Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities

Oral Histories

CORE

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Greene, Aurelia, Bronx African American History Project Apr 2009

Greene, Aurelia, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Greene grew up in the Morrisania section of The Bronx; Third Avenue and 171st street in the 1940s and ‘50s and it was a racially mixed neighborhood. There were a few African-Americans, mostly Irish, some Italians, and some Jewish people too. Her parents separated and her maternal grandparents, Maud and Harold Russell raised her. Maud was from Trinidad and her grandfather was from St. Vincent. Maud “was Mulatto and she could pass for white”, as it was difficult during the Depression for African-Americans to get jobs, so she worked as a domestic in hotels downtown. She was very conscious …


Seymone, Robert, Bronx African American History Project Jul 2008

Seymone, Robert, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Robert Seymone (b. January 22, 1951) is originally from the Bronx, the son of an African-American mother from Little Rock, Arkansas and a German-Native American father from Pennsylvania. He is a theater, film, and television actor by trade, although he also has an informal background in music and dance. His mother was a dancer and performer who was heavily involved in show business. She was in the 1945 black film Big Timers, which starred Stephen Fechit, as the exotic dancer Tarzana. Robert’s mother frequently performed as character throughout New York, and she was backed by an all-female African-American band. She …


Brown, Rosemary, Bronx African American History Project Apr 2005

Brown, Rosemary, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Rosemary Brown, a civil rights activist and long-time Bronx resident, was interviewed for the Bronx African American History Project on April 21, 2005. Rosemary Brown and her large family of eight (eventually nine) first moved from Harlem to 1319 Prospect Ave. at the corner of 168th Street in 1940, when the Bronx was an especially good place for African American families, because it offered schools, better apartments, safer conditions, and a community where everyone looked out for each other. Prospect Ave. was a tree-lined block where children could play outside, and had residents of various races. The integrated community …