Brooklynites: The free Black families that built the borough

A new book, called “Brooklynites: The Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities that Shaped a Borough,” out in September, tells the story of Brooklyn’s free Black population between 1790 and 1870, 80 years of unfathomable change in the borough and the country at large. The book, by Prithi Kanakamedala, is a cultural and social history, told through four extraordinary families from Brooklyn’s 19th-century free Black community. Theirs are stories of activism, support, struggle, community, education and entrepreneurship. And their stories continue to resonate today, some 200 years later. This week we discuss the book, what it meant to be a free Black Brooklynite and how Kanakamedala uncovered their stories.

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