The Robert A. and Elizabeth R. Jeffe Distinguished Lecture in Urban History: Brooklynites

Join us as Prithi Kanakamedala explores the history of Brooklyn’s free Black communities, which attracted people from all walks of life who helped shape the city with a radical anti-slavery vision. Her book, Brooklynites, recovers the lives of these remarkable citizens and examines their lasting impact on what would become New York City’s most populous borough.

About the Speaker: 

Dr. Kanakamedala is author of Brooklynites: The Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities that Shaped a Borough, the 2024 Victorian Society Book of the Year and 2025 Gotham Book Prize Finalist. She is an Associate Professor in the History Department at Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY) where she teaches U.S. History, African-American History, and the History of New York City. Her research looks at community-building, race, and citizenship in Brooklyn and New York’s 19th-century free Black communities. As a public historian she has worked with a range of cultural organizations including Danspace Project Inc, Place Matters/ City Lore, Center for Brooklyn History at Brooklyn Public Library, and Weeksville Heritage Center. 

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.