420-426 Ralph Avenue (no. 420 is at right), June 13, 1940. This row of four apartment houses (at left) with ground level retail was demolished in the early 1940s to make way for the NYCHA-Kingsborough Houses. In the 1930s Shirley St. Hall (later Chisholm) lived with her family above a candy shop at no. 420.

Pacific Street, north side, east from Buffalo Avenue, 1940. According to P.L. Sperr, the photographer, this large tent was the set up of an African American female evangelist. Because Brooklyn was becoming the center of Pentecostal churches in the 1940s and 1950s, it is not hard to imagine that this might have been the preaching or healing space of a member of that religious sect. A 1935 New York Times article describes the rivalry between two evangelists that resulted in a march by the followers of one man to the tent location of the second man. The second preacher, named Prophet Costonie, had his tent located on Pacific St. between Rochester and Utica Avenues, only a block from the pictured 1940 location.

This photo shows the Hunterfly Road Houses in 1925, the last remaining structures of the Weeksville community, part of the present-day Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Weeksville was founded in 1838, and named after James Weeks, a former slave from Virginia, who was an early investor and resident of the community. It quickly became a thriving community of black landowners, reaching 521 residents in 1855. Land ownership was particularly important to black New Yorkers because at the time, New York State’s constitution required men of color to own $250 worth of property to be able to vote. No property requirements existed for white New Yorkers

Church of God in Christ, 1941. The Church of God in Christ on the Hill is a Holiness-Pentecostal congregation that purchased a church building at 137 Buffalo Avenue in 1936. A small group in the 1920s, by the early 1930s the congregation was forced to move from storefront to storefront as they grew, before finally settling in a proper church building. (It is unclear as to when the church was constructed and if any other communities occupied it previously.) Pentecostal churches boomed and multiplied in Brooklyn in the 1950s, particularly in the newer African American communities in Bedford Stuyvesant. This church had a robust program that included a gospel choir, a young person's society, and a home and foreign mission. Today the same congregation that occupied the church in 1936 remains.

St. Mark's Congregational Church, October 24, 1940. In 1897 the newly founded Immanuel Congregational created through the merger of Rochester Avenue and Patchen Avenue Congregational churches. The new community commissioned Brooklyn architect Axel Hedman to construct a new building. Completed in 1898 the Renaissance Revival structure more resembled one of Hedman's apartment designs and less like a classic church style. The broad, largely flat front of the church showcases wide stained glass windows. Briefly St. Mark’s Congregational Church (captured here in 1940), the church became the United Baptist Church in 1945, which it remains today.

Richmond Barthé, an African-American sculptor who gained prominence during the Harlem Renaissance, created an 8-foot by 80-foot frieze "Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho" (1938), which has been located at the Kingsborough Houses since 1941. Barthe’s largest work, "Green Pastures" was originally intended for the Harlem River Houses (1936-37), one of the nation’s first federal public housing projects, that was built for African Americans. He was recruited as part of a team of sculptors commissioned to create public art for the project through the Works Progress Administration. Barthé was interested in creating a site-specific work for the back wall of an amphitheater that would be used by African-American residents. The frieze was inspired by Marc Connelly’s 1930 Pulitzer-Prize winning play The Green Pastures, which portrays episodes from the Old Testament through the eyes of a young African-American child. This was Barthé’s first work in relief and he depicted scenes of African-inspired figures in two 40-foot Art-Deco stylized panels that he titled Exodus and Dance. Months after the Harlem River Houses were opened, Barthé’s panels were still in storage since the amphitheater project was never built. As a federal employee, he had no control over what was done with his work and in 1941 the panels were installed without his consultation on one of the main walks at the Kingsborough Houses. Barthé was disappointed since, although low-income federal housing, African Americans were not the primary residents and therefore he felt the inspirational power of his work was diminished. Today, residents fondly refer to the work as “The Wall.”

"View of buildings on Hunterfly Road - now 1698 - 1708 Bergen Street, 1922." The Hunterfly Road Houses date from 1840-1880, and were originally part of the African American community of Weeksville. Founded in 1838 by James Weeks, a formerly enslaved person from Virginia and NYC longshoreman, Weeksville was a thriving Black community by the 1850s. It functioned as any community would, with churches, schools, businesses, a newspaper, and a cemetery. By the 1880s the continued and rapid development of Brooklyn signaled the beginning of the end for Weeksville. The extension of the street grid, the construction of municipal infrastructure, and the demolition and replacement of wood-frame buildings for masonry structures greatly diminished the size and vibrancy of the community. By the middle of the 20th century, the small area of Weeksville that remained was nearly entirely obscured by the streetscape of the surrounding neighborhood. In the late 1960s a historian working on a project at Pratt came across references to the community. With a pilot friend he took to the sky to see what remained. They found, within the street grid, a surviving section of Hunterfly Road and the wood-frame homes. Threatened with imminent redevelopment, the community rallied to save this historic location. Since then a series of community organizations have tirelessly worked for the preservation, restoration, and interpretation of Weeksville.

Four wooden houses remain along the old Hunterfly Road, within the boundaries of what was once Weeksville, a nineteenth-century free black community that is now known as Bedford-Stuyvesant. The road, documented as early as 1622, was an avenue of communication under British rule; it fell into disuse with the installation of the grid system in 1838. Each building was designated as an Individual Landmark on August 18, 1970. The Weeksville Heritage Center is a historic site and cultural center that uses education, arts and a social justice lens to preserve, document and inspire engagement with the history of Weeksville.

Pacific Street, north side, east from Buffalo Avenue, 1940. The brick garages with wooden doors at left still stand. The tent of the evangelist seen in the distance, which likely occupied the lot for some brief but unknown amount of time, has been replaced by late 20th century setback brick homes that attempt to mimic some of the details of the early 20th century apartments and rowhouses nearby.

Public School 28, March 5, 1931. The original Public School 28 (of the City of Brooklyn) was a wood-frame structure, which according to a 1912 Brooklyn Daily Eagle article, was constructed in 1858 and actually was lined with brick, inside the wood framing. According to the same article the school was closed briefly in 1911 following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire because the school was not up-to-date with fire department regulations. The old building was closed at the end of the 1912 school year. Though the building was intended to be demolished, instead the long, narrow structure, which originally ran between Herkimer and Fulton, was turned 90 degrees and placed on a new foundation along Fulton Street. (It is unclear how long the building remained in this location; a 1916 map of the block does not include the wood-frame school.) A new 27-classroom, brick building (seen here) was erected in its place.

You submitted, and we rounded up our faves! Here are some spectacular shots of moms across NYC's five boroughs throughout the years. Happy Mother’s Day!