Black History

New signs along Flatbush Avenue honor Brooklyn’s African heritage

Photo courtesy of the NYC Department of Transportation on Flickr

August 19, 2024

New signs along Flatbush Avenue honor Brooklyn’s African heritage

New cultural signs honoring Brooklyn's rich African heritage have been installed along Flatbush Avenue. The signs mark the beginning of the Black History + Heritage Corridors project, which connects the Lefferts Historic House and the Flatbush African Burial Ground and celebrates the history and culture of Brooklynites of African descent.
learn more

Architecture And Design

February 8, 2024

How to celebrate Black History Month in NYC

By Devin Gannon

Every February the country commemorates Black History Month as a celebration of African American culture and history. In New York City, you can honor the accomplishments and influence of Black Americans with art, film screenings, music, dance, lectures, and tours all month, and year, long.
READ MORE

Events & Things To Do

Manhattan’s only surviving ‘colored’ school is now a city landmark

Mayor Eric Adams visits former Colored School No. 4 in Chelsea. Photo courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

May 23, 2023

Manhattan’s only surviving ‘colored’ school is now a city landmark

By Devin Gannon

The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday designated a building in Manhattan that serves as a reminder of racially segregated education in New York City. The former Colored School No 4. was a public school open to only Black students and teachers from 1860 to 1884. The remarkably-intact three-story building at 128 West 17th Street in Chelsea is the borough's only surviving school building that exclusively served African Americans. Not only does the new landmark represent the history of the Black community who lived in this part of Manhattan, but it also recognizes the many notable figures associated with the school.
Learn more here

Policy

Newark unveils monument honoring Harriet Tubman and the city’s Underground Railroad history

Photo by DreamPlay, Photographer Cesar Melgar; Courtesy of the City of Newark Press Office

March 10, 2023

Newark unveils monument honoring Harriet Tubman and the city’s Underground Railroad history

By Devin Gannon

A new monument to abolitionist Harriet Tubman was unveiled in a Newark, New Jersey park this week. Designed by NJ native and architect Nina Cooke John, Shadow of a Face comprises a two-story welded outline of Tubman with a circular wall that features a carving of Tubman's face, along with educational text and audio. Located in the recently renamed Harriet Tubman Square on Broad Street, the new monument replaces a statue of Christopher Columbus that the city removed in 2020.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

New website explores the forgotten NYC neighborhood of San Juan Hill

San Juan Hill neighborhood, 1939.Lee Sievan (1907-1990). Museum of the City of New York. 92.70.1. Gift and © Howard Sieven, Executor of the Estate of Lee Sievan

February 15, 2023

New website explores the forgotten NYC neighborhood of San Juan Hill

By Devin Gannon

Once home to New York City's largest Black population, Manhattan's San Juan Hill neighborhood no longer exists. The diverse working-class neighborhood was razed during the 1950s to make way for the Lincoln Center campus. This week the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts unveiled a new digital resource dedicated to San Juan Hill as a way to explore the history of the neighborhood and ensure that its legacy, and the people who lived there, are remembered. The "Legacies of San Juan Hill" website includes essays, historic images, articles, maps, and other archival content.
Learn more here

History

February 14, 2023

Only known surviving ‘colored’ school in Manhattan may become a New York City landmark

By Aaron Ginsburg

The only known surviving school building that exclusively served African Americans in Manhattan may soon become a New York City landmark. The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to calendar the former Colored School No. 4 in Chelsea, a public school open to only Black students and staff from 1860 to 1894. Located at 128 West 17th Street, the nearly 175-year-old building is associated with a number of significant figures from the Civil War through the Post-Reconstruction era.
Learn more

Policy

20 ways to celebrate Black History Month 2023 in NYC

Photo of the Seneca Village mosaic courtesy of © 6sqft

February 1, 2023

20 ways to celebrate Black History Month 2023 in NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

February is a month dedicated to the celebration of Black culture and achievements in the United States. In New York City, you can commemorate Black History Month with special events and programs at museums, theaters, art galleries, pop-up markets, parks, and more. From listening to the Harlem Chamber Players perform pieces by legendary Black composers to viewing period rooms inspired by homes from Seneca Village at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, here are 20 ways to celebrate Black history throughout February.
See the list here

