Weeksville is a historic neighborhood founded by free African Americans in what is now Brooklyn, New York, United States. Today, it is part of the present-day neighborhood of Crown Heights. Weeksville was named after James Weeks, an African American stevedore from Virginia. In 1838 (11 years after the final abolition of slavery in New York State). Weeks bought a plot of land from Henry C. Thompson, a free African American and land investor, in the Ninth Ward of central Brooklyn.
References:
- Christian, Nichole M. 2001. “Hidden in Brooklyn, A Bit of Black History; Freedmen’s Homes Seen as Attraction.” The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- Wellman, J. 2014. Brooklyn’s Promised Land: The Free Black Community of Weeksville, New York. NYU Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-8147-4446-8.
Photo:
- Anonitect. Hunterfly Road Houses, Weeksville, Brooklyn. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. August 30, 2009.