderful to now be able to include the story of Weeksville and the early African Americans that made it possible. Thanks so much!
This looks fascinating! Anyone know if there are any safety issues in a woman traveling alone to visit Weeksville?
Thanks!
@judy weeksville is ok now people are renovating,but be careful around weeksville houses because its mixed btwn houses and apartment buildings so its east to run into,try not to travel there at night
@judy weeksville housing project
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