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Hanson, Avis Interview 2, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Avis Hanson 2^nd Interview

Interviewer: Dr. Mark Naison, Natasha Lightfoot, Patricia Wright

Summarized by Alice Stryker

She begins by talking about her West Indian heritage. Her mother came from Antigua and her father came from Jamaica. Her mother and father met in New York City and got married shortly there after. The family moved to the Bronx, which she discussed in the first interview. When Avis was young, her mother sent for her aunt to live with them. However, they did not have good relations with the rest of her extended family. Her father’s Jamaican family did not …

Altschul, Barry, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Born in 1943, Barry Altschul grew up in the West Bronx in the forties and fifties. Altschul is a jazz drummer who first learned to play the drums at age eleven. He grew up playing shows in the Bronx and Harlem while also attending “jam sessions” where he received pointers from jazz musicians such as Philly Joe and Art Blakey.

Altschul attended elementary school at PS 70, junior high school at PS 117, and then attended Taft High School. Altschul’s elementary school’s ethnic makeup was mostly white, whereas in high school Altschul recalls that the student body was 21% black. …

Rooks, Valerie, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Valerie Rooks, born on July 29, 1954, grew up in the Sedgwick Housing Projects of the Bronx. Her parents, Helen Eugenia Hagen and Robert Lee Dillard, raised in Connecticut and Georgia respectively, moved into the project in 1952. Rooks recalls spending summers with her father’s family in Savannah Georgia in her preteen years. The Dillards worked several jobs to support their five children. In addition to working for the post office, her father took on odd jobs including cab driving and mechanic work. Her mother too held various part-time positions such as working for the board of elections, the census …