Memorial honoring Black lives lost to acts of racism will open in Central Park

Image courtesy of Si B on Flickr

September 7, 2022

Memorial honoring Black lives lost to acts of racism will open in Central Park

By Aaron Ginsburg

A new exhibition honoring Black lives lost to racial injustice in the United States will open this month in New York City's historical Seneca Village, once home to a thriving black community that was displaced by the city to make way for Central Park in the 1850s. Presented by the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art (SDAAMFA), the Say Their Names Memorial Exhibition is a month-long augmented reality experience debuting on Saturday, September 17 at West 85th Street in Central Park.
Find out more

History

New York commits $8M to renovate Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Image of the Schomburg Center via Wiki Commons

August 18, 2022

New York commits $8M to renovate Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

By Aaron Ginsburg

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced the state will commit $8 million for upgrades to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The investment will go toward the refurbishment of the building's facade, replacement of the roof and windows, and the installation of much-needed safety and energy-efficient features. The state's announcement comes during Harlem Week, a weeklong celebration of the neighborhood's history and culture.
Find out more

Annual Juneteenth NY Festival in 2018 Photo credit: Juneteenth NY

June 17, 2022

15 ways to celebrate Juneteenth in NYC

By 6sqft

Although it was recognized as a federal holiday only last year, Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans for more than 150 years. After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, it took more than two years for the order to reach enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. Juneteenth was first observed in Texas as “Jubliee Day” on June 19, 1866. Now an official New York and federal holiday, Juneteenth is a day to commemorate and honor Black Americans, as well as renew the fight for equality. In New York City, there are several Juneteenth events happening this weekend, from panel discussions and a bike tour of Brooklyn to live music and a food festival featuring Black vendors.
READ MORE

Events & Things To Do

Staten Island woman’s collection of over 20,000 Black history artifacts to be auctioned

By Aaron Ginsburg

Thousands of historical items illustrating the Black experience in America are going up for auction. Compiled over 60 years by former New York City teacher Elizabeth Meaders, the collection is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive, surpassing collections belonging to museums and other private institutions. The Elizabeth Meaders Collection of African American Historical and Cultural Artifacts will be put up for an online auction as a single collection through Guernsey's on March 15.
Find out more

How to celebrate Black History Month 2022 in New York City

“Renaming Project” Exhibition, Photo Credit: Daniel Avila / NYC Parks

February 7, 2022

How to celebrate Black History Month 2022 in New York City

By Aaron Ginsburg

In the United States, February is a month dedicated to the celebration of African American history and culture. Ahead find a variety of events to commemorate Black History Month in New York City, ranging from community service and walking tours to jazz concerts and live performances.
Full list ahead

16 NYC parks renamed in honor of Black Americans

Credit: NYC Parks /Malcolm Pinckney

June 17, 2021

16 NYC parks renamed in honor of Black Americans

By Devin Gannon

New York City this week renamed more than a dozen park spaces in honor of notable Black Americans. In every borough, select green spaces now bear the names of Civil Rights leaders, novelists, educators, LGBTQ+ leaders, and more. Last summer, the city's Parks Department pledged solidarity with the Black community and announced plans to rename parks across the city to honor Black Americans who have local or national recognition. Since then, 28 park sites have been given a new name.
Details this way

City Living

Mapping the NYC landmarks and historic districts related to Black history

Screenshot courtesy of NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

February 10, 2021

Mapping the NYC landmarks and historic districts related to Black history

By Devin Gannon

The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday released an interactive story map that explores significant buildings, districts, and sites in New York City that are related to Black history and culture. The project highlights 75 individual landmarks and 33 historic districts associated with African American figures and historical events across the five boroughs dating to before the Civil War up to today, from the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan to the East 25th Street Historic District in Flatbush.
Find out more

The best ways to celebrate Black History Month 2021 in NYC

“Alphas Hold the Line.” Photo by Michael Young.

February 4, 2021

The best ways to celebrate Black History Month 2021 in NYC

By Devin Gannon

During the month of February, the nation observes Black History Month as a way to celebrate and honor African American history and culture. While this year's commemoration will be different because of the pandemic, many New York City organizations and institutions are hosting virtual events, lectures, and exhibitions. Learn about the achievements and influence of Black Americans with an online walking tour featuring Black artists of Greenwich Village, a concert honoring composers of the Harlem Renaissance, a class on Black archaeology in New York City, and much more.
Get the full list

The Harlem Hellfighters: African-American New Yorkers were some of WWI’s most decorated soldiers

New York’s famous 369th (Old 15th) Infantry Regiment arrives home from France. From the National Archives via Wikimedia Commons

