Little Haiti (Flatbush and Canarsie, Brooklyn)

New York City’s “Little Haiti” is not as concentrated or well known as Miami’s “Little Haiti.” There was an earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, and reporters went to what they termed New York’s “Little Haiti”—Flatbush, Crown Heights and Carnarsie in Brooklyn.
 
Brooklyn’s “Little Haiti” has been cited in print since at least 1980. Cambria Heights, Queens, has been called “Little Haiti” since at least 1995. In 2018, New York City officially designated parts of Flatbush, Brooklyn, as “Little Haiti.”
 
The area of Brooklyn’s “Little Haiti” was designated “Little Caribbean” in 2017.
 
 
Wikipedia: Haitian diaspora
New York City
New York City has the largest concentration of Haitians in the United States as well as the oldest established Haitian communities of the country. The conservative estimate of the legal Haitian population in the New York City Metropolitan Area, as recorded by INS is approximately 156,000. However, community leaders and directors of community centers, who come in constant contact with the illegal population, strongly believe that the actual number is closer to 400,000. This number includes the non-immigrant (temporary visitors, students, temporary workers and trainees) and undocumented entrants, as well as the legal population who does not bother to fill out the census forms for a variety of reasons. Moreover, the New York City Haitian population represents a very heterogeneous group, reflecting the various strata of Haitian society. Members of the middle class started migrating during the U.S. occupation in the 1920s and 1930s; at the time they established their enclaves in Harlem, where they mingled with African Americans and other Caribbean immigrants who were contributing to the Harlem Renaissance. Significant waves followed exponentially during the Duvalier era that started in 1957 and ended in 1986 with the ousting of Baby Doc. These waves were more heterogeneous than previous ones, as no single class of Haitians was immune from the Duvaliers’ dictatorship. To date, cohorts of Haitians continue to come to New York, many being sent for by relatives already established in the city. Haitians reside in all the boroughs.
 
Brooklyn
The largest communities are found in Brooklyn where the legal population is placed at approximately 88,763, and in Queens where the number of Haitians is believed to be around 40,000. Members of the community who are of working-class background tend to establish their residence in Brooklyn, primarily in the neighborhoods of Flatbush, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, and Canarsie; many are apartment dwellers many homes in the area are duplexes and triplexes. Middle-class Haitians who choose to stay in Brooklyn own brownstone homes in the Park Slope area and single family homes in the Midwood section.
 
Queens
Generally speaking, Haitians themselves consider the majority of their compatriots living in Queens to be mostly middle class. Members of this group enjoy ownership of their homes or cooperative apartments in the neighborhoods of Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, and Jamaica. Less privileged Haitians settle in the working-class neighborhoods of Rosedale; generally members of the professional community live in the more affluent section of Holliswood, and some move to the adjacent counties of Nassau and Suffolk which are parts of Long Island.
 
Other areas
In Manhattan, a small concentration of working-class Haitians (7%) congregates on the Upper West Side and Harlem. Some reside along Cathedral Parkway and in Washington Heights. Very few Haitians (less than 1%) establish their niches in the Bronx.
 
Google Books
The New Ethnics:
Asian Indians in the United States
By Nathan Glazer; Edwin Eames; Parmatma Saran
New York, NY: Praeger
1980
Pg. 101:
There is a Little Haiti along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, a large Dominican colony in Washington Heights, and important Greek communities in Astoria and in the Chelsea area of Manhattan.
 
New York (NY) Daily News
Cambria Hts.’ Little Haiti Storeowners Say Biz Mixed, Hope For Better Times
BY CLAIRE SERANT
Wednesday, July 12, 1995
(...)
Lured by Cambria Heights’ tree-lined streets and brick single-family homes, many Haitians left Brooklyn to settle in that southern section of Queens more than 20 years ago.
 
From 220th St. to the Nassau County line, Haitian-owned businesses draw loyal African-American and Caribbean customers who want to experience the culture of Haiti.
 
Google Books
Caribbean Migration:
Globalised Identities
By Mary Chamberlain
NewYork, NY: Routledge
1998
Pg. 55:
Whereas most Haitians in Miami live in a distinct neighbourhood known as Little Haiti, New York Haitians have no such equivalent. This contributes to their relatively low profile in New York as well. Most Haitians live in New York City sections where they are intermingled with English-speaking West Indians and native-born blacks.
 
