When the streets of Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood were deteriorating in the late 1960s and early 1970s, teachers at P.S. 243 set out on a mission to connect students with their African-American heritage. "Project Weeksville" uncovered 19th-century artifacts of Weeksville, an independent, self-sufficient Black community established in the 1830s that had been forgotten in official records. Weeksville's founders built and administered their own schools, churches, orphanages, senior homes, and mutual aid insurance organizations. When Black New Yorkers were targeted during the violent New York City Draft Riots of 1863, Weeksville stood as an armed sanctuary to protect its community and offer refuge to those fleeing violence across the city. The 1971 segment "Digging for Black Pride" was part of "Black Journal." "Black Journal" was a monthly series of one-hour interconnected programs produced for, about, and — to a large extent — by Black Americans. The series reports on the ...