Remembering Crown Heights was originally created by Charlie Morgan as part of a Master’s Program in Archives and Public History. It was also created in a specific historical context.
Remembering Crown Heights was created towards the end of 2015, just less than a year short of the 25th anniversary of the Crown Heights riot. The 1991 Crown Heights riot was not enormous; in terms of deaths, damage and duration it was far less destructive than many other riots in New York history. Furthermore, the riot only took place in a limited area of Crown Heights and the violence was largely confined to the area east of Brooklyn Avenue and south of Eastern Parkway. Still, the riot quickly became used as an example of the supposed failure of racial and religious multiculturalism in Brooklyn, New York City, and the United States of America. Since 1991 Crown Heights has lived under the shadow of three days of violence.
The situation in 2015 is very different. Crown Heights has emerged as a desirable location for young professionals and is in a period of gentrification. The neighborhood is experiencing demographic and social change, as well as rapidly increasing rents. In this context, 2015 is often presented in direct relationship to 1991, specifically in the media. For example,
“The north-central Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights, once associated with high crime and racial tension, has transformed into a hot spot for young artists, entrepreneurs and foodies.”[1]
“… Crown Heights seems to be having a moment.
The neighborhood has finally overcome a reputation for intolerance and violence that had plagued it since the 1991 riots between blacks and Hasidic Jews.”[2]
There are a number of problems with this narrative. Crown Heights’ ‘moment’ presents itself as a fix to the violence of 1991, but the presence of “young artists, entrepreneurs and foodies” does not address any underlying causes of the riot. Furthermore, it does not account for the lived experiences of the residents of Crown Heights or address those who lived through 1991 and are now being displaced from the area. Finally, and most importantly to this website, the ‘moment’ narrative does not incorporate any history of Crown Heights that happened before or after the riot. The neighborhood is seen as beginning in 1991 and has now reached an ‘end of history’; everything else is irrelevant.
In 1947 Jackie Robinson signed for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This was a landmark event in the history of Crown Heights and of Brooklyn (Copyright: Brooklyn Public Library).
The Crown Heights riot is not the first time a singular event has been used to define the neighborhood. In 1947 the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson and Crown Heights gained a mythic status as a beacon of racial harmony. Similarly, when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957 it was used as an example of Brooklyn’s apparent decline. In this way Peter Golenbock’s Bums: An oral history of the Brooklyn Dodgers ends by stating that after 1957, “The heart had gone out of Brooklyn. The soul had fled. It’s a place to live now, that’s all.”[3]
Not only are these symbolic events misleading but they erase any points of continuity that extend beyond them and leave no room for points of transition that take place in other time periods. They also do not account for memory and which events are deemed memorable by current and former residents of Crown Heights.
In essence, Remembering Crown Heights is then an initial attempt to challenge the idea that any neighborhood should be defined by symbolic moments. It is instead a means to put forward an alternative and more expansive history.
The history of Crown Heights that sits outside of 1947-1957-1991 is often localized, unassuming, and largely unrecorded; but it is integral to understanding the local area. Remembering Crown Heights is never going to be able to provide a complete picture of the neighborhood but it is a small attempt to make the non-symbolic history visible.
[1] Lisa Fraser, “NYC PICKS: Crown Heights a Spicy Melting Pot,” Newsday, January 10 2014.
[2] Gregor, Alison. “Crown Heights Gets its Turn.” The New York Times, July 6 2014.
[3] Peter Golenbock, Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Lincolnwood, Ill: Contemporary Books, 2000), 494.