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Please add profiles of people who were born, lived or died in (or were notable for their ties to) Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Bedford-Stuyvesant, colloquially known as Bed-Stuy, is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Bedford-Stuyvesant is bordered by Flushing Avenue to the north (bordering Williamsburg), Classon Avenue to the west (bordering Clinton Hill), Broadway to the east (bordering Bushwick and East New York), and Atlantic Avenue to the south (bordering Crown Heights and Brownsville). The main shopping street, Fulton Street, runs east-west the length of the neighborhood and intersects high-traffic north-south streets including Bedford Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, and Stuyvesant Avenue. Bedford-Stuyvesant contains four smaller neighborhoods: Bedford, Stuyvesant Heights, Ocean Hill, and Weeksville (also part of Crown Heights). Part of Clinton Hill was once considered part of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Bedford-Stuyvesant has the largest collection of intact and largely untouched Victorian architecture in the United States, with roughly 8,800 buildings built before 1900. Its building stock includes many historic brownstones. These homes were developed for the expanding upper-middle class from the 1890s to the late 1910s. These homes contain highly ornamental detailing throughout their interiors and have classical architectural elements, such as brackets, quoins, fluting, finials, and elaborate frieze and cornice banding.
Since the late 1930s, the neighborhood has been a major cultural center for Brooklyn's African American population. Following the construction of the Fulton Street subway line (A and C trains) in 1936, African Americans left an overcrowded Harlem for greater housing availability in Bedford-Stuyvesant. From Bedford-Stuyvesant, African Americans have since moved into the surrounding areas of Brooklyn, such as East New York, Crown Heights, Brownsville, and Fort Greene. Since the early 2000s, Bedford-Stuyvesant has undergone significant gentrification, resulting in a dramatic demographic shift combined with increasing rent and real estate prices.
Bedford-Stuyvesant is mostly part of Brooklyn Community District 3, though a small part is also in Community District 8. Its primary ZIP Codes are 11205, 11206, 11216, 11221, 11233, and 11238. Bedford-Stuyvesant is patrolled by the 79th and 81st Precincts of the New York City Police Department. Politically it is represented by the New York City Council's 36th District.
Notable people with ties to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, from Wikipedia:
- Aaliyah (1979-2001), Grammy-nominated singer
- Aja (born 1994), drag queen and performer
- Harry Allen (born 1963), hip hop activist and journalist
- William Baker (1866-1930), New York City Police Commissioner and Philadelphia Phillies owner
- A. R. Bernard (born 1953), Evangelist pastor, businessman, banker
- Big Daddy Kane (born 1968), rapper
- Memphis Bleek (born 1978), rapper
- Sara Blomqvist (born 1989), model
- Kurt Boone (born 1959), author
- Mark Breland (born 1963), boxer
- Lola Brooke, rapper
- Foxy Brown (born 1978), rapper
- Nixzmary Brown (1998-2006), murder victim who death led to reforms in New York City's child services
- Miriam Carey (1979-2013), killed by Secret Service officers after she tried to infiltrate White House security
- Lil Cease (born 1977), rapper
- Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005), congresswoman
- Alice Clark (circa 1947-2004), soul singer
- Elvis Comrie (born 1959), football (soccer) player and coach
- Andrew W. Cooper (1927-2002), journalist
- Imani Coppola (born 1978), singer-songwriter
- Steve Cuozzo (born 1950), editor and writer/journalist
- Duncan Curry (1812-1894), baseball pioneer and insurance executive
- Malkia Cyril (born 1974), poet and media activist
- Alan Dale (1925-2002), singer and star of The Alan Dale Show
- James E. Davis (1962-2003), police officer, corrections officer, and assassinated politician
- Tommy Davis (1939-2022), professional baseball player and coach, who played in Major League Baseball as a left fielder and third baseman from 1959 to 1976 for ten different teams, most notably for the Los Angeles Dodgers
- Deemi (born 1980), singer
- Desiigner (born 1997), rapper
- Carol Douglas (born 1948), singer
- Easy Mo Bee (born 1965), record producer
- Ansel Elgort (born 1994), actor
- Nelson Erazo (born 1977), professional wrestler better known by his ring name Homicide
- Aprille Ericsson-Jackson (born 1963), aerospace engineer
- Fabolous (born 1977), rapper
- Tom Feelings (1933-2003), cartoonist, illustrator
- Bobby Fischer (1943-2008), eleventh World Chess Champion
- Yonnette Fleming (born 1968), urban farmer and community earth steward
- CJ Fly (born 1993), rapper and producer
- Emily Jordan Folger (1858-1936), co-founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library
- William Forsythe (born 1955), actor
- Fab Five Freddy (born 1959), hip hop pioneer
- Jackie Gleason (1916-1987), actor, comedian
- Carl Gordon (1932-2010), actor
- Earl G. Graves Sr. (1935-2020), entrepreneur, publisher, businessman, philanthropist, and advocate
- Kadeem Hardison (born 1965), actor, portrays Dwayne Wayne on A Different World
- Richie Havens (1941-2013), musician and poet
- Connie Hawkins (1942-2017), Basketball Hall of Fame player
- Lena Horne (1917-2010), actress and singer
- Louis Hostlot (1848-1884), Catholic priest
- Randolph Jackson (born 1943), attorney, author and retired justice of the New York Supreme Court
- Jay-Z (born 1969), rapper and entrepreneur, who lived in the Marcy Housing Projects for most of his childhood
- Jaz-O (born 1964), rapper
- Joey Badass (born 1995), rapper
