African American Studies Commons^™

Foster, Wendell, Mark Naison

Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP)

BRONX AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY PROJECT

INTERVIEWER: Mark Naison

INTERVIEWEE: Wendell Foster

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Keywords: Segregation in the Deep South, racism in the South and North, Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Bermuda, AME church, blacks in World War II, civil rights movement, Malcolm X, Mt. Zion Church, race relations in Harlem

The Rev. Wendell Foster (b. 1924) is the pastor of Christ Church, and was the first African-American from the Bronx to be elected to the City Council. He was born in extreme poverty in Elba, Alabama. He never knew his father, who died shortly after he was born. …

D'Augustino, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewer: Mark Naison

Interviews took place on September 30, 2003

Summarized by Alice Stryker

This interview is broken into 3 sessions. The first two are with an anonymous woman called “woman 1” and the third session is with an anonymous woman called “woman 2”.

Woman 1, who we later learn is Mrs. Jones, moved to the Bronx in 1947 to Oak Tree Place and Belmont where they were the only black family on the block. She was initially from Georgia, but moved to New York City when she was very young. Her husband was born in Harlem. They went to …

Coolie, Derrick, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Derrick Cooley

Interviewer: Dr. Mark Naison

Date of Interview August 27, 2003

Summarized by Christian Rivera

Derrick Cooley, a counselor, from the Butler houses ( E. 170^th Webster, South Bronx) grew up during the crack epidemic of the 1980’s. He experienced the interaction of drug dealers and drug addicts within the Butler house community. Furthermore, he witnessed the tragic effects of the urban drug culture through violence, rising high school dropout rates, and the influence of local Number Wholes.

The crack culture changed the priorities of the neighborhood youth. The youngsters were more interested in earning a dollar …

Davis, Ronald And Davis, Sara, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Ronald Davis, a long time Bronx activist, grew up in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. He lived on Washington St. then moved to Jefferson Pl. and finally Shakespeare Ave during the 1970's. He participated in the Harlem Riots in 1964. Ronald Davis was kicked out of two public high schools and spent four and a half years in prison due to gang involvement and "jitterbugging." After time in jail Mr. Davis received a bachelor of arts from Adelphi University and a master of arts from Columbia University. Also, he was a part of many African American political organizations during …

Best, Gloria And Best, Adrian, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewees: Gloria and Adrian Best

Interviewers: Dr. Mark Naison

Date of Interview: July 1, 2003

Summarized by Alice Stryker

Gloria Best lived in the Bronx for most of her life and lived in Manhattan only for a short while when she was a child. When she moved back to the Bronx, she was 12 years old and moved to Union Avenue. She attended Morris High School and attended Zion Apostolic. Morris High School as well as the neighborhood she lived in at the time were predominately white.

Her husband was in the military and when they initially got married they …

Melrose, Arnold And Melrose, Evelyn And Teasdale, Ethel, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Evelyn Melrose was born in 1926 and at the age of 3 her family moved from New Haven, CT, to Washington Avenue and Claremont Parkway in the Bronx. Her father accepted a job for the US Government Post Office on Tremont Avenue and was able to live in the apartment on Washington Avenue because he agreed to be the Super and care for the building. This was how black families were able to get apartments in all white buildings at the time, only if they were the Supers of the building. His position with the government allowed him to still …

Jackson, Bessie Interview 1, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Bessie Jackson is the President of the Bronx branch of the Society for the Association for the study of African American Life and History, founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1915. Jackson came to the Bronx without any family relations in 1946 and finished High School. Jacksonthen returned to her home state ofAlabamato attend Alabama State College, but by 1949, she had returned to and settled in theBronx.

Jacksonwas born and raised on her family’s farm inDallas County,Alabama. She did not begin school until she was six years old, but illness also held her back in first grade. However,Jacksonalways …

Brathwaite, Kwame, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

112^th interview of the Bronx African American History Project

Interviewers: Dr. Mark Naison, Maxine Gordon

Interviewee: Kwame Brathwaite

The interview took place May 17, 2002

Summarized by Concetta Gleason 11-29-06

Kwame Brathwaite, a longtime activist, photographer and expert on the history of jazz in NYC was originally born in Harlem, and his family moved to the Bronx in 1943 when he was five years old. Brathwaite's parents are both from Barbados, but they met in Brooklyn. His father was a tailor who owned several Dry Cleaning businesses, which kept him constantly busy, and his mother was a homemaker who …