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PHOTO OF THE
WEEK
Implosion of
Maspeth
Holders
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Ty
Kirton,
Implosion of
Maspeth
Holders, July
15, 2001,
GEHP_0239;
Greenpoint
Environmental
History
Project,
Brooklyn
Public
Library,
Center for
Brooklyn
History
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| This Photo of the
Week captures
the dramatic
(albeit
planned)
destruction of
the Maspeth
Gas Holders,
located on
Maspeth Avenue
in Greenpoint
and built by
Brooklyn Union
Gas in 1927
and 1948.
Learn the full
story on our
blog. |
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The Amazing Garden: A Film and
Conversation
on Community
Gardening in
NYC
Join us
for an evening
celebrating
the legacy and
future of New
York City’s
community
gardens,
inspired by
the short film
The Amazing
Garden,
produced and
directed by Hiroko
Tadano Neely
and Deb
Levine.
The film tells
the story of
how, 30 years
ago, a group
of passionate
neighbors
transformed a
derelict
concrete lot
on the
Columbia
Street
waterfront
into a lush,
thriving green
space—a
powerful
example of
grassroots
urban renewal.
Following the
screening,
we’ll hear
directly from
three of the
original
gardeners—Launa
Beuhler, Mildred
Bishop,
and Chris
Curran—who
helped bring
the garden to
life.
In the second
part of the
evening, a
panel of
experts will
reflect on the
broader
community
gardening
movement in
New York City
including Isak
Mendes,
Deputy
Director of
NYC Parks’s
GreenThumb
program, Steven
Thomson,
former
President of
the Brooklyn
Queens Land
Trust Board of
Directors, and
Kwesi
Joseph,
Urban Garden
Specialist,
Harvest New
York.
Together,
they’ll
discuss the
vital role
community
gardens have
played in
building
neighborhoods
since the
1970s and 80s,
and the
contemporary
and future
challenges
they face—from
gentrification
and zoning
pressures to
food justice
and climate
resilience.
This
program is
part of CBH’s
Summer
Screenings, a
series of
documentary
films about
Brooklyn.
Wednesday,
July 9 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History
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THURSDAY! CBH Talk | Children of the Movement:
Growing Up
with Parents
in the Black
Panther Party
In March, The
Guardian
published a
landmark
article and
produced a
short film
spotlighting
the
self-described
“Panther
cubs"—offspring
of members of
the Black
Panther Party.
This project,
two years in
the making,
offers an
intimate
portrait of
what it meant
to grow up in
the shadow of
a
revolutionary
movement.
Now mostly in
their 50s,
these children
of the
revolution
vividly recall
their
upbringing
during the
Party’s active
years from
1966 to 1982.
At school they
sang the Black
National
Anthem instead
of reciting
the Pledge of
Allegiance.
They were
taught to live
with constant
awareness:
never sit with
your back to a
door, always
find the
exits, trust
few. For many,
a parent’s
incarceration
left lasting
trauma. More
than 50 years
later, three
Panther cubs—Ericka
Abram, K’Sisay
Sadiki,
and Sharif
El-Mekki—reflect
on their
unique
childhoods,
their pride in
carrying
forward the
Party’s
ideals, and
their evolving
views on
collective
action,
community, and
the limits of
protest as a
political
strategy.
What does it
mean to be
Black in
America, both
now and then?
What cost are
we willing to
pay for
radical
change? And
what lessons
emerge for
dealing with
the current
political
crisis in
2025? Join The
Guardian
and CBH for a
special
screening and
conversation
with chief
reporter Ed
Pilkington, deputy
editor Lauren
N. Williams,
and the three
featured
Panther cubs.
Together, they
draw powerful
connections
between past
and present at
a time when
Black
Americans are
still killed
by police at
nearly three
times the rate
of white
Americans, and
Black
self-determination
remains a
flashpoint in
national
discourse.
Thursday,
June 12 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History |
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Environmental Injustice: Race, Class and Toxic
Inequality —
The Present
Crisis
In part two of
this three-part series, three
leaders from
across the
country share
solutions to
the crises
within their
communities
and discuss
the rollback
of federal
protections.
From New
Orleans’ Lower
Ninth Ward, Rashida
Ferdinand
led the effort
to rebuild her
community
after
Hurricane
Katrina. In
Duck Hill,
Mississippi,
Romona Taylor
Williams
mobilized
neighbors and
young people
to build their
own levee.
They are
joined by
former leader
of the Office
of
Environmental
Justice and
External Civil
Rights at the
Environmental
Protection
Agency,
Marianne
Engelman-Lado. Moderated
by The
Atlantic’s
Vann R.
Newkirk II.
