A Look at Black History on the Lower East Side
It’s Black History Month, a time when we acknowledge the contributions of the Black community in our own spaces and reflect on how those histories show up in our neighborhoods. Like many neighborhoods in New York City, the Lower East Side is teeming with evidence of historic Black communities.
As the city grew and expanded, the neighborhood then known as Five Points became a center for Black New Yorkers. Located near the western and southern present-day boundaries of the Lower East Side, the Five Points neighborhood became home to prominent Black abolitionist organizations and churches like the African Society of Mutual Aid Relief and St. Philip’s African Episcopal Church. In 1820, the African Free School No. 2 opened on Mulberry Street, providing education for Black New Yorkers to thrive beyond the institution of slavery. This began a new generation of an educated free Black population, made up of some of the nation’s first Black pharmacists, doctors, and lawyers. However the soft and wet land that Five Points was built on led to the rot and decay of the buildings there, and the neighborhood became known as one of the world’s first slums. It was characterized by poverty, prostitution, gambling, and mixed-race dance halls, and racial tensions mounted into attacks on the African Society and St. Philip’s African Episcopal Church, eventually peaking with racially-motivated attacks on Black New Yorkers during the Draft Riots at the start of the Civil War. This violence pushed out many Black residents of the neighborhood, and broke apart one of New York’s first predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Five Points (George Catlin, 1827)
Public Domain
Hundreds if not thousands of Black cultural institutions have called the neighborhoods of New York City home over the years and the Lower East Side is no exception. One particular venue is the Five Spot Cafe, a small jazz club in the Bowery that hosted acts like Thelonius Monk, Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus, Billie Holiday and John Coltrane. The club was attended by Black and white patrons alike, and was frequented by art and literary giants like Jack Kerouac and Frank O’Hara. The Five Spot opened in 1956 at 5 Cooper Square and provided a stage for revolutionary Black jazz artists that defined and revolutionized the genre throughout the next decade, before moving and eventually closing in 1967.
Charles Mingus (center) and his band perform at the Five Spot Café, 2 St. Marks Place.
© Estate of Fred W. McDarrah
The Lower East Side also contains Engine 55 on Broome Street, where Wesley Williams became one of the first Black firefighters in New York City. In 1919, the Harlem resident joined Engine 55, facing extreme racism and discrimination from his fellow firefighters. Despite the intolerance he faced, he became the first Black lieutenant in the FDNY by 1926, and co-founded the Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization for Black EMTs and firefighters. The society is dedicated to combating discrimination in fire departments. Engine 55 looks largely as it did back then, and though there are no memorials at the station, Williams is remembered with a statue at the Harlem YMCA and Wesley Williams Place, as 135th Street is now known.
Firefighter Wesley Williams; Engineer of Steamer operating Christie Tractor at 363 Broome St; Engine 55 in Little Italy NYC; circa 1920. By CaptJayRuffins - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38749989
Black History Month reminds us that Black history, and the contributions Black Americans have made to our society, are all around us in our neighborhoods. The Lower East Side’s history as a landing spot for immigrants from around the world puts it at the crossroads of Black history in Lower Manhattan. This year during Black History Month, show your support to the neighborhood’s Black-owned businesses and consider attending events by Black cultural institutions!