African American Studies Commons^™

Hill, Elighu Eldrid, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Eldrid Hill

Interviewer: Dr. Mark Niason, Ricardo Soto-Lopez, Dana Driskell

Summarized by Sheina Ledesma

Eldrid Hill is a former lieutenant of the New York City Fire Department who has been a long time resident of both Harlem and the Bronx. He has also been deeply involved in local politics and urban planning and a member of Community Board 3 in the Bronx for several decades. Hill was born on July 12, 1928 in Harlem. His mother was from the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin while his father was from St. Kitts. His father was an alcoholic …

Cruse, Harrison Jr., Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Harrison Cruse, Jr.

Interviewer: Mark Naison

Summarized by Sheina Ledesma

Harrison Cruse, Jr. was born on August 10, 1935 in Morningside Heights, Harlem. His mother’s family was originally from Virginia and North Carolina but decided to move north during the 1920’s after experiencing an increasingly racist and violent climate due to activity by the Ku Klux Klan. His father was African American and Native American and had grown up on an Indian reservation with his mother in Roanoke Virginia. His father served in the First World War and later joined the Northwestern Railroad where he worked for many years. …

Grayson, Clydia, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Clydia Grayson

Interviewers: Mark Naison, Patricia Wright, Daniel Wright, Mary Ward

Summarized By: Eddie Mikus

Clydia Grayson is a former employee from the beauty business who moved to the Bronx from Louisville, Kentucky. In her interview, she discussed some of her experiences running a business as well as her life as an African-American woman.

Grayson graduated from beauty school in 1932 after training under Madam CJ Walker. After moving to New York upon her marriage in 1944, she worked for a beautician on Madison Avenue and then operated two stores in New York City. She said that she worked …

Harrell, Zainabu, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Zainabu Sesay-Harrell

Interviewers: Dr. Mark Naison, Dr. Jane Edward, Dr. Bernard Hayford, and Kojo Happa

July 21st, 2010

Summarized by Andrea Benintendi

Zainabu Sesay-Harrell is an African American nurse who was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, in 1977. As a young child, Zainabu’s family came to America and settled on Long Island, in the town of Roosevelt. Her family strove to combine the new American culture with their Sierra Leonean culture through food, festivities, and language, and would often travel back to their home country to visit with family and friends. Zainabu’s mother would prove to be extremely …

Yartel Iii, Nan, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Nan Yartel III was born on the 15^th of an unmentioned month in 1965 in a village called Amatsou in the West African nation of Ghana. He attended primary school from 1971 until 1981. He is a member of the Fanti ethnic groups, one of the many different ethnic groups found in Ghana.

As a member of the Fanti people, he was able to obtain the position of chief, which enabled him the opportunity to finish his secondary education and thus came to the United States to do such that. He completed his education back in his homeland of …

Calderon, Nicholas Interview 2, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Nicholas Calderon

Interviewer: Mark Naison

Date: May 27, 2010

Nicholas found inspiration in the artistry of rapper Tupac Shakur back in the 90’s. Shakur’s experiences, and the ways in which he dealt with angst inspired him to enter the music field. Back in the day, battles were a norm and would take place throughout the Bronx. Nicholas describes going into certain neighborhoods where he knew of talented battle rappers; a challenge would ensue. He asserts that it was mostly for competition and “beefs” and animosity would not come about as a result of the battles.

Nicolas concludes that there …

Thiame, Birane, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Birane Thiame was born in 1976. Originally from Cote d’Ivoire, Birane he settled in New York in 1996. His family is originally from Senegal, but he also has family from Togo and Ghana. He speaks Baoule, a language of Cote d’Ivoire, and Mina, a language of Togo. His mother’s side was Christian, and his father’s side practiced Islam. Thiame’s mother worked as a banker and his father worked for Air Afrik. They worked in the capitol of Cote d’Ivoire, Abidjan.

Thiame attended public school in Cote d’Ivoire, which is free up through the college level. He attended college for three …

"The Invisible Victims: Wives And Families With Incarcerated Fathers", Sarah Quinlan

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

In the 2009 spring semester, I walked into the class called 'The Black Prison Experience" not fully aware of what the class entailed and not fully aware of what to expect. Nor did I realize and understand that a massive part of America's infrastructure is invisible to the average American citizen. Today, however, I can confidently say that after almost completing my final semester at Fordham, and in hindsight, this class has had the greatest impact on me in my four years at Fordham University. And without this class, I would have never come to fully understand the invisible victims …

Africans In Dublin: Race Relations, Cultural Preservation, And Working The Immigration System, Bridget Crane

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

"I did not even know there were Africans in Ireland," is the common response I received upon telling people about my research interests in Ireland. This exact response is what this paper seeks to disprove. Africans in Dublin: Race Relations, Cultural Preservation, and Working the Immigration System not only uncovers the existence of an African population, but documents fascinating immigration stories a few African interviewees experienced and their lives within the African immigrant community and within the larger Irish society. My interest in this topic derives from my two passions: Irish history and the African Diaspora. One characteristic both Ireland …