Monday,
June 16 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History
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Opening the Archives: Finding LGBTQ+ History in
the CBH
Collections
When author Hugh
Ryan
researched his
2019 book When
Brooklyn Was
Queer, he
immersed
himself in the
archives at
the Center for
Brooklyn
History. Queer
history is
rarely neatly
labeled in
finding aids
or research
guides, so
Ryan brought a
queer lens to
an array of
seemingly
unrelated
collections—from
Coney Island
postcards to
Brooklyn Navy
Yard oral
histories—to
reveal a
larger, often
hidden,
history.
Join Ryan and
CBH archives
manager Dee
Bowers for
an evening in
the Othmer Library, where they’ll revisit the
archival
journey behind
When
Brooklyn Was
Queer and
display some
of the
original
materials Ryan
uncovered.
Together,
they’ll
discuss the
collections
these items
came from,
offer a
behind-the-scenes
look at
researching
queer history
in the
archives, and
guide
attendees on
how to use the
CBH
collections
themselves.
This program
is one in our
series of
workshops
exploring the
CBH
collections.
Please note:
Space is
limited.
Pictured above: Edward F. Casey, The Race
[detail],
1935;
M1989.65.1;
Brooklyn
Public
Library,
Center for
Brooklyn
History. Ann
Moses poses
with a
journalist at
Todd
Shipyards,
circa 1941;
Ann Moses
scrapbook,
2019.014;
Brooklyn
Public
Library,
Center for
Brooklyn
History.
Tuesday,
June 17 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History |
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CBH Talk | Rules and Rutabagas: A Conversation
About the Park
Slope Food
Coop with Joe
Holtz, Sun Yu
and Alexandra
Schwartz
In the early
1970s, a
remarkable
experiment in
collective
action took
root in Park
Slope: the
Park Slope
Food Coop
(PSFC).
Founded in
1973 as a
members-only,
collectively
run buying
club, the Coop
has grown over
52 years into
the largest
food
cooperative in
the United
States—and
quite possibly
the world.
Nearly 17,000
members now
work regular
shifts in
exchange for
access to
high-quality
groceries at
lower prices,
sustaining a
vibrant model
of cooperation
against the
odds.
That same
year, the Coop
launched its
newsletter,
the
Linewaiters’
Gazette.
Published
every few
weeks since,
the Gazette
has offered an
unvarnished,
often
passionate
view into the
life of the
Coop. From
articles on
inventory
issues (“Bugs
in the
Barley”) and
classifieds
(“Cats Up for
Adoption”) to
fervent
letters to the
editor
debating
everything
from product
boycotts and
the use of
plastic bags
to whether
selling meat,
beer, or
canned tuna
aligned with
the Coop’s
progressive
values—the Linewaiters’
Gazette
has documented
the
institution’s
ongoing
negotiation
between ideals
and
pragmatism.
Taken as a
whole, these
newsletters
chronicle over
five decades
of the Coop’s
inner
workings—its
rules and
values,
conflicts and
compromises,
all unfolding
within the
broader story
of a
gentrifying
Brooklyn
neighborhood.
They offer
insight not
only into the
mechanics of
collective
grocery
shopping, but
also into
pricing and
procurement,
managing real
estate and
managing
people, and
the deeply
human project
of democratic
governance.
This summer,
the Center for
Brooklyn
History marks
the completion
of an
ambitious
project: the
digitization
of the Linewaiters’
Gazette archive
from 1973 to
2021. This
trove of
primary source
material will
now be
available to
researchers
and readers
around the
world.
The release of
this digital
archive
coincides with
another Park
Slope Food
Coop
milestone: the
June
retirement of
general
manager Joe
Holtz, one
of the Coop’s
original
founders and
its very first
paid employee.
To celebrate
Joe’s
extraordinary
career and the
unveiling of
the Gazette
archive, we
invite you to
a public
conversation
reflecting on
the messy
business of
collective
decision-making.
Holtz will be
joined by Coop
member and
unofficial
historian Sun
Yu, who
may be the
only person to
have studied
every single
issue of the Gazette—a
feat
undertaken in
the writing of
his book, Park
Slope Food
Coop: Fifty
Years of
Cooperation.
The discussion
will be
moderated by Alexandra
Schwartz,
a Coop member
since 2013 and
staff writer
at The New
Yorker.
Wednesday,
June 18 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History |
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Just Conversations | The Welcome Myth:
Immigration
and America’s
Contradictions
The United
States is
facing an
existential
immigration
moment:
Deportations
without due
process.
Military
deployment at
the border.
Revoked
humanitarian
parole.
Threats to
Temporary
Protected
Status. The
resurrection
of a
227-year-old
law—the Alien
Enemies Act—to
expel
Venezuelans. A
chilling
disregard for
long-held
rules and
norms, all
adding up to a
climate of
fear.
