The proportion of enslaved people in Kings County’s population in the 1700s resembled southern colonies, where slavery provided the primary labor source for producing tobacco, rice, sugar, and indigo. The 1786 census recorded 1,317 enslaved people and 2,669 Whites. By 1790, after American independence, 30 percent of Brooklyn’s people remained enslaved. In Flatbush, 74 percent of families owned slaves. Powerful Dutch colonial families enslaved people and profited from human trafficking. The Nostrands, Lefferts, Remsens, and Bergens are just a few prominent slave-owning Brooklyn families who have present-day streets in the borough named after them. Learn more in our Mapping Freedom and Enslavement educational resource.

Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights and its Reverend Henry Ward Beecher would often use the enslaved as characters during sermons, where he would impersonate an auctioneer and ask the congregation for offerings to purchase the enslaved person's freedom. His emotional and dramatic speeches would encourage the audience to toss money and jewelry into collection plates; there were several girls and young women that were the subject of these “auctions"--most famously, Sally Diggs, an enslaved 9 year old child who was also known as “Pink” or "Pinky" due to her fair complexion.

With $900 raised from the mock slave auction, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher “purchased” the enslaved Sally Diggs’s freedom. This action showed how good intentions can sometimes sour. Beecher’s assistance might have made Diggs feel objectified. In 1927, Diggs declined to speak to reporters about the “auction.” Her husband said she disliked recalling it. Read more about The Story of Pinky on the Brooklynology blog.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, it was well-known across Brooklyn that schools in largely African American and Puerto Rican areas were inferior to those in white neighborhoods. Brooklyn CORE researched the difference in reading and math scores and compared the number and quality of textbooks in schools in white neighborhoods and schools in minority neighborhoods. The results showed huge difference. Years of useless negotiations inspired CORE to consider school boycotts, picketing, and sit-ins at the Board of Education. At the center of CORE'S education initiatives was the Bibuld family. Our education department's primary source packet on community organizing includes more examples of CORE's efforts in the 1960s.

In 1962, the Bibuld children were assigned to PS 282, a school that their parents thought was below standards. They believed that PS 200, located in a mostly white neighborhood, was a more promising option or their children. however, the Board of Education denied their application. With support from CORE, Mr. and Mrs. Bibuld took their children to PS 200, despite the fact that the children had been refused admission. The Bibuld children were not allowed to officially enroll, but the principal of PS 200 did allow them to stay as guests. The Bibuld family and Brooklyn CORE called this action a school "sit-in." To support the Bibuld children, Brooklyn CORE also organized protests and sit-ins at the Board of Education. Nearly 300 CORE members participated in these activities. The Brooklyn Resists online exhibition centers the importance of education as a form of resistance.

For the protests at Downstate Medical Center to be effective, demonstrators had to put their bodies on the line. These courageous protesters forced people to listen to their demands for justice. In Brooklyn, in 1963, hundreds of people, many of them Black women wearing their Sunday best, joined the Brooklyn CORE-led protest against employment discrimination in the construction industries. Their bravery raised awareness about the Jim Crow practices that existed in many construction unions.

Beginning in 1964, Hattie Carthan led what would become a decades-long campaign to protect, preserve, and plant trees in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Through this work, Carthan founded numerous environmental and community organizations that brought together issues of neighborhood beautification, urban ecology, and community empowerment, at the forefront of advocating against what we now call environmental racism. In 1975, Carthan was awarded a distinguished service medal from the city for her work and became known as the Tree Lady of Brooklyn. The Magnolia Grandiflora, which she saved from being razed, is still the only living historic landmark in New York City. Hattie's story was recently featured on Vox.com's "Missing Chapter" series. Watch it here.

When protests in 2020 demanded that Black Lives Matter, Brooklynites took to the streets. Barclays Center has proven to be a hub of the protest movement in Brooklyn. Protesters developed alliances and expressed allyship across lines of religion, culture, ethnicity, and color.

Through self-expression and collective symphonies of style and music, Brooklynites turned celebration into political demonstration. Today, Brooklynites call for an end to overpolicing. They join voices around the country pressing to move funds from punitive policies to restorative community-building practices. They chant: “Whose streets?” “Our streets!” And when they resist, democracy and freedom exist. Interested in contributing original digital content of your own, such as documents, recordings, ephemera, artwork or photographs? Learn more about our community collecting initiative.