« Today on the Forum Closing Bell: Valet Parking...for Bikes »

September 24, 2008

Quote of the Day

quotation-icon.jpgBedford Stuyvesant was a 100% white neighborhood from until the late 1930s when some blacks started moving in from the south and WI. By the 1950 it was 50/50 and in the 1960 and early 70s you still had some old white families in the area. Spike Lee shows us that in Crooklyn set int he mid 1970s. In 80s and 90s it was hard to find a white person. Today on the Nostrand Ave A train platform it was about 40/60 the area is going back to the feel of the 1950s when it comes to diversity and I really think it needed. This will help us learn from one another and appreciate each other.

— by Amzi Hill in New Bed-Stuy More Like Old Bed-Stuy?




Posted by Brownstoner at 3:29 PM | Comments (21)
Categories: QOTD

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/6400

Comments

I encountered the same observation when on the corner of Fulton and Nostrand. I think Bed Stuy is the most unrecognized neighborhood in BK when it comes to gentrification.

Posted by: jamrock at September 24, 2008 3:38 PM

Interesting point.

"...from until the late 1930s..." Interesting grammar.

Posted by: BrooklynButler at September 24, 2008 3:38 PM

Doubt you'll return to 'divesity' of 1950's. Too many new groups added to mix. Asian, Hispanic, Middle_eastern.
And not that I knew Bed_stuy of 1950's but I guess that the
'mix' was not so integrated but over block by block whites moved out. Same as in Crown Heights in 1960's.

Posted by: Petebklyn at September 24, 2008 4:00 PM

I frequently drive and bike through Bed Stuy - usually every weekend - and I have yet to see more than a really occasional white person on the street. Also, recently went to check out a private school there, and there were no white children - all the kids were black.

I knowthat there are white people in Bed Stuy, but where are they? Does anyone have the real stats on this?

Posted by: wine lover at September 24, 2008 4:19 PM


"Bedford Stuyvesant was a 100% white neighborhood"

100%? Based on what data?

Posted by: East New York at September 24, 2008 4:28 PM

Since the African American community of Weeksville dates back to at least the early 1800s and is considered part of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the claim that "Bedford Stuyvesant was a 100% white neighbhorhood" seems a bit ignorant, if not bigoted.

Posted by: AdrianLesher at September 24, 2008 4:58 PM

It was not 100% white. There were a lot slaves who settled in Bedstuy who were a part of the underground railroad.

Posted by: fefe at September 24, 2008 5:00 PM

East New York... Based on the 1900, 1910 and 1920 census even the maids were white mostly Irish women. Southern BS was 100% white. The 1930 census you see some black people mostly workers for wealthy families... look at Ancestry.com they have all the census records...
Do you think they built these brownstones from black people in 1880s and 1890?
-Heck No
I know the original owners of my house the John Donovan Esq. would be shock to see me if he came back from the dead.

Posted by: Amzi Hill at September 24, 2008 5:11 PM

Weeksville is in Crown Heights...

Posted by: Amzi Hill at September 24, 2008 5:14 PM

My building on Tompkins near the M-W stop might be an interesting representation of the newcomers to Bed Stuy - pretty much exclusively under-30, mostly white, with some african americans and asians, and one hispanic family. Oh, and one young lady of pakistani descent, which i happen to know because she's my roommate, heh. There are some buildings along my stretch of Myrtle that seem to be basically all young white kids. So Wine Lover, they are certainly out there.

My grandpa lived all over brooklyn in the 20s and 30s and he and his family lived in bed stuy for a time, he went to high school here. he remembers the neighborhood as mostly white, but hey, he's 85, so his memory might not be so great :)

Posted by: sarahlucy at September 24, 2008 5:34 PM

I'm sure it's a bit more complicated than that. also it seems that blacks moved in as whites moved out to further suburbs. Today whites are moving in and blacks are been pushed-out to further suburbs.

Posted by: Ali Baba at September 24, 2008 5:36 PM

"Based on the 1900, 1910 and 1920 census even the maids were white mostly Irish women. Southern BS was 100% white. The 1930 census you see some black people mostly workers for wealthy families... look at Ancestry.com they have all the census records..."

You did not make a distinction between Bed-Stuy and "Southern BS" in your original post, as you do above. Furthermore, if there were "some black people mostly workers for wealthy families" in the area at the time, that means the area was not "100% white" at that time.

"Do you think they built these brownstones from black people in 1880s and 1890?"

I didn't say that. But if there were a wealthy black person around at that time (and there were some), what in particular would prevent that perosn from purchasing a home in what is now Bed-Stuy?

