African American Studies Commons^™

Renwick, Evril, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Evril Renwick was born and raised in Grenada by her maternal grandparents. Her father abandoned Evril’s mother after her elders refused to allow her to travel alone with her young children to Brazil and meet him there. Evril’s mother wrote her brother in New York and went to live and work with him in 1924 when Evril was still a baby. Evril was living a content, independent life in Grenada until her twenties when her older sister died (her grandparents had already passed away) and for the first time Evril had a strong desire to see her mother. In1946, after …

Salem, Fatima Naik, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Fatima is originally from Algeria, but spent her childhood in France. She was born into a “rabea” family of Algerian “traditionalists” and “nationalists.” Her dad moved to France when he was 10 years old, and her mother moved there in 1970 when she married her father. Her mother was employed as a babysitter through the DAS program of the French government. She eventually adopted some of the children she babysat who had been abandoned by their parents. This complicated her childhood because the adopted siblings were of different ethnic groups, which caused confusion when they were introduced as family members. …

Wade, Chrystal, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Chrystal Wade moved to the Bronx from Harlem when she was five years old after moving from the Harlem River Drive projects to Detroit and back to New York. Chrystal’s mother gave birth to her at age 18, but she was adopted by her grandparents at age five, as they wanted to make sure she would have a good structured family life. Upon moving into a five-story walkup at 532 East 157^th Street and St. Ann’s avenue, her father and brother-in-law almost immediately had an altercation with the neighbors because her family was the second black family in the …

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 …

Smith, Candace, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Candace Smith was born and raised in the Bronx. From what she recalls her family lived on the top story of a two family home in the Tremont neighborhood until moving to the Patterson Houses in 1957 when she was around age 8. The home in Tremont was in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and she does not recall there being any other black families in the neighborhood. On the other hand, when they moved to the Patterson Houses, she does not recall any white families in the neighborhood there. Both of her parents had also grown up in the Bronx, …

Simmons, Victoria, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Victoria Simmons-Good grew up in the Patterson Houses. Her parents moved to the Bronx from Harlem for the affordable housing options offered in the Bronx. He earliest memory is from attending PS 18, which was located near her building. On her way to school, she and her friends would always stop at a Candy Store and eat sweets for breakfast. She also remembers attending a day camp during the summer with fellow children living in the Patterson Houses. She also remembers the music her parents listened to, which was mostly Motown and doo-wop.

She grew up in the Patterson houses …

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 …

Martin, Nicholas, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Nicholas Martin is the principle of P.S. 6 and grew up in the Hunts Point area of the Bronx. He was born in Manhattan and when he was 5 his parents moved to Fox Street in the South Bronx. His father worked on the docks. His father spoke broken English and fluent Spanish and was born in Florida. He traveled back and forth from Cuba though. His mother spoke English and Spanish fluently and was born in Puerto Rico.

He remembers Fox Street when he was growing up as lively. Children would play lots of games outside on the street. …

Baye, Mamadou, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Karima Zerrou

INTERVIEWEE: Mamadou Baye

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Note: This interview was originally conducted in French and translated into English.

SUMMARY:

Mamadou Baye is a private car/limo service driver who lives on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. She was born in Guinea and raised on the Ivory Coast by a Guinean father and a mother from the Ivory Coast. After leaving school, she broke into the transportation business when she was 18 years old, driving cars in Abdijan and San Pedro. Inspired by the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and the perception that it would be easy to …