© Russell Frederick

“In 1999, as I walked out my apartment, I saw a transformation taking place. New street lights? What is this about? As I searched for answers, I saw and heard of more changes starting to occur in my neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (street vendors were being moved, the Franklin Avenue shuttle was being rebuilt and talks of rent in the neighborhood being doubled in ten years were being discussed at community board meetings). Two years prior, I had just started teaching myself how to photograph. With change coming to the community and the stigma of the neighborhood being a slum, I decided to make photographs that would reflect what I saw.

“In the early 1800s, Bedford-Stuyvesant was one of the few neighborhoods in New York City where black people were able to buy land, homes, build schools, open churches and start their own businesses. Today, Bedford-Stuyvesant is at a crossroads. In an article featured last year in The New York Times it was reported that Bedford-Stuyvesant was once the largest black metropolis in America but it is now 60 percent black. Real estate values are up, cafés and small businesses are opening up everywhere, the Brooklyn Nets stadium is three train stops away, streets are being repaved and the police presence is greater. Will the diverse immigrant and southern culture that made Bedford-Stuyvesant what it is today be the same in five years? Does it matter? With unemployment especially high amongst black men, where are the longtime residents of this middle-class community moving to? What can be done? I moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1989 seeking my first apartment. Eighteen years later I moved out to Bushwick. The photographs I am sharing with you are from the ongoing series ‘Dying Breed: Photographs of a Community at Risk.'” –Courtesy of Russell Frederick

Frederick’s series was recently on display in a container exhibit at Brooklyn’s Photoville event in June.

© Russell Frederick

 © Russell Frederick

 © Russell Frederick

© Russell Frederick

© Russell Frederick

© Russell Frederick

 © Russell Frederick

© Russell Frederick

© Russell Frederick