"Weeksville is in Crown Heights..."

The site is located in what is now consider Crown Heights but earlier was considered part of Bedford Stuyvesant:

http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/node/3

Your "facts" are somewhat dubious. Let's see some of the source data that helped form your theories. Something other than a reference to ancestry.com, that is.


Posted by: East New York at September 24, 2008 5:39 PM

Please, folks, remember the cardinal brownstoner rule of diversity:

100% white = homogeneous
100% black = diverse

Hence, a neighborhood that is 50% white and 50% black is less diverse than a neighborhood that is 100% black. Memorize and learn so that you don't make this mistake again.

Thank you.

Posted by: Big Jugs at September 24, 2008 5:45 PM

Wine girl, you're a liar. It is impossible to walk through Bedford-Stuyvesant and not see a white person. Maybe you've been lost in another neighborhood.

Posted by: bedstuygirl at September 24, 2008 6:20 PM

Big Jugs, you should meet PropJoe. You two would get along swimmingly.

Posted by: Biff Champion at September 24, 2008 6:23 PM

East New York ancestry.com are the records the original census records.... you can see the handwriting of the enumerator and he goes down each block and counts the people that live on each block. It list name, marital stats, birthplace, age, occupation, education, RACE etc.... I will help you out, look at the 25th district of Brooklyn and find some people of color please and let me know. I have looked at every page of this district in the 1900 and 1910 census from Fulton to Lex. bounded by Reid and bedford. Back in those days everyone was counted in the US and sometimes twice. If ancestry is not your thing go to the library or go to the national archives in DC for all I care and look them up yourself. I have been to all these places. Oh as for weeksville. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue (to the west), Park Place (to the north), Ralph Avenue (to the east) and Clarkson Avenue (to the south). It is about two miles (3 km) long and two miles (3 km) deep. The neighborhoods that border Crown Heights are: Prospect Heights (to the west); Prospect Lefferts Gardens (to the southwest); Wingate and Rugby (to the south); Brownsville (to the east); and Bedford-Stuyvesant (to the north). I think weeksville in somewhere in there..

Posted by: Amzi Hill at September 24, 2008 6:33 PM

The Weeksville community was much larger than the current boudaries of Crown Heights. It extended well into Bed-Stuy and of course pre-dates the Brownstones. Farmhouses were probably torn down and the residents displaced so that Brownstones could be built.

I met a Black family whose home was on the house tour a couple of years ago who traced their ancestry in Bed-Stuy back to the 1800's. No where in Brooklyn was 100% white until the 1920's or 30's.

Posted by: Just Wondering at September 24, 2008 8:38 PM

" I have looked at every page of this district in the 1900 and 1910 census from Fulton to Lex. bounded by Reid and bedford."

Is this the basis of your claim that "Bedford Stuyvesant was a 100% white neighborhood from until the late 1930s?" Sounds like you're projecting to me. Also, I live close enough to the Weeksville site to walk there. I know where it is. Finally, as I mentioned, the boundaries of Bedford -Suyvesant (and Weeksville,as Just Wondering notes) have changed over time. I still haven't seen an example of your source data. But hey, let's just say we have a difference of opinion.

Posted by: East New York at September 24, 2008 9:51 PM

why not call Albany part of weeksville while we are at it... Hell I live in Stuyvesant Heights and not Bedford Stuyvesant according to the Brooklyn Eagle July 1892... I don't know what else to tell you... unless there was the community that was not counted on the census from 1780-1920.. Even my family was counted in the Virginia census of 1810 and those people are black and mulatto's. I guess you are telling me that census takers did not count black people in Brooklyn but they counted them in the village and central Manhattan...
I look through these kind of records all the time. I have trace my family back to Ghana, England and France going back to 970AD... Maybe all those records are false according to you... Maybe George Washington lived in Las Vegas hey why not... I have been doing this for three decades. My homework in researching the brooklyn genealogy did not start today. I have looked up many of addresses of the area I live in, Bed-Stuy... Maybe I could tell you the people that lived on your block 100 years ago. Maybe the 1925 census online can help you out... http://www.stevemorse.org/brooklyn/brooklyn.html I am over this discussion.

Posted by: Amzi Hill at September 25, 2008 12:50 AM

Amzi Hill: Can you help me find out who lived in my house before me? WHere can I e-mail you?

Posted by: 11233 at September 25, 2008 11:27 AM

RACE, RACE, RACE! ZZZZzzzzzzz...

Posted by: qis4quincy at September 25, 2008 12:17 PM

Post a comment

Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.

Latest Restaurant Additions