While
shocking,
these recent
actions are
not
surprising.
Many of the
laws that
justify our
new policies
have long
existed, but
were rarely
enforced with
such vigor.
Our history
has always
held both
xenophobia and
open arms. The
tension
between
America’s
identity as a
welcoming
nation and its
legacy of
exclusion is
now erupting
into a battle
over the very
narrative of
who we are.
Join us for a
timely and
urgent
discussion
with three
leading voices
in
immigration:
preeminent
immigration
historian Nancy
Foner;
former United
Nations Deputy
High
Commissioner
for Refugees
and Executive
Dean of The
New School for
Social
Research, Alex
Aleinikoff;
and grassroots
community
leader
Husein
Yatabarry.
Led in
conversation
by one of the
most trusted
immigration
reporters in
the country, Dara
Lind,
we’ll explore
the roots of
today’s
policies,
challenge
myths about
American
openness, and
ask what
future we are
building and
what is
ultimately at
stake.
Just Conversations brings into
dialogue
injustices in
our borough,
city and
society,
giving voice
to the
changemakers
who move us
towards a more
equitable
future. It is
co-presented
by Brooklyn Org and the Center Brooklyn History.
Wednesday,
June 25 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History |
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Environmental Injustice: Race, Class and Toxic
Inequality —
The Way
Forward
As the
climate crisis
intensifies
with the most
devastating
effects
continuing to
fall on
communities of
color and
those with the
fewest
resources,
acclaimed
writers, Rose
Eveleth, Emily
Raboteau and
Mary
Annaïse Heglar will
explore what
it means to
respond with
imagination
and courage.
This
culminating
discussion in
CBH's three-part series confronts
the climate
crisis as an
opportunity to
redefine
justice—environmental,
racial and
beyond. Moderated
by The
Atlantic’s
Vann R.
Newkirk II.
Thursday,
June 26 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History |
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Brooklyn Bee: A Spelling Competition
Think
you know how
to spell
Brooklyn?
Prove it one
word at a
time! Join us
for the first
ever
Brooklyn-centric
spelling bee,
hosted by your
resident
experts at the
Center for
Brooklyn
History. From
historic names
to iconic
avenues, we're
finding the
most
interesting
and
challenging
letter
combinations
to thrill and
delight as you
compete for
prizes and
bragging
rights.
Is it
McDonough
Street or
MacDonough
Street? Halsay
or Halsey?
Bruekelyn or
Breukelen?!
Bring your
borough street
smarts and
spelling
know-how for a
lively night
like none
other. Laura
Michael,
CBH’s fun-fact
guru, leads
the
festivities.
Compete as
teams or
individuals; a
good time for
all is
guaranteed!
We’ll help
form teams
that night so
come solo or
bring your
friends.
Winners leave
with CBH
prizes!
Tuesday,
July 1 / 6:30
pm
Center for
Brooklyn
History
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Take a Free Tour of the Exhibition Trace/s
Trace/s: Family History Research and the
Legacy of
Slavery in
Brooklyn
confronts the
history of
slavery in
Brooklyn
through art,
archives and a
celebration of
Black
genealogy
researchers.
On Fridays at 3 pm, we
offer free,
curator-guided
exhibition
tours.
Open
through August
30, 2025
Center for
Brooklyn
History
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bpl presents
Pirate Radio in New York City 1939–1998
Friday,
June 13 / 6:30
pm
Library for
Arts &
Culture
Historian and
archivist David
Goren
traces the
fascinating
development of
pirate radio
stations,
which have
been sneaking
onto dials
since the
1930s with
outsider
cultural
content that
flies in the
face of the
commercial
radio industry
and government
regulations. |
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bpl presents
Tove Jansson & The Responsibility of
Children’s
Literature
Friday,
June 27 / 6:30
pm
Central
Library, Dweck
Center
Attend the the
exhibition
opening panel
for Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always
Open.
Authors,
illustrators
and editors
will come
together to
unpack Tove
Jansson's
influential
work and
consider the
field of
children's
literature
more broadly. |
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On YouTube | Five Years After George Floyd: The
Fight Today
Yale professor
Elizabeth
Hinton,
New York
City Council
Member Chi
Ossé and
civil rights
historian
Jeanne
Theoharis analyzed
the history
and ongoing
crisis of
racist
policing at
this recent
CBH Talk. See
them reflect
on the legacy
of the 2020
Black Lives
Matter
movement and
the urgent,
concrete steps
toward justice
that remain
before us. Watch
the recorded
program online. |
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CONTACT US
Center for
Brooklyn
History
128 Pierrepont
Street
Brooklyn, NY
11201
bklynlibrary.org/cbh |
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