Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Gordon, Ina, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Summarized by Kathryn Amend

Ina Gordon grew up on Morris Avenue, just east of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. She describes her childhood with two siblings in a tiny apartment, and her happy upbringing despite her family’s economic struggles. She reminisces on summers spent renting bungalows in the Catskills and childhood joys such as roller skating, visiting the library, and playing tennis.

Gordon explains the importance of education in her family, and describes how she ended up traveling to the University of Chicago for her undergraduate degree. She and her brother both received scholarships to attend. They had a …

Brock, Joan, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Joan Brock, born 1943, grew up on Bryant Avenue between 173 and 174 Streets in the Bronx. The East Bronx was considered poorer than the West Bronx, split by the Grand Concourse. Both of her parents were born and raised in New York, and they met while they were both working in a tea factory. Her father would get into the business of selling vending machines until Brock was 13 and he bought a hardware store. Her mother never worked after marrying except to help her husband with the store.

Brock describes the neighborhood as predominantly Jewish and Italian, though …

Gruder, Vivian, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Vivian Gruder, born 1937, grew up on Fulton Avenue, across the street from Crotona Park. She fondly remembers the park and how, when her older siblings were young, people would take chairs and sit in the park to escape the heat. The area is described as a “Jewish Village,” though the schools were more mixed with Irish teachers and Italian and some classmates of color, though her friends were mostly Jewish. She remembers a baseball game of the Jewish boys versus the Italian boys. Gruder describes kosher butchers and shops along Bathgate Avenue. Her mother stayed at home, and her …

Katz, Gloria, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Gloria Katz’s family immigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe, moving up from the Lower East Side to the Bronx on Park Avenue. She describes her many relatives coming to New York and making lives for themselves, including her parents meeting on a singles cruise around Manhattan for young immigrants and getting married. Her older brother was born in 1934, and was a rebellious and hyperactive child, getting kicked out of yeshiva and sent to public school. Katz was born in September 1944. She explains that because her father did not have stable employment in the fur industry during …

Fogelman, Charles, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Charles Fogelman’s parents came to New York City as children in the beginning of the 20th century. They were married in 1932, and his father became a doctor, fighting antisemitic quotas to go to medical school, and completing his residency at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. His father had a practice in the East Bronx, on Elder Avenue, when Fogelman was born in 1946 and he grew up in a semi-detached house nearby on Ward Avenue. He describes it as a lower-middle class, predominantly Jewish neighborhood, with Irish and Italian neighbors, and with many synagogues, so it felt very …

Jakubovitz, Bruce, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Bruce Jakubovitz, born 1956, was the son of Bronx born parents and grandson of immigrants from Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland. He lived in a three bedroom apartment with his three siblings and parents across from St. James Park. The area was predominantly Jewish, Italian, and Irish, and the kids would play in the street and hang out along the stoops on 191st Street. Growing up in a kosher, Orthodox home, Jakubovitz would go to synagogue every Saturday morning and he could not go out to play with his friends on Shabbat. Yet, all the different ethnic and religious groups got …

Malasky, Michael, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Michael Melasky, born 1957, grew up in the Marble Hill public housing project that was created for veterans of World War Two and their families, until his family moved to Co-op City in 1969. His grandparents immigrated from Poland and started their families on the Lower East Side then the South Bronx, but most of their family was killed in the Holocaust. Quoting Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Melasky describes growing up in a cramped and diverse environment in the turbulent 1960s. There were always other kids around to play with, …

Becker, Ann Joy, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Ann Joy Becker, born 1959, grew up outside of Parkchester on Thieriot Avenue in the Archer Stratton Co-op. Her grandparents, immigrants from Eastern Europe, were peddlers on Pelham Parkway. She attended PS 102 and Columbus High School, because her mother did not want her to go to James Monroe High School because it was considered a bad school and dangerous for a white girl. The co-op and surrounding area was mostly Jewish and Italian, with minorities on the other side of the highway. Becker explains there were more issues with other white ethnic groups than with minorities at that time. …

Newman, Ellen, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Ellen Newman was born in 1953 in Bronx Hospital. Both sets of grandparents had immigrated to New York City as young children and her parents were both raised in the Bronx. She attended PS 114, by Yankee Stadium, Macombs Junior High School, Taft High School, and Lehman College for both her bachelor’s and master’s. Her family would go to upstate New York in the summers, and her father was an accountant and her mother was a bookkeeper. Newman lived in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx until her family moved to Scott Towers, a Mitchell Lama Co-op. The Highbridge neighborhood …

Everette Brown, Jacqueline, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Interviewees: Jacqueline Everette Brown

Interviewers: Mark Naison

Date: August 2020

Summarized by Trystan Edwards

Jacqueline Everette Brown was born in the Bedstuy community of Brooklyn, New York. She fondly recollects her childhood as one of three girls in her family. Her mother and father migrated to New York from Georgia during the great migration in the late thirties. Brown and her family moved back to Georgia in the early 1950’s. It is during this time that she faced more overt racism, evidenced by her having to ride in the back of the bus. Nevertheless, Brown and her family quickly adjusted. …

Jackson, Sheila And Ann Myers, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Interviewees: Sheila Jackson, Ann Myers

Interviewers: Mark Naison, Saudah Muhammad, April Fowler

Transcriber: Christian Contreras

Bronx African History Project founder Professor Mark Naison discussed with two members of the historically black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha- Sheila Jackson and Ann Myers. The sorors (members of a sorority) pledged to the Eta Eta Omega Chapter (or Bronx AKAs) in 1978. During the interview, the sorors covered their biographies, the Eta Omega chapter's community projects, and the evolution of their branch and the AKA sorority as a whole.

Biographies:

Sheila Jackson was born in the Harlem Hospital and has one older sister. For …

Lovecidal: Walking With The Disappeared [Table Of Contents], Trinh T. Minh-Ha

Cinema & Media Studies

“Lovecidal: Walking with the Disappeared is filled with provocation and guided by evocation. Encompassing various forms (poetry, treatise, memoir, and historiography) and capaciously conceived, Trinh T. Minh-ha’s contemplation of war, state-authorized violence, state-sanctioned ‘security,’ and international amnesia is skillfully tempered by observations of beauty, humanity, and resistance. To say that this is an important book is in many ways an understatement; rather, Lovecidal is transformative.” —Cathy Schlund-Vials, author of War, Genocide, and Justice: Cambodian American Memory Work

Belton, Frank Interview 1, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Frank Belton was raised in the Morrisania neighborhood of the South Bronx from the time that he was 9 years old. He was born in Harlem, then later his family moved around a bit before settling in a home on Chisholm Street in 1948. Although he had lived in the city when he was younger, he had his first experiences with Puerto Ricans when he moved to the South Bronx. Chisholm Street had a fairly mixed population, but his schools were mostly made up of Puerto Ricans. He says that this mixing of racial backgrounds did not affect relationships between …

Belton, Frank Interview 2, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Frank Belton was raised in the Morrisania neighborhood of the South Bronx for most of his life. He left in January of 1960 to attend Morgan State College, now Morgan State University, and returned to the South Bronx after receiving his degree in June of 1965. In the first interview session Frank discussed growing up in the Morrisania neighborhood. In this session he talks about his return to the South Bronx and the changes that he noticed.

When Frank returned from Morgan State, he moved only a few blocks from his parents home on Chisholm Street, to Teller Ave and …

Carr, Sylvia, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Racial dynamics of the Bronx was the central theme of this interview. There was a consensus shared amongst each interviewee that the Bronx during their childhoods was a racially heterogeneous area. The area known as Fish Avenue were Sylvia Carr grew up was primarily composed of very well off blacks. However, the blacks who lived in this area were lighter skinned as each interviewee pointed out. Each participant acknowledged a certain light skinned v. dark skinned power dynamic. Indeed, some of those interviewed were able to “pass” and were often mistaken for white. In addition to the presence of blacks …

Antonio T. De Nicolás: Poet Of Eternal Return, Christopher Key Chapple

Research Resources

This book includes essays in honor of Professor Antonio de Nicolas.

Journal For The Philosophical Study Of Education Vol 2 (2014), Allan Johnston, Guillemette Johnston, Samuel Rocha

Research Resources

Welcome to the second volume of the Journal for the Philosophical Study of Education (JPSE), a peer-reviewed journal put out by the Society for the Philosophical Study of Education (SPSE). JSPE aims to publish papers that approach the field of education from a philosophical perspective, in the broadest sense of the term. Some of the papers considered for publication may be selected from works presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Philosophical Study of Education by members of that organization, after these papers undergo peer review and revision. However, this journal does not limit its content to …

“Who Do You Think You Are?” On Nietzsche’S Schopenhauer, Illich’S Hugh Of St. Victor, And Kleist’S Kant, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Last Of The Bronx Giants: Mayoral Control, School Reform, And The Fate Of Bronx High Schools, Ben Delikat

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Ahmed, Ramatu, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Ramatu Ahmed

Interviewer: Dr. Mark Naison

Date of Interview: March 10, 2010

Summarized by Sheina Ledesma

Ramatu Ahmed is a leader in the Ghanaian community in New York City. She is currently a committee member of the National Council of Women of the United States and the Harlem Hospital’s Medina Clinic but is actively involved in many other projects and organizations that are working towards the improvement of the lives of women who live in both Africa and America. One of her greatest passions is bringing awareness to the issue of the lack of availability of higher education for …

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. …

Yartel Iii, Nan, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Nan Yartel III was born on the 15^th of an unmentioned month in 1965 in a village called Amatsou in the West African nation of Ghana. He attended primary school from 1971 until 1981. He is a member of the Fanti ethnic groups, one of the many different ethnic groups found in Ghana.

As a member of the Fanti people, he was able to obtain the position of chief, which enabled him the opportunity to finish his secondary education and thus came to the United States to do such that. He completed his education back in his homeland of …

Wallace, Kojo, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Born September 16, 1985, Wallace grew up with his family in Tarkwa, Ghana. In 1988, his father immigrated to the United States and has worked as a taxi driver. His father is also a leader within the Ghanaian community in the Bronx. In 2006, Wallace immigrated to the Bronx with his siblings and has been living with his father on Sedgwick Avenue. He will be attending medical school in the September 2010. He has an older brother who is talking college classes and is also in the United States Navy, a sister who is working to become a nurse, and …

Brown, Genevieve, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Ms. Genevieve Smith-Brown

Interviewer: Dr. Brian Purnell

Date: April 19, 2008

Summarized by: Estevan Román

Ms. Genevieve Smith-Brown is (was) a resident of the Bronx. She was a very involved community activist, volunteered her time for Seabury Daycare, policy board member Model Cities program of the and President of the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes organization.

Ms. Genevieve Smith-Brown, formerly Genevieve Smith-Brooks was born on July 12^th, 1937 in Anderson, South Carolina. In a town where most of the African-Americans were sharecroppers, Genevieve’s parents were one of the few African-Americans that owned a farm in Anderson, South Carolina. This farm …

Mcgee, Mildred Interview 1, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Mrs. Mildred McGee was born June 29, 1927 and married to Judge Hansel McGee. Also interviewed here are her daughter Dr. Elizabeth McGee and Mr. Leroi Archible. In the first session, Mrs. McGee provides details of her education, her parents’ backgrounds, living in Harlem, the Bronx, Washington DC and moving back to the Bronx. She also describes her husband’s childhood and his education. She attended an elementary school where there were no African-American teachers and she had only one African-American teacher in Junior High who taught Social Studies. The students also learned how to sew, cook and housekeeping at school. …

Caines, Robert Jr., Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Oneka LaBennett, Mark Naison

INTERVIEWEE: Robert Caines, Jr. (a.k.a DJ Flawless)

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Robert Caines, Jr. (aka DJ Flawless) was born on January 23, 1983, and grew up in the Mott Haven Projects in the Bronx. He is the son of Robert Caines, Sr. (aka Rockin’ Rob.) At the time of interview, he was unemployed, but had recently been working for the Scratch DJ Academy. Robert, Jr. was raised by his mother and his grandmother. Although his father was often absent, Robert, Jr. became interested in hip-hop by listening to his father’s music tapes. His mother, …

Hines, Eric And Johnson, Lance And Wheeler, David, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewers: Brian Purnell, Mark Naison, Princess Okieme, Dolores Munoz

Interviewees: Eric Hines, Lance Johnson, Joshua Wheeler

Summarized by Leigh Waterbury

Eric “DJ Cool Clyde” Hines and Lance “DJ Lightnin’ Lance” Johnson were both born and raised in theBronxin the 1960’s. Eric Hines was born July 31, 1966 and grew up in the Soundview section of theBronx, in the Skylar House. Lance Johnson was born August 6, 1962 and was raised mostly in the Lafayette-Boynton Avenue Houses betweenStory AvenueandBoynton Avenue. Both men briefly discussed their childhoods and the negative environments of drugs and gangs that attracted many children their age. Hines …

Alexander, Earle, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

143^rd interview

Interviewee: Dr. Earle Alexander

Interviewers: Dr. Mark Naison, Dawn

Interview took place February 6, 2006

Summarized by Concetta Gleason 12-20-06

Dr. Earle Alexander is a distinguished psychologist born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx. Alexander’s mother immigrated to the U.S. from Trinidad and his father from Grenada. His parents met in New York and had three children together; Alexander is the middle child of an older sister Elma and a younger brother Dawn. As the Harlem education system deteriorated, Alexander’s parents decided to move the family to the Bronx in the mid-1930s. The family lived on …

Cunningham, James And Cunningham, Margaret, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewees: James and Margaret Cunningham

Interviewers: Mark Naison and Natasha Lightfoot

Date: January 9, 2006

Summarized by Leigh Waterbury

James Cunningham was born in the Bronx in 1918 and describes what life was like in his household and his neighborhood. His father was a light-skinned black man who was considered colored while in WWI, and later when he moved to New York City to work as a customs inspector he was able to pass as white, which likely helped him to acquire that position. James attended PS 23 elementary school in his neighborhood around 167^th street, where he was …

Brindle, Donna, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewers: Mark Naison and Natasha Lightfoot

Interviewee: Donna Brindle

Date: May 23, 2005

Summarized by Leigh Waterbury

Donna Brindle was born in 1953 in the Bronx and lived on Intervale Avenue until around the age of 11. Her parents initially moved to the Bronx because other friends of theirs were, and those socializations became an important part of Donna’s upbringing. Both of her parents were musicians, her father was a concert pianist and one of the founders of The Symphony of the New World in the 1950‘s. Her parents were also politically active. Her mother worked with NAACP as well …