New 'Story Map' Reveals Black History Behind Brooklyn Landmarks

BROOKLYN, NY — A church led by the U.S. Army's first African American chaplain, the house on the corner where Shirley Chisholm lived when she became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress — these are the stories behind Brooklyn's buildings.

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission released an interactive "story map" this week in honor of Black History Month that highlights landmarks and historic districts recognized for their role in New York City's African American history.

The map includes several Brooklyn sites, most of which center around Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights.

“As we celebrate Black History Month and continue to strive for racial equity and social justice, it is important to recognize the history of the Black experience in New York City,” Deputy Mayor Vicki Been said in a release. “Landmarking and designating historic districts are two ways that we honor and amplify the stories and contributions of the past, both good and bad, so we can learn from and build on our collective history. Ensuring that more New Yorkers can access and explore that history is a critical part of the process.”

The project, called Preserving Significant Places of Black History, includes maps, narratives, images and multimedia about the stories behind landmarks and historic districts throughout the city.

It includes 75 individual landmarks and 33 historic districts that mark moments in New York City' history from before the Civil War, though the Civil Rights Movement and in historically African American neighborhoods defined by census records from the past 50 years.

The sites include homes of prominent New Yorkers like Chisolm, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Ralph Bunche, as well as cultural venues, abolitionist homes and other institutions.

"It is not an exhaustive list of all places significant to African American history in New York City, but an educational tool and a living document, which can be updated with additional scholarship about designated buildings, and with future designations of landmarks and historic districts," the commission said.

Check out the interactive maps here: