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Full-Text Articles in African American Studies
Johnson, Olga, Bronx African American History Project
Johnson, Olga, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Interviewee: Ms. Olga Johnson
Interviewer: Dr. Mark Naison
Summarized by Alice Stryker
Olga Johnson is a long time resident of the Bronx and mother to the Bronx Attorney Robert Johnson. She moved to the Bronx with her family when she was younger fromManhattan. Her parents were originally from theWest Indies. They moved to many different apartment buildings when she was growing up. Close to the time she graduated high school, her family moved into a private home onJackson Avenue. She remembers this being a safe neighborhood. Her father was an elevator operator and her mother was a seamstress and a …
Smith, Carolyn & Jack, Bronx African American History Project
Smith, Carolyn & Jack, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Carolyn Smith was born in Metropolitan Hospital and lived in Harlem until around the age of 6 when she moved to the Melrose Housing Development in the early 1940’s. Her mother and a community of friends she grew up with in Hell’s Kitchen would all move around together. They moved around in Harlem a few times before settling in at Melrose. Carolyn discusses a common theme among those who grew up in this time of a sense of community where people in the neighborhood would watch others children. When they moved to Melrose it was a new housing project and …