Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
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Bedford-Stuyvesant (also known as Bed-Stuy) is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3.
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[edit] Early history
The neighborhood name is an extension of the name of the Village of Bedford, expanded to include the area of Stuyvesant Heights. The name Stuyvesant comes from Peter Stuyvesant, the last governor of the New Netherland colony.
In pre-revolutionary Kings County, Bedford, which now forms the heart of the community, was the first major settlement east of the then Village of Brooklyn on the road to Jamaica and eastern Long Island.
With the building of the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad in 1832, taken over by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in 1836, Bedford was established as a railroad station near the intersection of current Atlantic and Franklin Avenues. In 1878, the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway established its northern terminal with a connection to the LIRR at the same location.
The community of Bedford contained one of the older free African American communities in the U.S., Weeksville, much of which is still extant and preserved as an historical site.
[edit] Establishment as an urban neighborhood
In the last decades of the 19th century, with the advent of electric trolleys and the Fulton Street Elevated, Bedford Stuyvesant became a working class and middle class bedroom community for those working in downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York City. At that time, most of the pre-existing wooden homes were destroyed and replaced with brownstone row houses, which are highly sought after in the neighborhood's contemporary renaissance. Many consider the area to be the African-American mecca of Brooklyn, similar to what Harlem is to Manhattan.
[edit] Ethnic changes
During and after World War II, large numbers of African Americans, migrating from the Southern United States upon the decline of agricultural work and seeking economic opportunities in the North, moved into the neighborhood, often preferring it to the available housing in Harlem, then the city's pre-eminent black community. A large number of immigrants from the Caribbean also arrived around this time, coming from countries such as Jamaica, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados.
[edit] Post-war problems
A series of problems led to a long decline in the neighborhood. Some of the new residents who had been rural workers had difficulty finding reasonably paid work in the urban New York economy. The city itself was in a period of steady decline, exacerbated by abandonment of parts of the transportation network, decline of public facilities and services, inability to deal with increasing crime, and difficulties in municipal government. The movement of significant parts of its population to suburban areas ghettoized a racially diverse neighborhood.
[edit] The Sixties
The 1960s and 1970s were a difficult time for New York City and impacted Bedford-Stuyvesant seriously. One of the first urban riots of the era took place there and social and racial divisions in the city contributed to the tensions, which reached a climax when attempts at community control in the nearby Ocean Hill-Brownsville school district pitted some black community residents and activists (from both inside and outside the area) against teachers, the majority of whom were white and many Jewish. Charges of racism were a common part of social tensions at the time. In 1964, a race riot broke out in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem after a white NYPD officer, Thomas Gilligan, was accused of police brutality, and rioting soon spread into Bedford- Stuyvesant. This riot resulted in the destruction and looting of many neighborhood businesses, many of which were Jewish-owned. Race riots also followed in 1967 and 1968, as part of the political and racial tensions in the United States of the era, aggravated by continued unemployment, dissatisfaction with civil rights policies, and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
[edit] Modern improvements and gentrification
Beginning in the late 1980s, the neighborhood began to experience a renaissance which continues to the present day. One significant reason for this has been the decrease of crime in the neighborhood, which is at least partly attributable to the decline of the national Crack Epidemic in the late 1980s. Despite the gradual improvement and increased stability of the community, Bedford- Stuyvesant has continued to be stigmatized by the public's negative perception. A campaign was launched in March 2005 to supplant the "Bed-Stuy, Do-or-Die" image in the public consciousness with the more positive "Bed-Stuy, and Proud of It". Through a series of "wallscapes" (large outdoor murals), the campaign hopes to honor famous community members, including community activist and poet June Jordan, activist Hattie Carthan, rapper and actor Mos Def, and actor and comedian Chris Rock. (Daily News, March 5, 2005)
The revitalization and renewal of Bedford-Stuyvesant has prompted an increasingly diverse range of people to seek affordable housing among the many blocks of handsome brownstone rowhouses. As is expected with gentrification, the influx of new residents has probably contributed to the displacement of poorer residents, but in many other cases, newcomers have rehabilitated and reoccupied formerly vacant and abandoned properties.
As a result, Bedford-Stuyvesant is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. The Hispanic population has increased along with the white population. An article in the April 2005 issue of Time Out New York, "The Battle for Bed-Stuy," chronicled the increasing numbers of non-blacks moving in. Many long-time residents and business owners are worried they will be priced out by newcomer "yuppies or buppies," and that the neighborhood's ethnic character will be lost. Others say gentrification is spreading because of the appeal of the brownstone homes that are numerous in Bedford- Stuyvesant. However, a 70% black population does remain; Bedford-Stuyvesant's population has experienced less displacement of poor African-Americans than other areas of Brooklyn, such as Cobble Hill. There are efforts to stop the gentrifying of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Still, it is argued by some that gentrification and neighborhood change will improve neighborhood safety and create demand for improved retail services along the major commercial strips, such as Fulton Street, Nostrand Avenue, Tompkins Avenue,Greene Avenue, Lewis Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Park Avenue, Myrtle Avenue, Dekalb Avenue, Putnam Avenue, Bedford Avenue, Marcy Avenue, Malcolm X Boulevard, Gates Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Jefferson Avenue.
In July 2005, the New York City Police Department designated the Fulton Street-Nostrand Avenue business district in Bedford-Stuyvesant as an "Impact Zone." The designation directed significantly increased levels of police protection and resources to the area centered on the intersection of Fulton Street and Nostrand Avenue for a period of six months. Since the start of the Impact Zone in Bedford-Stuyvesant, crime within the district decreased 15% from the previous year. The Impact Zone was renewed for another six-month period in December 2005.
[edit] Bedford-Stuyvesant in the popular media
Bedford-Stuyvesant is one of the neighborhoods in New York City (including Harlem of the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz Age, the Lower East Side, Little Italy, Chinatown, the East Village, Greenwich Village, Coney Island and Flatbush) to possess an identity and culture that is known to audiences outside of New York City.
Bedford-Stuyvesant's prominent neighborhood identity is due in part to the neighborhood's portrayal in a variety of popular media. Director Spike Lee has prominently featured the streets and brownstone blocks of Bedford Stuyvesant in his films, including Do The Right Thing (1989) and Crooklyn (1994). Chris Rock's UPN (later CW) television sitcom, Everybody Hates Chris, portrays Rock's life growing up as a teenager in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1983. Billy Joel's 1980s hit single, You May Be Right, disparaged the neighborhood with the lyrics "I was stranded in the combat zone / I walked through Bedford-Stuy alone / even rode my motorcycle in the rain." The neighborhood was also the setting of Dave Chappelle's 2004 documentary Block Party, in which Chappelle and many prominent Rap and Soul artists performed an impromptu concert on a street corner.
A large number of well-known rap and hip-hop artists have come out of Bedford-Stuyvesant, including such notables as The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Big Daddy Kane, Lil Kim, Mos Def, Maino, Fabolous, and Papoose.
In "Scan," an episode of the television show Prison Break, fugitive Fernando Sucre flees to Bedford-Stuyvesant to meet his friend, only to find out that his sweetheart will be getting married in Las Vegas.
[edit] External links
- Bed-Stuy Gateway and the Fulton-Nostrand Revitalization Project
- Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
- Bed-Stuy Online
- NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development Bedford-Stuyvesant Walking Tour
- Bedford Stuyvesant Community News
