Weeksville

Founded in 1838, eleven years after slavery ended in New York State, Weeksville was a long-lasting and thriving community of self-sufficient free African American landowners in what is now Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant. The community took its name from James Weeks, who bought his first plot of land in 1838 and became one of its largest property owners. Over time, Weeksville became both a safe haven and a refuge from violence and oppression and a place for African people throughout the diaspora to seek political, economic, and cultural independence. By 1850, it had become the second largest community for free men and women in pre-Civil War America. Known for self-sufficiency, Weeksville included doctors, professionals, and entrepreneurs, and it was one of the few communities in which free people of color could independently practice their professions in New York City. Residents established schools, sports clubs, benevolent associations, an elderly home, and an orphanage, and the community fostered political and intellectual freedom and served as an important site for abolitionist action. During the Manhattan Draft Riots of 1863, when mobs of white men and women attacked and killed African women and men in downtown Manhattan, Weeksville became a refuge for those fleeing the violence. Its residents took part in antislavery action and, after abolition, promoted equal rights for free men and women through voting rights campaigns and influential publications. By the post-Civil War era, Weeksville had become an emblem of community empowerment and racial pride. Because of twentieth-century demographic changes and large-scale construction projects, the strong community identity built in Weeksville over the previous one hundred years gradually faded, and by the 1950s the community was almost completely forgotten. In 1968, historian James Hurley and pilot Joseph Haynes, together with researchers, teachers, students, leaders, youth, and volunteers, began the rediscovery of Weeksville by documenting its history and the homes now known as the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses. These houses are among the only surviving remnants of nineteenth-century Weeksville, and through community advocacy and the leadership of Dr. Joan Maynard they were preserved and landmarked in 1970. Today they are fully restored and open to the public at the Weeksville Heritage Center, which continues to highlight the significance of the houses and the history of the Weeksville community while extending its legacy of creativity, self-sufficiency, and entrepreneurship.

New York, New York · United States