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Full-Text Articles in African American Studies
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 …
Altschul, Barry, Bronx African American History Project
Altschul, Barry, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Born in 1943, Barry Altschul grew up in the West Bronx in the forties and fifties. Altschul is a jazz drummer who first learned to play the drums at age eleven. He grew up playing shows in the Bronx and Harlem while also attending “jam sessions” where he received pointers from jazz musicians such as Philly Joe and Art Blakey.
Altschul attended elementary school at PS 70, junior high school at PS 117, and then attended Taft High School. Altschul’s elementary school’s ethnic makeup was mostly white, whereas in high school Altschul recalls that the student body was 21% black. …
White, Nat And Drayton, Bernard, Bronx African American History Project
White, Nat And Drayton, Bernard, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Nat White and Bernard Drayton were the men responsible for producing a series of jazz concerts at the Blue Morocco in the 1960’s. The Blue Morocco was located on Boston Road and 167th, but today no longer exists. The two men worked for Del Shields who was a DJ for WLIB FM, playing all jazz for 12 hours after midnight. Del knew Sylvia and Joe Robinson who owned the Blue Morocco. They began recording these jazz concerts on Monday nights for WLIB FM radio around 1964 and continued until 1967. While these jazz concerts were successful, it was …
Blakeney, James, Bronx African American History Project
Blakeney, James, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
James Blakeney is a long time Bronx resident who grew up in the Patterson Housing Projects. His parents were sharecroppers from North and South Carolina. Neither of his parents received an education beyond the 6th or 8th grade. His father fought in World War II and then returned to the states to live in Queens, where James lived for three years, before moving to the Patterson Houses. His father worked at the mess hall of St. Albans Neighborhood Hospital and left the family, as many fathers were beginning to do, when James was ten years old. Mrs. Blakeney …
Brath, Elombe, Bronx African American History Project
Brath, Elombe, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Interviewers: Mark Naison, Maxine Gordon
Interviewee: Elombe Brath
Date of interview: 21 June, 2005
Summarized by: Craig Teal, 26 March 2007
Elombe Brath is a longtime political activist in New York City who is one of the founders of the Jazz Arts Society and was active in organizing some of the first cultural pageants in New York City in the 1960s. Born on September 30, 1936 in Brooklyn, Elombe grew up in Harlem and in Hunt’s Point on 751 Kelly Street between Longwood Avenue and 156th Street. His family moved into a crossroads area of the Bronx that was …
Gumbs, Robert Interview 2, Bronx African American History Project
Gumbs, Robert Interview 2, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
The session begins with a quick recap of the questions asked in the first interview. From there, Robert discusses Freemen Theater. The theater was small and in walking distance from his house. During the day, the theater played movies and in the evening housed concerts. The audience was mainly African American and Jewish.
Dave Womack was one of the first artists to have an impact on him. When he was in High School, he started a jazz music appreciation day. Students would bring in a variety of artists’ albums, many of which he liked. The first jazz club he went …
Harding, Vincent, Bronx African American History Project
Harding, Vincent, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Interviewees: Clara Lee Irobunda, Vincent Harding, and Carmen Givan
Interviewers: Dr. Mark Naison and Brian Purnell
Summarized by Alice Stryker
Before the interview formally beings, Clara Lee Irobunda discusses her role in the transition with Morris High School into smaller schools. The school was getting too large to efficiently teach all of the students and many were “falling between the cracks.” To fix this problem, she designed small separate “schools” within Morris High School.
The interview is concerned with the experiences of a variety of people who grew up on Dawson Street and lived near/went to Morris High School. Dr. …
Washington, Valerie, Bronx African American History Project
Washington, Valerie, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Valerie Washington is a lifelong resident of the Bronx, whose parents were both born in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. She grew up on Wells Avenue, then 1098 Simpson Street where her parents were the superintendents of the building. She says there were no other African-American families in the building, and this was common in the area for the superintendents to be African-American with mostly white Jewish tenants. She attended PS 20 where she was placed in the top classes from the very beginning of her education. She then attended Herman Ritter Junior High and then Washington Irving High School in 1953, …
Archible, Leroi, Bronx African American History Project
Archible, Leroi, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
Interviewee: Leroi Archible [Interview 1]
Interviewer: Dr. Mark Naison, Jim and Kevin
Transcriber: Gregory Peters
Date: 01/26/2004
Summarized by: Daniel Matthews
Leroi Archible is a Bronx community leader, youth athletics coach, political organizer, and long time Bronx resident. He was born in Memphis and lived in Lola, Kentucky during his high school years. His father emigrated from St. Ann’s in Jamaica in 1928, and his mother was born in Tennessee. He grew up visiting his Jamaican relatives in Morrisania, and he moved to the Bronx after he left the Marine Corps. Archible attended Kentucky State from 1947-1950. He met his …
Brathwaite, Kwame, Bronx African American History Project
Brathwaite, Kwame, Bronx African American History Project
Oral Histories
112th 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 …