Shirley Chisholm Honored in Brooklyn Recreation Center

A new public landmark now stands in the heart of Central Brooklyn, carrying forward the story of a daughter of Caribbean immigrants who reshaped American politics. City leaders this month unveiled the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush, describing it as both a modern community hub and a tribute to Chisholm’s Caribbean roots.

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced the opening on February 10, presenting the nearly 74,000 square foot complex at Nostrand Playground as the largest recreation centre of its kind in Brooklyn. It is the first new Parks recreation centre built in more than a decade and the first ever constructed in Central Brooklyn. More than 41,000 residents live within a 15-minute walk or transit ride of the site, which sits in an area widely known as Little Haiti.

Chisholm, born Shirley Anita St. Hill in 1924, was the Brooklyn born daughter of parents from British Guiana, now Guyana, and Barbados. She spent part of her childhood in Barbados between the ages of five and nine and often referred to herself as Barbadian American. Her father, Charles St. Hill, was born in British Guiana before relocating to Barbados and later New York, while her mother, Ruby Seale, emigrated from Christ Church, Barbados. Supporters have long said that her Caribbean upbringing instilled discipline and shaped her political vision.

In 1968 she became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, representing Brooklyn’s 12th congressional district for seven terms. Four years later she made history again as the first Black candidate to seek a major party nomination for president and the first woman to pursue the Democratic Party nomination. Campaigning under the banner “Unbought and Unbossed,” she built a reputation as an advocate for civil rights, women’s rights and expanded food and nutrition programmes. She retired from Congress in 1983, later teaching at Mount Holyoke College. In 2015 she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

At the opening ceremony, Mamdani said the new centre signals an investment in accessible public space. “The Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center will soon be alive with possibility,” he said, adding that it reflects the belief that government must remain accountable to everyday people.

Assembly member Monique Chandler Waterman, the daughter of Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, emphasized the honoree’s heritage. “This space is a valuable resource for our community,” she said, urging leaders to embody Chisholm’s motto.

The facility includes an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, walking track, fitness rooms and a public plaza, along with a teaching kitchen and green roof built to meet LEED Gold standards. It will also house the Dr Roy A Hastick Sr Media Lab, named for the Grenadian born founder of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Membership is free for New Yorkers aged 24 and under, with discounts available for others.