WorkLore: Confronting Racial Bias

Milestones

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In Brooklyn, as elsewhere, people of color have met obstacles in their efforts to get good jobs and make a living. But Brooklyn also is a place where determination can open doors. As far back as the 1840s, black Brooklyn activists raised powerful voices in the national anti-slavery movement. A century later, in 1968, Brooklyn-born Shirley Chisholm became the first African- American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

African-Americans have been part of Brooklyn since its earliest days. Latinos and Asians continue to settle here in growing numbers. Many have found barriers. And many have helped find ways to overcome those barriers — speaking out, as well as working out solutions.

Willis Hodges and the Ram’s Horn Masthead

'The editor of the New York Sun [newspaper] said, 'The Sun shines for all white men not black men. You must get up a paper of our own if you want to tell your side of the story' [So] on the first day of January we brought out before the public [a newspaper] The Ram's Horn. We blow the horn, like Joshua of old, until the walls of slavery and injustice fall.' Willis Hodges, 1849

On the Left: Willis Hodges, 1849. On the Right: Ram’s Horn Masthead. 1849. Courtesy of the Negro Newspaper Microfilming Project, Library of Congress

‘I had become the first black player in the major leagues. I was proud to prove that a sport can't be called national if blacks are barred from it. Some of the [Brooklyn] Dodgers who swore they would never play with a black man had a change of mind when they realized I was a good ballplayer who could be helpful in their earning a few thousand more dollars in World Series money.’ Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's 'color barrier' in 1947, writing in 1972

Jackie Robinson Signs on to the Dodgers, 1947
Courtesy of the Bettmann Archives