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 …

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 …

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 …