"Prithi Kanakamedala's deeply-plumbed chronicle of four singular, albeit unsung, African American families --whose lives were ensconced in the decades between the American Revolution and the Reconstruction Era -- is both a vivid generational biography and an illuminating, long-overdue social history of 19th-century Brooklyn."--Eric K. Washington, author of Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal

"Kanakamedala offers a noteworthy and necessary atlas of Black Brooklyn that gives new insights into the trajectory of the nation. Bookshelves have been waiting for such a historic walk through the famed Borough. A refreshing prism to view the Republic of Brooklyn."--Kamau Ware, Founder of the Black Gotham Experience

"Through deep research and fantastic images, Brooklynites presents a powerful portrayal of racism and Black struggles for freedom, written by a leading public historian and scholar of nineteenth century America. Read this book and you will never again think the same way about Brooklyn, and America's complicated, contradictory, hard-edged, and hopeful history."--Brian Purnell, author of Fighting Jim Crow in the County of Kings: The Congress of Racial Equality in Brooklyn

"Vigorous history of a free Black community in Brooklyn and its contributions to the making of modern New York."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"In the years after the American Revolution, Brooklyn was a slaveholding capital. But there was a small, thriving Black community that established schools and churches, advocated for voting rights and increased its own financial power. Free Black Brooklyn underwent rapid change and growth while living under a veil of white supremacy and violence."-- "The Gothamist"

"Incredibly informative about Brooklyn's history, and the writing is LUSH!"-- "BKReader"