World Travels with Ron Brown

Brooklyn: The Native American Capital of America

Most people believe that the Native Americans were either killed off or exiled to distant reservations. One group resisted death and exile by migrating to Boerum Hill in the heart of Brooklyn and gaining fame as the “Steel Walkers.” A genetic defect among the Mohawk Indians erased the gene that causes most people to recoil from heights. The Mohawks were the men who built The Empire State Building, The George Washington Bridge, The United Nations, The Woolworth Building, Lincoln Center, The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and most of the other buildings that created the New York City skyline. For decades, they preserved their Mohawk language, customs, traditions, religion, and genetic purity in Brooklyn, until replaced by modern technology. Boerum Hill preserved this fascinating history of the Indian Tribe that lived in the heart of the modern city.