- Anna V. Jefferson (1926-2011), politician
- Ariyan A. Johnson, actress, television director, dancer and choreographer
- Maliq Johnson (born 2000), actor
- Norah Jones (born 1979), singer
- June Jordan (1936-2002), Caribbean American poet, novelist, journalist, biographer, dramatist, teacher and activist
- William Joyce (1906-1946), American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster
- Shake Keane (1927-1997), musician and poet
- Wee Willie Keeler (1872-1923), Baseball Hall-of-Famer
- Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly (1946-2019), pioneer of African-American genealogy, author
- William Chauncey Kibbe (1822-1904), California pioneer and the third Adjutant General of California
- Eleanor Kieliszek (1925-2017), politician
- Shaka King (born 1980), film director, screenwriter, and film producer
- Brian Kokoska (born 1988), artist
- Rich Krueger (born 1960), rock singer-songwriter and neonatologist
- Talib Kweli (born 1975), emcee
- Lil' Kim (born 1974), rapper
- Jammal Lord (born 1981), former American football quarterback
- Maino (born 1973), rapper
- Glenn E. Martin (born 1970), social justice consultant
- Lesra Martin (born 1963), lawyer, writer, motivational speaker
- Walter Ralston Martin (1928-1989), Baptist Christian minister and author
- Masta Ace (born 1966), rapper
- Ernest Mateen (1966-2012), boxing champion
- Frank Matthews (1944-1973), drug trafficker and crime boss
- Frank McCourt (1930-2009), a writer, and Malachy McCourt (born 1931), an actor, writer and politician; Frank's autobiographical bestseller Angela's Ashes describes their early childhood life in a working-class apartment building on Classon Avenue
- Ralph McDaniels (born 1962), music video director
- Frank Mickens (1946-2009), educator
- Stephanie Mills (born 1957), singer
- Mister Cee (born 1966),
- Sauce Money (born 1969), rapper
- Dianne Morales (born 1967), non-profit executive, 2021 mayoral candidate for New York City
- Justina Morales (1987-1995), murdered by mother's boyfriend and highlighted shortcomings of New York City's child services
- Tracy Morgan (born 1968), comedian and actor
- Mos Def (aka Yasiin Bey) (born 1973), rapper
- Francis Mugavero (1914-1992), Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn
- Ali Shaheed Muhammad (born 1970), DJ, producer and member of A Tribe Called Quest
- Una Mulzac (1923-2012), African American bookseller
- Cisero Murphy (1935-1996), professional pool player
- Jack Newfield (1938-2004), journalist
- Harry Nilsson (1941-1994), musician, songwriter and author
- The Notorious B.I.G. (born Christopher Wallace; also Biggie Smalls) (1972-1997), rapper, grew up near the Clinton Hill-Bed Stuy border
- Robert Nugent (1824-1901), U.S. Army officer during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars
- Oddisee (born 1985), rapper and producer
- Ol' Dirty Bastard (1968-2004), rapper
- Kambui Olujimi (born 1976), visual artist
- Helen Palmer (1898-1967), children's writer, editor, and philanthropist
- Papoose (born 1978), rapper
- Richard Parsons (born 1948), business executive, former chairman of Citigroup and former chairman and CEO of Time Warner
- Diane Patrick (born 1951), lawyer, First Lady of Massachusetts
- Floyd Patterson (1935-2006), boxer
- Earle M. Pilgrim (1923-1976), artist
- Martha M. Place (1849-1899), first woman to be put to death in the electric chair
- Michael Premo, artist, key Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Sandy participant
- Lee Quiñones (born 1960), artist and actor
- Evette Rios, lifestyle expert, writer, television host and designer
- Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), professional baseball player with the Brooklyn Dodgers
- Stephen C. Robinson (born 1957), former US District Judge
- Chris Rock (born 1965), actor/comedian; also made a TV series about his early life, with much of it based in Bedford-Stuyvesant
- Tony Rock (born 1974), comedian and younger brother of Chris Rock
- Ruddy Roye (born 1969), photographer
- John E. Ruston (1872-1932), former Brooklyn District Attorney
- Shotti (born 1982), record executive
- Gabourey Sidibe (born 1983), Academy Award-nominated actress
- Larry Silverstein (born 1931), businessperson
- Walter Simon (1916-1979), painter
- Skyzoo (born 1982), rapper
- Sherrod Small (born 1973), comedian and actor
- Bette Smith, soul, rock and blues singer
- Joseph Sprague (1783-1854), Brooklyn mayor, businessperson
- Brandon Stanton (born 1984), Humans of New York author and photographer
- Nelson Stevens (1938-2022), African-American painter and muralist
- Amiri and Rahiem Taylor (born circa 1994), singer-songwriters
- Tek (born 1973), one half of Smif-N-Wessun
- Franklin A. Thomas (1934-2021), businessperson and philanthropist
- Bill Thompson (born 1953), New York City 2013 Mayoral candidate
- Julius Thompson, novelist
- Conrad Tillard (born 1964), politician, Baptist minister, radio host, author and civil rights activist
- Ronnie Trucchio (born 1951), mobster in the Gambino crime family
- Mike Tyson (born 1966), boxer, lived there with his family until the age of 10
- Silas Albertson Underhill (1838-1906), Quaker, an attorney, assistant clerk in the New York Supreme Court
- Albert Vann (1934-2022), politician
- Martha Wainwright (born 1976), singer
- Dan Washburn (born 1973), author of The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream
- Kariamu Welsh (1949-2021), contemporary dance choreographer and scholar
- Jitu Weusi (1939-2013), educator, education advocate, author and community leader
- Whodini, hip-hop group
- Craig Steven Wilder, professor
- Lenny Wilkens (born 1937), Basketball Hall of Fame player and coach
- Juan Williams (born 1954), journalist and political analyst
- Ted Williams (born 1957), voiceover artist
- Vanessa A. Williams (born 1963), actress
- C. Kelly Wright, actress, singer and dancer