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

Join us as Prithi Kanakamedala in conversation with Peggy King Jorde, 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 Speakers: 

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. 

Peggy King Jorde is a distinguished cultural projects consultant, Harvard Loeb Fellow, and Consulting Penn Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Her three-decade career spans planning, design, public art, and historic preservation in New York City and internationally. Serving under three New York City mayors, including the Honorable David N. Dinkins, she provided comprehensive oversight of capital construction projects for the city's cultural landmarks, public art installations, and art museums.

In 1990, King Jorde emerged as a critical figure in preserving the 17th-century African Burial Ground, which was rediscovered during the construction of a federal office building in Lower Manhattan. As project director and federal contractor, she spearheaded nationwide architectural design competitions for the African Burial Ground National Memorial and Interpretive Center. Her leadership extended to collaborating with art professionals to commission public art that appropriately honored this historic site's significance.

King Jorde now focuses on preservation consulting, working closely with various stakeholders, including community organizations, developers, and government agencies, to protect and celebrate cultural heritage, particularly in marginalized communities domestically and internationally. Her expertise recently extended to the British Overseas Territory of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where she consulted with government and community stakeholders on what is believed to be the most significant burial ground of enslaved Africans from the Middle Passage. This work is featured in "A Story of Bones," a British documentary that premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, in which King Jorde serves as both participant and producer.

Throughout her career, King Jorde has championed the principle that how we choose to remember our past shapes our future. Her work continues to bridge the gap between development and preservation, ensuring that cultural heritage sites receive the recognition and protection they deserve.

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