Charlotte's Brooklyn

Once a City within a City. Explore the rise and demise of Charlotte’s Brooklyn neighborhood, once the most thriving and vibrant black community in the Carolinas.

Brooklyn exhibit panelLevine Museum of the New South

Brooklyn Neighborhood in Charlotte, NC

Home to schools, churches, civic organizations, black-owned businesses, and over a thousand families, Brooklyn was the cultural and economic epicenter of black Charlotte. From the late 1800s through the 1960s, this city within a city provided opportunity and sanctuary for African Americans in a segregated South.

Meet our StorytellersLevine Museum of the New South

The voices of those who remember Brooklyn bring this exhibit to life. In the exhibit, visitors can experience their stories using our Augmented Reality app on their smartphone or tablet.

We were family!Levine Museum of the New South

Former Brooklyn resident, Doris Parker Williams, shares fond childhood memories of growing up in the Brooklyn neighborhood.

First section of exhibitLevine Museum of the New South

Building Brooklyn

In the years following the Civil War, formerly enslaved African Americans contributed to the growth of Charlotte, establishing communities in two of Charlotte’s four wards. While both Second and Third wards had sizeable black populations by 1900, Second Ward began to emerge as the heart of black Charlotte.

Building BrooklynLevine Museum of the New South

Brooklyn began as Logtown, whose name reflected its meager cabins. The district’s relatively less desirable and inexpensive low-lying land attracted formerly enslaved African Americans eager to establish themselves in the city.

Racial Self RelianceLevine Museum of the New South

Racial Self-Reliance During Segregation

By the early 1890s, Logtown had become Brooklyn – a burgeoning city within a city, much like the town of Brooklyn on the verge of annexation by New York City.

At the same time, across the South and in Charlotte, racial lines hardened. As Reconstruction gave way to Jim Crow, a campaign of white supremacy strictly enforced segregation. No longer welcome on Charlotte’s main streets, disenfranchised African Americans turned to Brooklyn.

Black Main StreetLevine Museum of the New South

Black Main Street

By the 1920s, Charlotte’s black main street in Brooklyn prospered, and over the next three decades, Brooklyn became the largest African American neighborhood in the Carolinas. While it was home to some of the city’s most impoverished people, Brooklyn also boasted a professional class of doctors, lawyers, teachers, ministers, community leaders, and elected officials. It was the site of Sweet Daddy Grace’s annual baptismal parade. It claimed Mecklenburg County’s first black elementary and high schools and library. Within Brooklyn, close to two-hundred black-owned businesses, from restaurants and theatres to insurance companies and funeral homes, thrived.

Black Main StreetLevine Museum of the New South

Black main street contained many prominent businesses and institutions. For example, AME Zion Publishing House; Brevard Street Library; Savoy Theatre; Alexander Funeral Home; and Grace AME Zion Church.

Black Main StreetLevine Museum of the New South

An example of where African Americans could socialize safely and openly during the unjust years of segregation and intimidation can be found in places like the Savoy Theatre. The Savoy first opened as the Royal Theatre in 1927 and was demolished during urban renewal in 1963.

Significance of BrooklynLevine Museum of the New South

Former residents, Kelly Alexander, Jr., Peggie Cousar, Arthur Griffin, and Doretha Leak speak about the significance of Brooklyn. Their memories and perspectives paint a vivid picture of what was lost through urban renewal.

ChurchesLevine Museum of the New South

Former Brooklyn resident and NC State Rep. Kelly Alexander Jr. reflects on the role of church communities in the neighborhood.

Dismantling BrooklynLevine Museum of the New South

Dismantling a Neighborhood

Despite Brooklyn’s affluence, it was the poverty, health concerns, and crime that captured the headlines as city officials called for the neighborhood’s demolition. Absentee landlords raked in large profits as they let their properties deteriorate. The local media highlighted poorer and rougher areas like Blue Heaven and “Murder Corner” that portrayed Brooklyn as a dangerous community right outside Charlotte’s main business district. White-collar workers commuting from Myers Park and other upper-class white suburbs had to drive by Brooklyn every day on their way to and from uptown. By 1957, Brooklyn had become an “eyesore” city officials decided they could not ignore.

 

Buying up BrooklynLevine Museum of the New South

Buying up Brooklyn

In 1953, state law stipulated that a local government could only clear areas where 100% of the housing was substandard. The law changed in 1957, however, when city officials worked with Eastern legislators interested in relief for hurricane damaged areas to reduce the minimum substandard requirement for government action to two-thirds.

White leadership wasted no time in relaunching their bid for urban renewal with Brooklyn as its first target. They cited three goals for the project: clearing the “slum;” providing its residents with improved housing elsewhere; and redeveloping the area to increase property tax revenue.

Bulldozing BrooklynLevine Museum of the New South

Bulldozing Brooklyn

As the Charlotte Redevelopment Commission bought up Brooklyn properties, many land owners refused to take the commission’s first offer, opting to settle the matter in court. Those property owners who could secure legal representation often succeeded. For instance, absentee landlord J. S. Ramsey of Darlington, S. C. rejected the $160,000 offered for his forty rental houses and a store located on two acres of land. The court sided with Ramsey, awarding him $191,621, a 20% increase. The Redevelopment Commission offered Bishop Dale $9,400 for his home, and he walked away with $13,071, a 39% increase. However, Dale rented office space for his insurance and real estate business and only received a $150 moving allowance.

Second Ward H.S. DemoLevine Museum of the New South

Students watch the demolition of Second Ward High School in 1970. Photo: Courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room – Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

Destruction of SchoolsLevine Museum of the New South

Clara Lewis reminisces about the void left after neighborhood schools were demolished during Urban Renewal in the historic Brooklyn Neighborhood of Charlotte.

Bulldozing BrooklynLevine Museum of the New South

Architect W. Crutcher Ross (left) and Councilman Jerry Tuttle (right) plan for commercial development and a park in the Blue Heaven area of Brooklyn. Photo: Hank Daniel, The Charlotte Observer, January 28, 1969.

Displacing a CommunityLevine Museum of the New South

Former residents, J. C. Cousar, Peggie Cousar, Frank Manago, and Doris Williams also share their experiences during urban renewal through augmented reality in the exhibit.

Leveling BrooklynLevine Museum of the New South

“There isn’t any more Brooklyn. We ought to stop calling it that. Brooklyn is gone.” – Vernon Sawyer, Director of the Charlotte Redevelopment Commission, The Charlotte Observer, May 20, 1973.

Keeping Memories AliveLevine Museum of the New South

Keeping Memories Alive

Efforts to keep the soul of Brooklyn alive began as urban renewal ended. In 1977, James Jeeter, Director of the Afro-American Cultural and Service Center, and Rev. DeGrandval Burke, produced a 50-page pictorial essay called The Brooklyn Story.

In 1983, Cecilia J. Wilson worked with the Second Ward Alumni Association to install a historical marker at the site of the school.

Brooklyn’s history hit the stage in 1996 when playwright Ruth Sloane and director-choreographer Barbara Howse-Meadows produced “The Second City,” an 80-minute play about Brooklyn.

In addition to the annual picnics and commemorative events held by the National Second Ward Alumni Association, Frank Manago organized the Brooklyn Heritage Reunion to include residents of the neighborhood who may not have attended Second Ward.

Blue HeavenLevine Museum of the New South

Siblings and former Brooklyn residents, Peggie and J.C. Cousar journey down memory lane and recollect on what life was like in the Historic Brooklyn Neighborhood.

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The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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