Community & Social Issues

Community & Social Issues / Historical Development / Urban Planning — No Comments
16
May 11

Little Africa: Greenwich Village’s Black Community

A picture of Minetta Street from Wikimedia. An important street in what was once Little Africa.

Anyone visiting the area surrounding the intersection of Minetta Street and Minetta Lane would find a scene repeated all throughout Greenwich Village; quaint residential buildings, sites where legendary artists once stood for over half a second, restaurants aimed at tourists, and (of course) white people. However, was once known as Little Africa and, by some less friendly towards people of color, as “Coon Town.” This was due the large numbers of Africans Americans and Black people residing within this area in Greenwich Village. From the 1880s to the very early 1900s this area was the most well known Black neighborhood in New York. However, this would soon end as with the mass exodus of people of color from the neighborhood.

The Church of Our Lady of Pompeii at 240 Bleecker Street was known as St. Benedict the Moor’s. An abolitionist Priest, Father Thomas Farrell, who collected money in an attempt to create a parish where Black parishioners could attend mass without being harassed by Catholics of other ethnicities. The parish was created only after his death with the money that he raised. In 1883, the Church of St. Benedict the Moor, a church open specifically for Greenwich Village’s Black Catholics was opened with the money Farrell raised. However in 1898, St. Benedict the Moor closes down and moved to west Manhattan to an area known as “The Tenderloins.”

St. Benedict’s wasn’t the only Black church that was founded in Little Africa and eventually moved elsewhere. Abyssinian Baptist Church had been founded in 1808, in part by Ethiopian immigrants who named it after their homeland, Ethiopia which was also called Abyssinia. On 1856 Abyssinian Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist church in the State of New York, settled at 166 Waverley place in Greenwich Village. However, it too eventually moved further uptown into west Midtown and eventually Harlem.

The reasons for this move lie in the changing living situation that Blacks in Little Africa faced. Mary S. Sacks in her book,Before Harlem: the Black experience in New York City before World War I, states:

“By the turn of the century, all but one elite white family in the district had abandoned the longtime practice of hiring black domestic workers in favor of the trendy choice of ethnic servants. Compounding the economic pressures, blacks now endured outright antipathy from their neighbors and from police “protectors.” In 1913, Rebecca Musgrave wrote to Mayor Gaynor, protesting repeated “annoyance by the police.” She claimed that police harassment had forced her to move from her apartment on Minetta Street. Three weeks later, police again tried to run her out of the neighborhood.”
The lowered economic opportunities mixed with tensions with immigrants, lack of municipal support, and sometimes out right police harassment eventually drove the Black population out of Little Africa. Under these conditions the once famous Black neighborhood became no more.

Greenwich Village was once home to a sizable Black community, a fact that changed over time. The story of Little Africa is the story shifting face of Greenwich Village it is the story of how prejudice, distrust, and even a desire for equality all changed kind of people living in Greenwich Village. It is a story told through institutions forced to move and long remembered injuries suffered by the Black community.

 

Community & Social Issues / Institutions — No Comments
16
May 11

The Closing of St. Vincent’s: Challenge and Opportunity

St. Vincent’s served Greenwich Village for 161 years. The fact that it was the sole medical center in the area made it an especially important and vital part of the community. The medical center was an important part of many resident’s lives. The EMS presence in the community was also comforting and provided community members with a sense of identity– that they had a top-notch ambulance service of their own. “There’s a lot of heartbroken people inside the ER. … They have been the heart and soul of this hospital for many years,” said Eileen Dunn, a St. Vincent’s nurse for 24 years. ‘I think on 9/11 we saw what hatred could do. We’re seeing today what greed and politics can do to a hospital.’” (JEMS).

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16
May 11

Expensive, Expansive, Expansion for New York University into Greenwich Village

New York University is one of the most rapidly growing and consistently successful Universities in the United States. However, it is also a primary cause for the grief of many residents of New York City’s Greenwich Village. Annual undergraduate tuition is in the range of $20,000 per student, and the money is not put to waste. The higher education university plans to expand further into Greenwich Village with their plans for new school buildings, residence halls, courtyards, etc. The plans are elaborate and expensive, however the current problem the school faces is the limits placed on their expansion into public spaces as well as their changing of or building upon historical landmarks. Despite the fear of change and resulting opposition from Greenwich Village residents, New York University’s expansion plan for the next thirty years is beneficial for students, residents and tourists.

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16
May 11

Saving Jefferson Market Courthouse

Effective community activism is a full time commitment: fundraising, campaigning, planning, strategizing and doing everything in one’s power to advance a cause. Greenwich Village residents took on that commitment to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse, get the Courthouse’s clock working again and transform the building into a branch of the New York Public Library. The Jefferson Market Courthouse would have fallen if it were not for the Village Committee’s creation, in 1960, and determined activism through the sixties and seventies. In order to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse, often referred to as “Old Jeff,” and its Clock, the Village Committee used all financial, lobbying and creative resources it had. The Village Committee’s dedication was based in its love for the building and clock, its belief in Old Jeff’s significance to the Greenwich Village neighborhood and the usefulness of the clock that sat atop the Old Jeff’s tall clock tower.

The efforts of the Village Neighborhood Committee and Greenwich Village activists are well documented; Committee correspondence and statements, newspaper articles and historical sources all exhibit the reasoning and journey of the Committee. The clock was a practical, iconic part of Old Jeff, which became a piece of Christmastime Village tradition. The building that stood on Sixth Avenue and West Tenth Street, whether it was a courthouse or library, was an architectural, aesthetic and cultural asset for Greenwich Village, and its residents realized that. These feelings in mind, Village residents wrote letters, raise funds, donated money, decorated their beloved clock tower, spent their time, talked to local organizations and businesses and lobbied their city government to preserve Jefferson Market Courthouse. A look through Committee records and the journalistic articles of the time would give any individual a valuable lesson in preservation, community activism and strong willed determination.

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16
May 11

The Village’s Fight for Safe and Legal Abortions in the 1960s and 70s

A Village Story

Why is the Village important to this reform movement?

The father of abortion reform, Lawrence Ladder’s reasoning for choosing to bring his idea to Greenwich Village, and the sincere effort of the community is what makes the Clergy Consultation Service a Village story and not just an organization that happens to be located in the Village. Ladder’s idea was that it would be a significant gesture if some clergy helped to provide safe and legal abortions. Ladder chose to talk to the clergy of Greenwich Village because they had previously been involved in liberal rights movements and were known for being open minded. The congregation of the Judson Memorial Church as well as the community at large became very involved in the goals of the Clergy Consultation Service for Abortion, even to the point of exposing themselves to possible legal repercussions.

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16
May 11

The Beatniks of Greenwich Village Fight Back!: Social and Political Activism

Greenwich Village served as a place for Beatniks to express themselves and congregate together. They stamped it as their territory through their righteous efforts. One example of a righteous beatnik was John Mitchell, owner of the Gaslight coffeehouse on 116 MacDougal Street. After fire inspectors shut his coffeehouse down, he played an active role in organizing riots against this action. His most successful endeavor, the sit-in protest on January 8, 1961, granted security for the coffeehouse. Also, he spoke up about the unjust bribery of the police on his coffeehouse and with the help of the police commissioner, he had a corrupt patrolman suspended. Continue reading →

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16
May 11

The New School Universtiy: A Village Institution or Not?

Since its founding in 1919, The New School had undergone a vast multitude of structural expansions, internal divisions, some controversy within the administration, and yet, garnered much recognition thanks to the academic accomplishments of its students and faculty. This is largely due to its location in the bohemian Greenwich Village.

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