November 11, 2020

The Harlem Hellfighters: African-American New Yorkers were some of WWI’s most decorated soldiers

By Lucie Levine

By the end of World War II, the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military honor, would be awarded to the 369th Infantry Regiment. Better known as the Harlem Hellfighters, the regiment was an all-black American unit serving under French command in World War I, and they spent a stunning 191 days at the Front, more than any other American unit. In that time, they never lost a trench to the enemy or a man to capture. Instead, they earned the respect of both allies and enemies, helped introduce Jazz to France, and returned home to a grateful city where hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers turned out to welcome home 3,000 Hellfighter heroes in a victory parade that stretched from 23rd Street and 5th Avenue to 145th Street and Lenox.
The whole history

History

Dyckman Farmhouse Museum opens new art exhibit exploring untold history of NYC’s Black communities

Photo Credit: Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance

October 19, 2020

Dyckman Farmhouse Museum opens new art exhibit exploring untold history of NYC’s Black communities

By Devin Gannon

The last remaining farmhouse in Manhattan will explore a new side of its over 200-year history with an art exhibit. Inwood's landmarked Dyckman Farmhouse Museum on Tuesday will open the exhibition Unspoken Voices: Honoring the Legacy of Black America, which will highlight the history of the enslaved and free Black residents that lived and worked at the farm. Unspoken Voices, which coincides with the museum's reopening, includes work by five local artists who hope to bring these previously untold stories to light.
More here

Events & Things To Do

January 31, 2020

16 places to celebrate Black History Month in NYC

By Devin Gannon

February marks Black History Month, a nationwide celebration of African American culture and history. New Yorkers will have plenty of opportunities to honor the contributions made by the black community, with live performances, guided tours, comedy shows, art installations, and more events happening across the city. From the Apollo Theater's open house celebration to spoken word performances at Brooklyn barbershops, pay tribute to the achievements of black Americans this February, as well as all year round.
The full list, ahead

Events & Things To Do

Plan to honor historic black settlement Seneca Village with statue in Central Park faces backlash

Photo by Si B on Flickr

October 24, 2019

Plan to honor historic black settlement Seneca Village with statue in Central Park faces backlash

By Michelle Cohen

As part of the city's plan to diversify public art and recognize figures overlooked by history in New York City, Central Park is getting another statue, as the New York Times reports. The privately-funded monument will commemorate Seneca Village, the predominantly black community that was thriving until the 1850s in what became Central Park. Once again, however, the city's commemorative statue planning has fallen afoul of historians. The proposed structure won’t be located at the site of Seneca Village, which for nearly three decades stretched between West 83rd and 89th streets in Central Park. Instead, the monument’s home will be in the park, but 20 blocks to the north on 106th street.
Find out more

“Harlem Street Scene Showing Local Businesses,” 1939, Photographer: Sid Grossman, Street Scenes Collection, Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

June 14, 2019

New Schomburg Center exhibit explores 20th-century Black placemaking in Harlem

By Lucie Levine

"A Ballad for Harlem," the new exhibit now on view at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, explores the history of the neighborhood and celebrates Black placemaking in 20th and 21st century America. The exhibit uses photographs, manuscripts, objects, art and sculpture from the Schomburg's collection to revisit "Harlem’s places, people, and moments—both known and underrepresented—that capture the realities of community and hardship experienced by Black Americans." Ahead, hear from curator Novella Ford to learn more about the show.
READ MORE

Lyft is providing a free ride to black history museums and cultural sites in NYC this month

Via Flickr

February 7, 2019

Lyft is providing a free ride to black history museums and cultural sites in NYC this month

By Devin Gannon

To celebrate Black History Month, ride-hailing company Lyft is offering one free ride to black-owned businesses, history museums, and memorials in New York City. According to the company, 82 percent of Lyft drivers identify with a minority group, which makes the company "see the importance of celebrating the diversity that we have right around us."
More here

Transit

Black History

Pitch a Story

Interested in seeing the property in person?

Interested in seeing the property in person?

Distinctive Post Form

Get in Touch

Send us a Tip

Interesting in learning more about purchasing a new home?

Thinking about selling your home?

Sell a Home (Footer)

Before You Move On from this Page.

Your Passport to NYC:Subscribe for Local Insights and Stories!

Before You Move On
from this Page.

Your Passport to NYC:
Subscribe for Local Insights and Stories!