Sonia Lonon, a community representative for the city who is black, watched in dismay, expressing sorrow that blacks and whites did not march together.

"It's very different now from what I grew up with, in the 60's, when Jews and blacks were all marching to Selma," Ms. Sambul said.

Following that assault, blacks marched through Bensonhurst.

And the blacks were marching.

And on July 5, 1827, 4,000 blacks marched along Broadway, preceded by an honor guard on horseback and a grand marshal carrying a drawn sword.

The blacks marched in unison.

And even as the blacks marched, a local Assemblyman and a group of white youths went through the neighborhood, urging residents to refrain from heckling or violence.

In April 1987, 400 blacks marched through the area to protest what they said was harassment by a Hasidic surveillance patrol.

A 68-year-old church member, who would identify himself only as John, said that neither blacks nor whites should march.