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Brooklyn (popularly known as Lovejoy), is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Located two miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and three miles northeast of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, it is the oldest town incorporated by African Americans in the United States. It was founded by freed and fugitive slaves from St. Louis, led by "Mother" Priscilla Baltimore in the period of 1829 to 1839. Its motto is "Founded by Chance, Sustained by Courage".〔(Leslie Brown, "Review" of ''America's First Black Town: Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830-1915'' ), ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'', Spring 2002〕 The current mayor is Mayor Vera Banks-Glasper. Superstar Tina Turner regularly performed at a local club in her early years as an entertainer. A missionary AME Church was established in the new settlement in 1836.〔 Now known as Quinn's Chapel AME, its congregation is believed to have supported the Underground Railroad and aided fugitive slaves to freedom, together with members of the Antioch Baptist Church established in 1838. ==History== According to oral history tradition, by 1829 "Mother" Priscilla Baltimore led a group of eleven families, composed of both fugitive and free African Americans, to flee slavery in St. Louis, Missouri. They crossed the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois, where they established a freedom village in the American Bottoms. "Mother" Baltimore was said to have purchased her freedom as an adult from her master. She also bought the freedom of members of her family. Born in Kentucky, she tracked her white father to Missouri and bought her mother's freedom from him.〔 The earliest black families included Anderson, Sullivan, Singleton, Wilson, Cox, Wyatt, and Carper.〔(Carla W. Garner, "Brooklyn, Illinois (ca. 1823- )" ), ''Black Past'', accessed 15 January 2015〕 Miranda Yancey-Bailey, an archeologist working on a 21st-century project in Brooklyn, has found written evidence that Baltimore still lived in St. Louis in the 1830s; the first documentation of her associated with Brooklyn is from 1839. She may have been traveling between these locations for a time.〔(Véronique LaCapra, "Archaeologists Dig For Clues To African-American History In Brooklyn, Ill." ), St. Louis Public Radio, 13 October 2014, accessed 15 January 2015〕 Baltimore had become a Methodist preacher and participated in the religious life of the new settlement. William Paul Quinn, then a missionary of the newly formed African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), visited the settlement in 1836 and helped found the Brooklyn AME church that year. He had been assigned as a missionary that year to what was then called the Northwest, including Indiana and Ohio. Quinn was also active in planting new congregations in Kentucky and Missouri; he later became the fourth bishop of the AME Church. Brooklyn AME Church is thought to be the first AME Church west of the Appalachian Mountains. It is now known as Quinn's Chapel AME Church in his honor. In 1837, five white abolitionists platted the land and created an unincorporated nearly all-black town. Thomas Osburn was one of them, and he is documented as having lived in the area for decades. Priscilla Baltimore built a house on his former land, which she occupied from 1851-1872.〔 In the 1840s and 1850s, the African-American population of the village was about 200.〔Cha-Jua (2000), ''America's First Black Town'', pp. 45〕 Before the American Civil War and the end of slavery, residents here may have used Quinn Chapel AME Church and Antioch Baptist Church (1838) as stations on the Underground Railroad to aid slaves escaping to freedom.〔Glennette T. Turner, ''The Underground Railroad in Illinois,'' Newman Educational Publishing, 2001: 25, 34, 71).〕 Both of these church buildings have survived. Antioch Baptist Church also still stands.〔("Brooklyn, Illinois Archeology Project" ), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, accessed 31 Oct 2010〕 On July 8, 1873, Brooklyn, Illinois was incorporated. By 1880, its population included 371 African-American and 203 European-American residents.〔Cha-Jua (2000), ''America's First Black Town'', pp. 45, 85〕 In the late 19th century, its residents joined in taking new industrial jobs, commuting to those in East St. Louis and nearby areas. "Blacks who migrated to what became known as Brooklyn were attracted to the possibilities of working in an industrialized settlement that would enjoy race autonomy and self-determinism."〔(Vibert White, "Reviews: Small town, big vision" ), Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, ''America's First Black Town: Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830-1915''], ''Illinois Heritage'', 2002, accessed 30 Oct 2010〕 In 1886, the African-American majority worked to register voters and gained political control of the village. As with most political enterprises, factions developed within the community. Regional capital investment largely bypassed Brooklyn, taking place in the competing East St. Louis, Illinois, which gained the all-important railroad connection. Other white-majority towns also benefited by being part of the network of investment.〔 "()lmost none of the all-Black towns obtained a railroad."〔Cha-Jua (2000), ''America's First Black Town'', pp. 41-42〕 The small village soon became all black. In 1891, then-Mayor Evans dedicated the town's new post office with the name Lovejoy (after the abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy, who had been assassinated in Alton, Illinois in 1837). The later high school was also named after him. Black autonomy did not automatically yield unity in the village. Tensions ran high with class and color conflicts by the early decades of the twentieth century, and evidence of political corruption. In addition, with the growth in number of young, single male workers, attracted to industrial jobs, the demographics changed and family life in the village declined.〔(Reviews: ''America's First Black Town, Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830-1915'' & ''Strangers in the Land of Paradise: The Creation of an African American Community, Buffalo, New York, 1900-1940''. (Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus) ), ''Urban History Review'', 1 Mar 2002, accessed 31 Oct 2010〕 With the decline of industry from the mid-20th century on and the loss of jobs, Brooklyn has suffered high unemployment and problems similar to those of East St. Louis. It has struggled with persistent crime, and a limited economy and tax base. A cluster of bars and strip clubs provide a primary source of revenue in its limited economy. In June 2007, it was reported that three-quarters of Brooklyn's revenue of $380,000 comes through sales tax and a $30,000 licensing fee from the adult clubs.〔(Angie Leventis, "Adult industry gives thousands back to tiny Brooklyn" ), ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', 9 June 2007〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brooklyn, Illinois」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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