Red Hook Rumba is a song on Chembo Corniel Quintet's 2023 album, Artistas, Músicos y Poetas . Featuring vocals, in English and Spanish, by Felipe Luciano, the song tells the story of the middle passage and the African influence on...
The Chinese Exclusion Act & the Docks of Red Hook, ca. 1920
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States. Until it was repealed in 1943, Chinese sailors were not allowed ashore. Ships that let the sailors leave could be fined $500 per person....
Lost Love Found: Immigration, Romance and the Atlantic Basin, 1913
When the Steamer Uranium, from Rotterdam, via Halifax docked at Atlantic Basin's Pier 38 in Red Hook, all the talk was about love. Love was what people were talking about when the Steamer Uranium docked at Pier 38, Atlantic Basin, Red Hook, in...
Jewish Refugees Arrive on an Overcrowded Spanish Ship, 1941
617 refugees fleeing German-occupied European countries arrived at the foot of Columbia Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn in 1941. Crammed aboard the VILLA MADRID, a Spanish liner with accommodation for only 225, they complained about the conditions and...
Jewish Refugees fleeing German-occupied countries, arrive at Columbia Street dock aboard Spanish freighter NAVEMAR, 1941
The Spanish Freighter NAVEMAR left from Seville. Spain, with 1,120 passengers, in 1941. Most were Jewish refugees fleeing genocide in German-occupied countries. The conditions on the NAVEMAR, a ship designed with only 28 accommodations, were...
Song Celebrating the SS Carolina
The SS Carolina, was the means of migration for many Puerto Ricans, from 1906 to 1918. 1906 was the year the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company purchased the vessel and made Pier 35 in Red Hook's Atlantic Basin her homeport. ...
Bethesda Mission, 1905: shelter for needy Norwegian Sailors
The Bethesda Mission was founded in 1899 by local members of the Lutheran Church of America. Their purpose was to provide a steadying religious influence for young people. In 1905, they built the building at 22 Woodhull Street, Brooklyn. It had room...
Encarnancion Armas, Puerto Rican, interviewed in 1974, talks about her WaterStories.
Encarnancion Armas discusses her time living in Red Hook. selection from interview: The Liberty Party Club. “It was the Liberal Party Club. And we had a party for the children, and we had in the Red Hook Stadium, and it, we caught about 2 thousand...
Magda Acosta, Puerto Rican, talks about her Red Hook WaterStories, 1974
Excerpt of a 1974 conversation between Magda Acosta and interviewer Jamie Barreto: And do you remember the name of the boat? “Yes, the San Juan.” Where did it dock? “ I don’t remember the muelle [dock] I know it was over there by Conover and...
A brief history of the Norwegian community in New York and Brooklyn
A timeline of the Norwegian community in New York and Brooklyn has been wriiten by Lars Nilsen of the Norwegian Immigrants Association and can be found on his website: