Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Braithwaite, John, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Summarized by Concetta Gleason

John Braithwaite moved with his family fromManhattaninto theBronxontoKelly Streetin 1945 when he was two years old. His parents learned of theBronxandKelly Streetfrom their friends. Braithwaite’s parents and many of his neighbors were fromBarbados. The neighborhood and schools were very diverse with Italians, Jews, Spanish and blacks (both from the South and the Caribbean), and that did not change until the Cross-Bronx Expressway divided theBronxin half. The family was associated with St. Margaret’s Protestant Episcopal Church. His family has a great love for the arts; his father was a tailor, but painting was his passion, his older …

Cruse, Harrison Jr., Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Harrison Cruse, Jr.

Interviewer: Mark Naison

Summarized by Sheina Ledesma

Harrison Cruse, Jr. was born on August 10, 1935 in Morningside Heights, Harlem. His mother’s family was originally from Virginia and North Carolina but decided to move north during the 1920’s after experiencing an increasingly racist and violent climate due to activity by the Ku Klux Klan. His father was African American and Native American and had grown up on an Indian reservation with his mother in Roanoke Virginia. His father served in the First World War and later joined the Northwestern Railroad where he worked for many years. …