Failure Repeated: An Analysis Of Urban Design In The Central Ward Of Newark, John O'Neill

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

This thesis is a study of the rebuilding of Newark Housing Authority structures in an area of the Central Ward bounded by Gergen Street, Springfield Avenue, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Avon Avenue. This half square mile area of study has a population of 8,584 and a population density of 17,527 per square mile. The area has a long a troubled history, beginning on the 1960s when revolt and then renewal began. This massive infusion of federal dollars failed to address the long-term needs of the residents and the maintenance of housing facilities. The result was the first …

Beer In New York City: A Social History, Ken Bergman

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

In 1937 the New York branch of the Brewers Board of Trade listed seventeen affiliated breweries in the New York metropolitan area (including northern New Jersey). With strong Irish, German, and Dutch traditions, and a predominately working class composition, beer was as much a part of New York as the Yankees. And because of the generally localized nature of the industry at the time, and the pride that the city's residents took in all things New York, New Yorkers drank New York beer almost exclusively. Reciprocally, New York brewing companies took much pride in serving New York residents, and played …

Hair Raising Power: Dominican Hair Salon Owners In New York City, Ginette Amezquita

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

My mother, Luisa Amezquita was, like many of her friends, a beauty shop owner in the Dominican Republic. Ever since migrating to New York City at the age of four, I always wondered what made my mother's background in hair styling so unique but yet so common amongst her many Dominican acquaintances. Although my mother did not take up the profession in NYC, Dominican women have always been known to be the best hair straighteners in the industry. While living in out small apartment in Chelsea, my mother's hair skills came in very handy when we ha no money to …

Calderon, Nicholas Interview 1, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Mark Naison, Noel Wolfe, Dawn Russell

INTERVIEWEE: Nicholas Calderon

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Nicholas Calderon (b. 5/12/1986) is a rapper from the South Bronx. He is also the founder and owner of Take Money Records. He was born in the Taft Houses in East Harlem to a Puerto Rican father and an African-American mother. Because his mother was a crack addict and his father was a heroin addict, he began living with his grandmother at the age of two. He was raised in the Beekman Housing Project in the South Bronx, near St. Mary’s Park. Calderon was …

Ogbuisi, Chief Paul Okali, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Chief Paul Okali Ogbuisi was born in 1954 in the Ugweke section of Nigeria’s southern Abia State capital, Umuahia. The eldest child of his family, Chief Paul was educated at both the primary and secondary school level, finishing at age 18 eighteen to join the textile business. When Chief Paul was six years old and still in primary school, Nigeria gained its independence. In 1967 when Chief Paul was thirteen years old, a civil war known as the Biafran war began between the predominantly Islamic north and the predominantly Christian south. Due to violent attacks on hospitals, churches, and schools …

Cadogan, Marjorie, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Mark Naison

INTERVIEWEE: Marjorie Cadogan

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Marjorie Cadogan (b. 1960) is a graduate of Fordham University and Fordham University Law, and she is an Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Human Resources Administration in New York. She is the daughter of Bajan immigrants. Her father immigrated twice (in the ‘40’s and then the mid ‘50’s), and her mother came to the US in the late ‘50’s. While her mother and father knew each other in Barbados, they did not get married until 1959, when they both lived in the US. Her mother was a licensed nurse in …

Curtis Mayfield: The Voice Of A Generation, Travis D. Viola

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

All my life, I have been a fan of music. My earliest memories include my family singing aw we gathered for the holidays. My mom and dad have always had music playing in our home and I grew up enjoying the sounds of not only my own generation of singers but their generation as well. No matter where I go, I have music with me. If it is songs downloaded to my iPod, cellphone, in the car or on my computer, I can instantly access all of the latest songs along with the classics like Sinatra or Bennett. In fact, …

Wallace, Kojo, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Born September 16, 1985, Wallace grew up with his family in Tarkwa, Ghana. In 1988, his father immigrated to the United States and has worked as a taxi driver. His father is also a leader within the Ghanaian community in the Bronx. In 2006, Wallace immigrated to the Bronx with his siblings and has been living with his father on Sedgwick Avenue. He will be attending medical school in the September 2010. He has an older brother who is talking college classes and is also in the United States Navy, a sister who is working to become a nurse, and …

Yonkers: The Class And Race Dynamic Of Waterfront Revitalization, Roisin Grzegorzewski

African & African American Studies Senior Theses

Long before the area that is now known as Yonkers was discovered by Henry Hudson in 1609, the land was already inhabited with Native Americans. The Indian village that was discovered after the Half Moon sailed down the Hudson River was known as Nappeckamack. "When the Manhattan Indians built their capital village of Nappeckamack, they selected what to them was the choicest sit along the full length of the Hudson River. It was easily accessible not only to the great rive but to the smaller river which offered a harbor for their canoes."¹ Ethnologists linked the Native Americans in …