African American Studies Commons^™

Bowman, Willie Interview 2, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

The following is a transcript of the Bronx African American History Project’s second interview with Mrs. Willie E.P. Bowman. Although she covers some of the same subjects in this interview with Dr. Purnell that she did in her first interview, she also delves more deeply into her work with the community as opposed to her career in social and correction work.

Born on November 30, 1931 in Montgomery, Alabama, Mrs. Willie Ella Paschal Bowman spent just the first two years of her life in what she proudly described as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1933, she and …

Bowman, Willie Interview 1, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWERS: Brian Purnell

INTERVIEWEE: Mrs. Willie E.P. Bowman (Interview One)

SUMMARY BY: Andrew O’Connell

Born on November 30, 1931 in Montgomery, Alabama, Mrs. Willie Ella Paschal Bowman spent just the first two years of her life in what she proudly described as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1933, she and her mother headed north to stay with Bowman’s great aunt in Harlem, part of the first wave of the Great Migration that would soon develop as one of the most significant movements of peoples that this country has ever seen. After earning three dollars a week as …

Fearon, Shirley, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Shirley Fearon was born on July 8, 1945 in Harlem. However, she spent her early years in the South Bronx on Brook Avenue. Her parents met in Harlem and then moved to the Bronx. Shortly after she was born, her parents split up and she and her mother moved to Williamsbridge with her grandparents. This neighborhood was mostly Italians, but all the children got along well. Her grandparents lived in a private home. She and her family attended New Bedford, which is part of St. Luke’s. This church was predominately black, with both people from the Caribbean and African-Americans.

She …