in Strong, 1908).
African slaves also made up the first set of settlers in Flatbush. While some farmers owned slaves, other purchased slaves from the Dutch West India Company states Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS, 2015). The Dutch relied heavily on slave labor to establish their community. Slaves were responsible for clearing forest land, building houses, churches and tending to farms. As the agricultural industry grew the need for more slaves also increased. Subsequently, by the beginning of the eighteenth century people of African descent made up 25% of the population. By 1790 there were 378 slaves, 12 free blacks and 551 whites (BHS, 2015).
The early lives of settlers were centered on family and religion.
One of the most important customs was called schemeround. Every evening families and neighbors would gather to tell ghost stories, reminisce and exchange news about their native land. Religion played an extremely important role in the Dutch community as it helped to maintained cohesion. It also contributed to the preservation of their roots. These settlers lived without incident until the revolutionary war of 1776 (BHS, 2015).
Flatbush saw an increase in its population after the Revolutionary War. The war gave birth to a shift in immigration trends as the Dutch were forced out and Flatbush began to rebuild. During the years after the war, Brooklyn experienced large influxes of German and Irish immigrants who disperse throughout the county. In fact, by 1850, the population of those born outside of the County totaled 56,201 (“Demographic Changes,” n.d., para. 1). This was the first major wave of European immigration which propelled New York to the third largest city in the United States (“From Village to City,” n.d., …show more content…
para.3).
A second wave of immigration began occurred between 1880 and the early 1900’s. This second wave was primarily Eastern Europeans which included Russian, Jews, Italians, and Poles, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Finns (“From Village to City,” n.d., para.3). This new influx of immigrants was not welcome as many believed they would cause a strain on the economy as they were poor, unskilled peasants. In fact, they were seen as bas influences on American cultures and customs (“Demographic Changes,” n.d., para. 1). Between 1900’s and 1920 the number of new immigrants for Eastern Group was far more than the first wave of immigration.
Conversely, there was another influx in immigration after the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
Initially, federal immigration policy was limited to immigrants from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal, and other parts of eastern and southern Europe (“Three Decades of Mass Immigration,” n.d., para. 3). This change began influencing the immigration of people from the Caribbean and Asian. This cause xenophobia with the existing population, which were mostly whites. In fact, between 1965 and 2000 many of the previous residents began to move to the suburbs in hopes of making a better life (“White Flight,” n.d., para. 1).
The results of white flight had a major impact of the migration of Caribbean and Asians to communities in district 17. By 2013, more than half of the area’s residents were born outside of the United States. The racial and ethnic origins of the population had shifted to 25% Jamaicans; 18% Haitians; 15% Trinidadian; 13% Guyanese and 35% from other Caribbean Islands (New York City Department of City Planning, 2013,
p.42).