Organized around four case studies, the kit is packed with more than 50 primary source documents from the BHS archives, including newspaper articles, photographs and oral histories of Brooklyn athletes born between the 1920s and 1950s.   Each case study comes in a separate folder with critical thinking questions and document-analysis activities to help students observe, question, analyze and interpret the material.

Here’s a basketball-themed sample of stories from the kit (also available on iTunes):

Introduction by Deborah Schwartz, Brooklyn Historical Society President

Albert King was born in Fort Greene, Brooklyn in 1959. He attended Fort Hamilton High School and the University of Maryland on an athletic scholarship before being drafted to play professional basketball.  Photo courtesy of Albert King.

Alan Fishman was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn in 1946 and attended Erasmus Hall High School. He has worked in the banking industry for over 30 years and he is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Brooklyn Community Foundation. Image courtesy of cybernetiks2, Flickr.

Albert Vann was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in 1934. From 1975 to 2001, he served as a member of the New York State Assembly representing the 56th District. He is currently a New York City Council member representing the 36th District, Brooklyn. Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

Mary DeSaussure Sobers

Bats, Balls, Nets and Hoops: Stories of Sports in Brooklyn and the  forthcoming curriculum kit are made possible by generous funding from Barclays Nets Community Alliance.

West Indian Parade, Brooklyn 2008; photo by David Berkowitz, Flickr

BHS is pleased to join the Brooklyn Arts Council in hosting a discussion panel featuring founders of annual events, ceremonies and rituals in Brooklyn, including Yolanda Lezama-Clark from the West Indian American Labor Day Parade, Brenda Grenne from the National Black Writers’ Conference, Akeem from Tribute to the Ancestors at Coney Island and others.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 17, 6:30 - 8:30pm

WHERE: Brooklyn Historical Society

Do you have a rites and ceremonies story to tell?

Join BHS and BAC early on March 17th from 4:30-6pm to record your story for the Black Brooklyn Renaissance archive.

Bicycle Fetish Day 2006, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Image courtesy of bluecinema on Flickr

On this day in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Act thereby making Puerto Rico a United States territory and extending citizenship to all Puerto Ricans.  This allowed people to migrate from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States at a time when quotas were restricting immigration (Immigration Act of 1924).  This also meant that the WWI draft extended to residents of Puerto Rico, sending 20,000 Puerto Rican people to the U.S. Army.  Because of the Jones Act, Puerto Rican residents are able to vote upon migrating to mainland U.S., however, Puerto Rican residents remaining in Puerto Rico are still not allowed to vote in Federal elections.

From 1973-1975, the Brooklyn Historical Society interviewed over 70 people who migrated to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico between 1917-1940. These narrators, born between 1890-1940, tell wonderful stories about their steamship journey, family life, work life, and establishing Puerto Rican civic and cultural organizations in Brooklyn.

You can listen to stories from the Puerto Rican Oral History collection, 1973-1975 in BHS’s Othmer Library.  The collection is also made available at Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter.  And on Friday, April 16th, 12-2PM, BHS will be hosting a Brown Bag Lecture as part of the Mayor’s Immigrant Heritage Week:  Join BHS’s oral historian Sady Sullivan, archivist Chela Scott Weber, and Columbia student and BHS Intern Amna Ahmad for a lively introduction to this important historical collection.

Here are two videos of the band Saffire playing at BHS for the Make Music New  York festival last spring.  Saffire is an all-girl rock band from Nyack, New York — two sets of multi-instrumentalist sisters who play original music.

Miss Genevieve Ebbets at Ebbets Field, April 5, 1913; photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Flickr The Commons

Do you have a story to share about Ebbets Field?

The Brooklyn Historical Society invites you to share your experiences of Ebbets Field and your memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

This is an exclusive opportunity to share your story and have it archived as part of the BHS oral history collection.  Your interview may also be included in BHS’s upcoming exhibit about Ebbets Field and the Brooklyn Dodgers, opening on June 3, 2010.

Interviews will be conducted by local oral historians in partnership with high school students as part of BHS’s Exhibition Laboratory Program. Interviews will be scheduled for March 23 and March 25 and will take 30 minutes.

To nominate yourself or someone you know to be interviewed email or call 718-222-4111 ext. 241 today. Please include your full name, telephone number, email address and a brief description of your connection to Ebbets Field and the Dodgers.

Riverdale Avenue in Brownsville, circa 1950. V1991.11.43, by Harry Kalmus, from the Kalmus Photography Collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, circa 1955. V1988.37.141, by Mr. Anthony Costanzo, from the Costanzo Navy Yard Collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

64th St. near 6th Avenue, Bay Ridge, December 27, 1947. V1973.5.2596, by Joseph Slepian, from the Brooklyn Historical Society Photography Collection.

Removing snow on B.R.T. cars, circa 1915. V1974.22.919, by Eugene Armbruster, from the Eugene L. Armbruster Photograph and Scrapbook Collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

And a few more from the Great Blizzard of 1888, which brought 40 inches of snow, drifts up to 30-40 feet and winds up to 55 mph to Brooklyn. The storm prevented both street and rail transportation, and left many confined to home for almost a week.

Clearing snow on Flatbush Avenue, March 15, 1888. V1974.7.331 by A.V. Martense, from the Adrian Vanderveer Martense Photography Collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Sleigh running between Flatbush and Brooklyn. V1974.40.1.167, from an album of photographs of the Blizzard of 1888 taken by the Brooklyn Academy of Photography, from the Photography Collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Lafayette Avenue, near Franklin. V1974.40.1.28, from an album of photographs of the Blizzard of 1888 taken by the Brooklyn Academy of Photography, from the Photography Collection at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Want to see more great images from out photography collections? Check out our online gallery, or visit the library anytime we’re open (Wed-Fri, 1-5PM) to search through our image database of over 30,000 images, no appointment necessary!