MAKE NEW YORK GRIMEY AGAIN

MAKE NEW YORK GRIMEY AGAIN

10 YEARS 2017-2027

The city changes. The history stays.
Black New York is not a footnote. It is the story. Explore the people, neighborhoods, sounds and struggles that made this city and the forces still remaking it.

  • Harlem’s Queen Of Numbers

    In the era of Prohibition, a street-savvy Black woman reigned supreme as she created Harlem’s first female-owned policy rackets bank, and amassed wealth through illicit activity that was dominated by men. Known by several aliases such as “Queenie,” “Madam St. Clair,” the “Queen Of Policy Rackets,” and “Madam Queen,” she was born Stephanie St. Clair…

  • 3 WAYS GIULIANI FAILED NEW YORK AFTER 9/11

    On September 11, 2001, a series of four terrorist attacks took place as airplanes were hijacked by members of al-Qaeda. The first target was the North tower of the World Trade Center. The North tower was hit by an American Airlines plane at 8:46 AM. The second target was the South tower of the World…

  • 20 Years of Foxy Brown’s “Broken Silence”

    Since the establishment of Hip Hop, the amount of female rappers that have been able to thrive in the mainstream music industry, have been relatively little in comparison to their male counterparts. Women such as Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte, Lil Kim, Queen Latifah, Eve, Trina, Salt-N-Pepa, Monie Love, Da Brat are all recognized and heralded…

  • Staten Island’s “KKK” ATTEMPTS TO RUN this Black family out, 1920s

    In 1924, a postal worker by the name of Samuel Browne would face the hardships of being a Black homeowner in Staten Island. Samuel Browne purchased a home from Klea Evans, a white woman, for $8,500 in the Castleton Hill district. Upon Samuel Browne’s move into his new home, residents of the all white district…

  • HOW HAVE NYC’S ESSENTIAL WORKERS BEEN TREATED DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

    Since the COVID-19 shutdowns were put into place in New York City this past March, many workers in New York City were affected suddenly. Many workers were unfortunately left unemployed, some were luckily mandated to work-from-home, and others were forced to still work in the public, in proximity with different people daily, at risk of…

  • THE NEW YORK CITY BLACKOUT, 1977

    On July 13, 1977,  fifteen million New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs, parts of Long Island and Westchester County were left to endure hot summer weather without power for 25 consecutive hours. Around 8:37 PM, lightning storms in Westchester County knocked out two circuit breakers that might have drawn power from other utilities, then hit…

  • Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times by NYPD’s Street Crimes Unit in 1999

    On February 4, 1999, four New York City Police Department plainclothes officers fatally shot unarmed Amadou Diallo at 12:44 AM, in the vestibule of his building at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Officers Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss let off 41 shots at Amadou, 19 of…

  • How A Black Doctor Helped His Patients Access His Services In Queens

    Dr. Thomas Matthew was an important and controversial figure in New York City during the 1960’s and 1970s, but somehow many New Yorkers haven’t heard of him. Dr. Thomas Matthew was born in a basement next to Harlem’s Knickerbocker Hospital after his mother was refused service due to her being a Black woman. Dr. Matthew’s…

  • Do Black lives matter in regards to gentrification?

    How ironic is it to see people who barely interact with Black people from the neighborhoods they’ve moved into, hang “Black Lives Matter” banners and placards from their windows? Or in front of properties and businesses that have largely ignored the Black people existing around them? Do Black lives matter when you take over the…

  • HARLEM’S TIGER KING: ANTOINE YATES & “MING OF HARLEM”

    Before Netflix’s “Tiger King,” that follows a white trash gay, drug-addicted,  narcissistic zoo owner from Oklahoma known as Joe Exotic, his ally Doc Antle, an exotic animal zoo and sex cult owner, and his arch nemesis Carole Baskin, a “sanctuary” owner, and the unfolding of their melodrama and crimes, a Black man once reigned as…