Weeksville: Past Forward

  • This mural commemorates Weeksille’s history as a free Black community.
  • Conscious of the historical significance of the figures they paint, the youth still have fun creating this beautiful mural.
  • Reverend Henry Highland Garnet, featured in the center of the mural, was publisher of the Freedman’s Torchlight, an abolitionist newspaper which helped teach Blacks to read.
  • A girl holds a minted coin from the 19th century.
  • “If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romas 8:31
  • A figure holds up a boot from the 19th century upon which the artists have superimposed a dated image of the area‘s map.

Project Description

This mural tells the story of Weeksville by examining the past, present, and future of this historic area. The mural begins its story of Weeksville’s history with the founding of the free Black community by James Weeks and six other freedmen. These seven founders are represented throughout the painting as pointing figures. The community of Weeksville represents a key period in American history whose legacy is currently being expanded by the research efforts of the Weeksville Heritage Center. The mural is framed by images of two girls, each whom had a hand in discovering important artifacts  in the 1970’s of the historic Hunterfly Houses, which now bear the name of the road that once served as the main throughway leading out to Canarsie from what is now the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn.

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Project Info

Fun Facts

Research
James Weeks bought the land that would become central to Weeksville in 1838, just eleven years after slavery was abolished in New York.
Fun Fact
Featured in the mural is Dr. Susan S. McKinney, the fifth Black female physician in the nation and the first in the state.