Bedford Stuyvesant
Bedford Stuyvesant is located in Brooklyn and used to be one of the oldest predominately black neighborhoods, in New York. Given the nickname “Bed Stuy”, it is known for poverty and high crime rates, as portrayed in movies centered within the neighborhood like: “Notorious”, “Crooklyn”, and “Do the Right Thing”. (first reference) This city has been slowly transforming through the help of gentrification, initiated by affordable housing and the decrease in crime. By looking at the history of “Bed Stuy”, issues facing it today, and its current composition, there is hope for an understanding of what the neighborhood really was like and what it might become in the near future.
Bedford Stuyvesant is bordered by Flushing Avenue to the north, Classon Avenue to the west, Broadway to the east, and Atlantic Avenue to the south. (plagiarism check) For a long time “Bed Stuy” has been home to a large population of African Americans, after the Fulton Street Line, a subway system, was built and many fled the overpopulated area of Harlem. “Bed Stuy” received its name as a combination of “the village of Bedford” and “Stuyvesant” heights neighborhoods”. It was originally founded by three Dutch settlers, Dirck Janse Hoogland, Jan Hansen, and Leffert Pietersen van Haughwout, in the 17th century. After the revolutionary war, Weeksville, in 1838, became one of the first free African American communities in the United States. Then, after the completion of the Williamsburg bridge, Jews and Italians from Manhattan began immigration to “Bed Stuy”, until the Great depression brought immigrants from the south and Caribbeans, boosting the black population to 30,000 and making it the second largest black population in New York City. To add, during World War 2, the Brooklyn Navy Yard brought many blacks to “Bed Stuy” for employment purposes, while the Jews and Italians started moving to Queens and Long Island due to a boost in the economy from being at war. So, by the mid-twentieth century blacks had made up 55 percent of the population in “Bed Stuy”, with 155,000 black inhabitants. But, this growth of black residents only happened through real estate agents utilizing blockbusting: when real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their house below market value, to minorities, by scaring them into believing that minorities will soon be moving in. By 1960, the population of blacks grew to a staggering 85 percent. Yet, due to racism in America, this neighborhood of black residents was going to be tested.
The issues facing Bedford Stuyvesant started with slavery and progressed along due to racism and social tension in America, causing blacks to struggle to overcome harsh conditions. This is clearly evident when it is realized that “Bed Stuy” received almost no federal aid and was the city’s largest non-white community in the mid 20th century. In addition, in 1961 one of the first riots of the era took place due to social and racial factors, leading to residents and activists to go against teachers, majority white, at Ocean Hill Brownsville school district. To add, in 1964, race riots began in Harlem then expanded all the way down to “Bed Stuy”, and caused destruction and looting due to a white police officer killing an unarmed African American teen, a common occurrence throughout America after the Civil War. The riot helped to hurt the relationship between the black community and police officers because police officers were seen as untrustworthy, racist, and the oppressor, especially since there were very few police officers present in a predominately black neighborhood. Following the riot of 1964, more riots occurred due to high unemployment among blacks, segregation, and the lack of enforcement of civil rights laws. In 1965, Andrew W. Cooper brought a suit under the Voting Rights Act against racial gerrymandering, which claimed that “Bed Stuy” was divided among 5 districts each represented by a white congress member. This lead to the creation of the 12th congressional district and the first black woman and West Indian American ever elected to the US Congress, Shirley Chisholm. Shirley Chisholm rescued those affected by the layoff of shipbuilders, 80% who live in “Bed Stuy”, convincing the government to fix their loans resulting in 750-million-dollar economic stimulus for New York City and making Seatrain shipbuilding the largest employer in Brooklyn. But this did not solve all the problems facing the neighborhood, as the crack epidemic broke out in early 1980’s to the early 1990’s, creating an increase in crime and violence in the neighborhood as well as backlash through tough on crime laws allowing police to send many blacks to jail in what is known as mass incarceration, or as some call it legal slavery. Nowadays, Bedford Stuyvesant is facing another problem, for blacks, as gentrification is taken over, reducing the population of black residents from 2000 to 2010 from 75 percent of the population to 60, as white residents grew from 2.4 percent to 15 percent. (Nytimes) Meanwhile in the Western half of the neighborhood whites makeup 25 percent of the population and blacks down to 49 percent. (Nytimes). This is a problem for many blacks because the cost of living is increasing. For example, townhouses used to cost $700,000 and are now around $1.5 million. To add, One-bedroom condos went from $350,000 to $500,000. This increase housing prices is one of the reasons for the decrease in black population. (Nytimes)
To call “Bed Stuy” a neighborhood falling victim to a problem of gentrification is a little misleading, because with gentrification comes with many good things as well. The current makeup of the neighborhood is better than it’s ever been. For instance, business growth is booming in the area up 73 percent since 2000, which is the fourth fastest rate of growth in New York City. Also, the number of jobs increase, due to increase in businesses, with a 45 percent increase since the 2009’s recession.