Steeped in history and tradition, Brooklyn's 11th
Congressional District can boast some of the many firsts in the
United States, if not the world. Eastern Parkway spanning the
breath of the Crown Heights section in the district, was the
first six-lane parkway built in the world. The underground
Brooklyn Children’s Museum
is the first and oldest children’s
museum in the United States. Perched on Bergen Street
between Buffalo and Rochester Avenues is
Weeksville, the landmark buildings
of one of the earliest African American communities in Brooklyn
dating back to the mid 1800s. Park Slope with its rows of
Brownstones, elegant turn-of-the century architecture, fanciful
restaurants and antique shops is the largest landmark district
in New York boasting some 1,600 designated buildings. Erasmus
Hall High School on Flatbush Avenue founded by historical
notables Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and Aaron Burr in 1786
is the first secondary school chartered in New York and the
second oldest public school in the United States. The West
Indian Carnival held every Labor Day is the first of its kind in
North America and the largest festival in New York State. The
Panorama competition that compliments the colorful Labor Day
Carnival brings to the district the sounds of the only
family of acoustic instruments developed in the 20th Century, the steel
drum and steel pan.
Indeed, the 11th Congressional
District is not only rich in history and tradition; it is a
mosaic of ethnicities and cultures. From “Little Pakistan” is
in the southern end, to the worldwide headquarters of the
Lubavitch Hasidic Jews and the Haitians "La Saline" in
the center;
to the Ashkenazi, Sephardic and other southern European Jews,
Chinese, and Iranians in the Midwood section, to the East
Indians, Poles, Mexicans, Indonesians, Turks,
Guyanese, Russians, Dominicans and Jamaicans in
Kensington, and the 14 English-speaking populations—Bajans, Trinidadians and Tobagonians,
Vincentians, Saint Lucians, Jamaicans, Grenadians, Antiguans—in
East Flatbush and Crown Heights; the district is home to the
largest wave of new immigrants to the United States. As a
result much of the constituent work relates to issues concerning
immigration.
The district also has a sizeable population
of African Americans whose history dates back to
the mid-1600s. This population resides in various sections of
the district including Park Slope, Crown Heights, and
Brownsville.
According to the latest Census, 654, 361 people call the
district home. Almost one-fourth are White (24 percent); 57
percent are African American and 12 percent are Hispanic or
Latino.