Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Walters, Delores, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Delores Walters was born in Lincoln hospital and lived in Rogers Place in the Bronx for nine years. Her parents grew up in Harlem and moved from there sometime in the 1940’s. Delores fondly recalls the block in the neighborhood and the street atmosphere on Rogers Place; she remembers being very active, with a lot of playmates. The community was predominantly Black, and the building she lived in was run by a Caribbean family whom she remembers doing a great job of keeping the building up. Although Delores does remember there being bullies, she never had difficulty with them in …

Blakeney, James, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

James Blakeney is a long time Bronx resident who grew up in the Patterson Housing Projects. His parents were sharecroppers from North and South Carolina. Neither of his parents received an education beyond the 6^th or 8^th grade. His father fought in World War II and then returned to the states to live in Queens, where James lived for three years, before moving to the Patterson Houses. His father worked at the mess hall of St. Albans Neighborhood Hospital and left the family, as many fathers were beginning to do, when James was ten years old. Mrs. Blakeney …

Johnson, Robert, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Robert Johnson

Interviewers: Mark Naison, Brian Purnell, Natasha Lightfoot, Claude Magnum, Maxine Gordon, and Peter Derrick

Summarized by Alice Stryker

Robert Johnson the Bronx District Attorney, was born in the Bronx, but moved to the Amsterdam houses shortly after he was born. His father was a clerk in the United States Post Office and his mother was a stay at home mom when they were growing up, but moved on to a number of positions once her children had matured. Their house was not very political.

His father was Catholic and his mother was Episcopalian. He and his brother …