Home of both Barack Obama and United Daughters of the Confederacy in Park Slope

640 2nd Street in Brooklyn
home to both
Barack Obama and United Daughters of the Confederacy

In the 1980s Barack Obama lived at 640 2nd Street in Park Slope. The same location in 1921 local members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy praised the fine manners of the slave owners who also rebelled against the Union. Here is an article about this fancy gathering from the Brooklyn Eagle available through the Brooklyn Public Library:

How Long Must We Wait?

How Long Must We Wait?

A Message from PTO Co-President Raul Rothblatt

In 1917, suffragist Alice Paul asked “How long must we wait?” As Co-President of the PS9 Parent Teacher Organization, I am asking the same question.

Last year, the PTO voted to remove the name “Teunis G. Bergen” from the PS9 school name. March 1st is the deadline to submit the name change to the Chancellor. If we miss the deadline this year, then we’ll have to wait until March 1, 2020.  Because women were finally given the right to vote in 1920 we certainly don’t want to miss out on the celebration of this 100th anniversary.

I ran for PTO Co-President on the platform of changing the school’s name, and now it is time to use that mandate to honor the neglected African-American suffrage movement in our neighborhood. The current proposal is to name PS9 after Sarah Smith Garnet, and the school community has univerally supported this neglected educational hero. As we have mentioned before, she was not only the first African American woman principal in New York, she also co-founded with her sister the first African-American woman’s suffrage club.

Have we discussed this enough? I have spoken to a few hundred people about this, and the vast majority want to move forward. A small number of parents have proposed a new subcommittee to further research the name change. My impression is that this is a minority view, but if you would like to study the issue more, please contact me immediately and let me know your opinion.

As a school community we already made the decision to remove Bergen’s name last year.  Since then, we have had very few alternative names suggested, until my proposal of Sarah Smith Garnet. The other recommended names that I have heard are “The Prospect Hill School,” which is how people in the 1950s referred to us, “PS9 – A Whole Child School,” which represents our current philosophy, or using the name Aaron Copland, the famous composer who graduated from the school. However, Aaron Copland already has a school named after him as well as many other accolades. I like the idea of connecting our name to our location, so I see the appeal of the Prospect Hill name, but Sarah Smith Garnet was also associated with this neighborhood. I hope that using her name demonstrates our commitment to the Whole Child philosophy without using those words.

I say: Alice Paul was right. If anyone has alternative, now is the time.  The clock is ticking. The people who prefer to delay this process now want a new subcommittee to discuss the name, weeks before the March 1 deadline.  But  then who is to be on that subcommittee? If there are any volunteers, please step forward quickly.

Just this week there was a press conference to support additional African-American teachers in NYC public schools. Has there been enough progress on that issue? Well, Sarah Smith Garnet did wonderful advocacy work on this very issue in the 1870s. I say 140 years is long enough to wait. Sarah Garnet was right back then, and it is time to give her the credit she is due.

Let’s rename PS9 after Sarah Smith Garnet. How Long Must We Wait?

Brownsville Walking Tour with Yiddish New York

https://www.eventbrite.com/edit?eid=53270022070

405 Carlton Ave. used to be the 2nd largest "colored YMCA"

According to the YMCA archives, 405 Carlton Avenue has some interesting history:

The Carlton Avenue branch of the Brooklyn Young Men's Christian Association was opened in 1902 under the leadership of executive secretary Charles H. Bullock, who had organized a branch for African-Americans in his native Charlottesville, Virginia. He was asked to come to Brooklyn to organize the first colored branch in Brooklyn, reflecting the national YMCA's growing interest in serving special populations such as immigrants, railroad workers, boys and African Americans. The work was funded by several well-known philanthropists, including George Foster Peabody, Julius Rosenwald, John D. Rockefeller, and members of the African-American community in Brooklyn. After starting its operations in a brownstone at 405 Carlton Avenue, in Fort Greene, the branch opened a typical YMCA building in 1918. The structure boasted 70 dormitory rooms, a swimming pool, bowling alleys, showers, meeting rooms, game rooms and a social lounge. It was, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, the second largest "colored YMCA" in the world. Women were welcome at this branch, and could participate in physical education classes designed for them. The branch was known for the prowess of its baseball team. In its early years, the branch focused on helping young men who had migrated from the south to New York, offering an employment service and other programs designed to help newcomers adjust to the city.

The branch closed in 1955, reflecting the decline in the need for a special branch for African Americans, who had moved away from the immediate neighborhood around the branch and were now served by other YMCA programs and buildings. The new residents of the neighborhood, many of whom had moved to New York from Puerto Rico, did not participate in YMCA programs. Moreover, the Carlton building was showing its age, and the Brooklyn and Queens YMCA was not eager to put money into a branch whose services might overlap with other branches close by. Finally, a controversy in the early 1950s over the firing of the executive secretary Herbert T. Miller, who had held the post since 1941, split the board and made cordial relations with the larger association difficult. As of 2012, the former YMCA building was operating as a nursing home.

Please find the original text at http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/html/ymca/ygny0025.phtml

Observing the destruction of a row of 19th century buildings

Here is a painful video: a whole row of 19th century historic homes being demolished. I made a video starting at 233 Duffield Street headed down to Willoughby and over to Bridge. 233 and 227 Duffield are clearly connected to the abolitionist movement, but the other buildings were quite charming and could have been part of creative re-use. Instead, they all get destroyed. Here is a bit of an homage.

http://youtu.be/9eoMTBrdSzk

The recreation of Downtown Brooklyn is similar but even bigger than the corner of Prospect Heights dubbed Atlantic Yards by the developer. Many of the same people are involved.

I usually try to be uplifting, but there are times to just observe the destruction of New York and to honor it by at least acknowledging what we are doing to our city.

City Moves on "Stalled" Housing Project

One of the saddest stories of Brooklyn is how the residents of Prospect Plaza were kicked out of their homes to "renovate" their homes. That was more than a decade ago. Now, the City is so proud to announce that it has finally found a new developer for site.

Here's a link to one of the few articles on what I consider a huge scandal:

City Moves on Stalled Housing Project

This reminds me of the phrase "Justice delayed is justice denied."

Labor & Electeds Launch Campaign Against City Point

One of the largest projects in Brooklyn with the least oversight is City Point, the publicly-subsidized skyscraper at the former Albee Mall. Here is the most recent news from City & State:

A controversial development project in downtown Brooklyn is facing opposition from labor unions, community advocates and elected officials who say the developers are hiring non-union contractors that pay workers unfair wages and benefits. A portion of the City Point project, a large-scale retail, office, and residential complex on Flatbush Avenue Extension, is being financed with public money, including $20 million in Recovery Zone Facility Bonds from the 2009 stimulus package. As a result, union organizers and others say that the realtor, Acadia Realty Trust, should be held accountable for paying their workers a fair salary. “With respect to the City Point project, there is tremendous opportunity to ensure that working families and middle-class workers can benefit from an initiative that would not have been made possible without generous city subsidies," said U.S. Rep.-elect Hakeem Jeffries. “Public-private partnerships like City Point must deliver a clear benefit to the public if they’re going to make sense. That’s why this is an important campaign and I’m hopeful that Acadia will conclude that the right thing to do is to ensure that everyone benefits from this project.” Calls placed to Acadia for comment went unreturned.

For more, click here.