The Telegraph (UK)
Heat rises on the mean streets
By Philip Delves Broughton
12:00AM BST 11 Aug 2000
(...)
But in the roughest areas of the city, from Brooklyn’s Little Haiti to the drug- addled streets of the South Bronx, the police presence is hard to miss.
 
Voices of New York
Flatbush Avenue: Little Haiti
Shana Ashby-Jobes, Valerie Buisson, and Nana Akua Nuamah
Introduction
According to the 2000 census, there are about 200,000 Haitian/Haitian American inhabitants in Brooklyn, showing that it is home to the largest number of Haitian immigrants in New York City. Immigrant groups typically reconstruct some part of their homeland culture in their new environment. Language, religion, music and cuisine, along with homeland politics, are the standard staples of immigrants’ reconstructed homeland cultures. These elements are prevalent throughout Flatbush Avenue, extending outwards to Nostrand Avenue and Church Avenue, two adjacent locations with a substantial amount of Haitian/Haitian Americans. The following analysis of the Haitian-American population along Flatbush Avenue will explore the above factors that distinguish this assemblage from other ethnic groups.
   
New York (NY) Daily News
Haitians Here Sick At Heart
BY TAMER EL-GHOBASHY AND DEREK ROSE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, March 01, 2004
(...)
In the section of Brooklyn’s Nostrand Ave. known as Little Haiti, the community was abuzz with news that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had gone into exile.
 
Brooklyn Ron
April 10, 2008
Brooklyn is Little Haiti, and It Must Care About U.S. Policies Destroying Haiti
It is only with considerable pain that one can look at our sister republic in the Caribbean, namely the wonderfully endowed Haiti, and behold its current plight.
     
Bud and Jane Dennington
Friday, February 13, 2009
Little Haiti in Brooklyn
(...)
There are over 500 Haitian churches here in Brooklyn alone and when they worship we feel that we have been transported back to the churches Haiti.
 
Voice of America
January 14, 2010
Large Haitian Community in Brooklyn Stays Tuned to Haitian Radio
Nathan King | Brooklyn, New York
The largest Haitian community outside of Haiti is scrambling to get news of loved ones hit by the devastating earthquake. More than 100,000 Haitians live in New York’s Little Haiti in Brooklyn, and there are several Haitian radio stations. As news of the disaster broke, many gathered outside of Radio Soleil D’Haiti.
 
Demotix
Brooklyn’s Little Haiti Mourns Earthquake Victims
Posted by Andrew Stern in Environment, on the 15th of January 2010
Members of Brooklyn’s Haitian community mourn loved ones killed in the recent earthquake in a special Mass held Friday at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn, also known as Little Haiti.
   
NYC Parade Life
May 29, 2011
Haitian Parade Raises Hope to Rebuild
The second leg of the weekend trifecta took Rachel and me to Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn where the 9th annual Haitian Day Parade and Springfest was about to get under way. This event is a culmination of a two week celebration including Haitian Flag Day on May 18th and other festivities held throughout Little Haiti in Brooklyn.
 
WNYC—The Brian Lehrer Show
The New Littles: Explore The Data and Map
Check Out The Census Data and Map and Add Your Notes
Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 06:00 AM
By John Keefe / Jody Avirgan : Producer, Brian Lehrer Show and It’s A Free Country
(...)
COMMENTS
stacey
Canarsie Brooklyn=“Little Haiti” (probably due to the earthquake)
Glendale Queens=“Little Germany”
Mount Hope Bronx=“Little Ghana”
Steinway area Queens=“Little Greece”
Richmond Hill Queens=“Little Guyana”
Jun. 10 2011 12:37 PM
 
6 July 2018, New York (NY) Times, “City Council Names a ‘Little Haiti,’ but Skips Naming a Street” by Jeffery C. Mays, pg. A17:
After years of meetings and planning, the City Council announced a ceremonial resolution last week that named a section of Flatbush “Little Haiti.” Members of the city’s Haitian community cheered and waved red and blue flags in the Council chambers in celebration.
 
“We recognize that the Haitian population in these neighborhoods in Brooklyn is an amazing thing,” Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker, said.
 
July 2018, Caribbean Today (Miami, FL), “RECOGNITION: New York City designates section in Brooklyn ‘Little Haiti’”. pg. 3a:
NEW YORK - New York City Council has passed a resolution designating a section of Flatbush, Brooklyn as “Little Haiti”.
 
The resolution designates areas within the boundaries of East 16th Street, Parkside Avenue, Brooklyn Avenue and along Church Williams Avenue, between East 16th Street and Albany Avenue, as “Little Haiti”.