August 10, 2016
Hosted by Brooklyn Historical Society

Twenty-five years after the August 1991 Crown Heights riot, Brooklyn Historical Society, in partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center and Brooklyn Movement Center, gathered for an evening to reflect on the history and future of Crown Heights. Featuring a performance, an oral history presentation, and a panel discussion, the three-part program explored the multi-storied past of the neighborhood, including issues of ethnic relations, racial justice, and urban renewal, that continue to shape the lives of its residents today. The first section of the evening is a dance and spoken word performance by Creative Outlet Theater. The second portion of the evening is a compilation of oral histories of Crown Heights residents taken in 1993, 2010, and 2016.

Performance: Creative Outlet Theater (introduced by Tia Power Harris, Weeksville Heritage Center)

Oral History Presentation: Zaheer Ali (Brooklyn Historical Society) & Amaka Okechukwu (Weeksville Heritage Center)

Moderator: Errol Louis (NY1 Host & CNN Contributor)

Panelists: Rabbi Eli Cohen (Crown Heights Jewish Community Council), Kameelah Janan Rasheed (Artist & Activist), Mark Winston Griffith (Brooklyn Movement Center), and Natherlene Bolden (Crown Heights Tenants Union)

March 11, 2017
Hosted by Weeksville Heritage Center

Join community leaders, teachers, students, and residents of Crown Heights at Weeksville Heritage Center as we explore these pertinent questions: What have we learned from the past? What should we learn today? How should we learn? Under what conditions should we learn? How do we create just and equal educational opportunity in spite of the obstacles we face? How do we teach about this political moment?

Moderator: Petrushka Bazin Larsen (Brooklyn Children’s Museum)

Panelists: Christopher Battist (IntegrateNYC4Me), Max Freedman (Artist & Educator), Stanley Kinard (Carter G. Woodson Cultural Literacy Project and the Brownsville Heritage House)

May 16, 2017
Hosted by Brooklyn Movement Center & Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, at Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights

Join us as we use Voices of Crown Heights oral histories to frame a community discussion and vision of what true “law and order” and “peacekeeping” look like in Crown Heights.

Moderator: Mark Winston Griffith (Brooklyn Movement Center)

Panelists: Marlon Peterson (Crown Heights SOS), Anthonine Pierre (Crown Heights Cop Watch), Shalawn Langhorne (Community Board 8), Ashleigh Eubanks (Audre Lorde Project’s Safe Outside the System)

July 18, 2017
Hosted by Brooklyn Historical Society

As one of the fastest changing neighborhoods in New York City, Crown Heights has become a kind of ground zero for gentrification. This evening, we have gathered a panel of people who live and/or work in Crown Heights to consider the impact of this change. What historical connections exist between the Crown Heights of today and of its past? And what is the future of Crown Heights.

Moderator: Joy-Ann Reid (MSNBC)

Panelists: Amy Ellenbogen (Crown Heights Mediation Center), Mordechai Lightstone (Chabad.org), Lisa Mathis (Crown Heights Tenants Union), Sharon Wedderburn (Community Board 8), Michael de Zayas (Entrepreneur/Business Owner)

June 14, 2018
Hosted by Brooklyn Historical Society

On June 14, 1978, Crown Heights community leader and businessman Arthur Miller was killed by police chokehold. Forty years later, MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid leads a panel discussion featuring former New York City Council Member Al Vann, activist Thenjiwe McHarris, and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund representative Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele about what has changed—and what has not—with special guests the Miller family. The program will be introduced by a series of oral histories from residents who remember this tragic event.