A Self-Determined Community in Brooklyn Since 1838

Weeksville

Our first shoot took place at Weeksville Historical Society, a not so hidden gem nestled in Crown Heights. Founded in 1838, 11 short years after enslavement was abolished in New York State,  a freedman named James Weeks purchased a plot of land from another freed African-American man named Henry C. Thompson. Within a few decades, that plot of land grew into a bustling community of self-determined Black people from all over East Coast, while the institution of slavery was still alive and well in other parts of the country. By the 1850s, the community had hundreds of residents – free educators, healers, farmers, intellectuals, journalists, abolitionists and clergymen.  Hundreds of years later, the site is part of the historic registry and still holds a few of the original houses that lined Hunterfly Road. Today, a variety of progressive and phenomenal programs, lectures and exhibitions take place on the site. For more information go to weeksvillesociety.org.


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