The Black Block Party Has Its Origins In Generations Of Community Building

Here’s the anatomy of a block party. Music. People. Food. Dance. And of course, the block itself. But where did it come from?

Around World War I, New Yorkers celebrated in the streets to send off local soldiers, which could potentially have been its origins in the U.S.

Neighborhood church gatherings to raise community funds and street parties to hear live music also share roots. But in the 70s, something shifted.

The rise of hip-hop came alongside the aftermath of “urban renewal” in New York. August 11, 1973 is often credited as the birth of the genre, when teenagers Cindy Campbell and DJ Kool Herc threw a music-filled indoor back-to-school party that eventually spilled out onto the streets.

Block parties marked peace treaties between neighborhood gangs. Young DJs and artists performed there, hungry to be heard. Residents even threw them to raise money for rent or back-to-school supplies. It was joy and community building all at once, holding us together when anti-Blackness, capitalism, and more worked to bring us down.

Black people solidified the block party as a mode of survival. Its history is archived in family photos, movies, gossip, rap lyrics, and even museums. And as we continue to organize them and feed into unity in our neighborhoods, we become a part of that history, too.