Hattie Carthan

Hattie Carthan (September 7, 1900 – April 22, 1984) was an American community activist and environmentalist who was instrumental in improving the quality of life of the Brooklyn, New York community of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Biography Originally from Washington, DC, she moved to Brooklyn in 1928. After she and her husband split, she remarried in 1943. She later separated from her second husband in 1954 while working as a field interviewer for a market research company.

Carthan moved to the tree-lined block of Vernon Avenue between Tompkins Ave and Throop Ave in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1953. By 1964, only three trees remained due to the deterioration of the neighborhood at that time. She sent postcards to everyone on her block and formed the T & T Vernon Avenue Block Association, which raised funds to buy and plant trees by throwing block parties. The City of New York supported her efforts: Mayor John Lindsay attended one of the block parties, and the City Parks Department provided trees under its tree matching program. As chairman of the organization, the Beautification Committee was awarded a grant in 1971 to teach youth about tree care and provide a stipend for summer work, known as the Neighborhood Tree Corps. She oversaw over 100 block associations which planted over 1,500 trees including those of the ginkgo, sycamore, and honeylocust varieties.