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Full-Text Articles in Black History
Studio Museum Harlem Excursion: A Study Of How Resources Are Utilized For Expressing A Message, Sarah Neiman
Studio Museum Harlem Excursion: A Study Of How Resources Are Utilized For Expressing A Message, Sarah Neiman
Occasional Essays
Museums have a unique ability to situate themselves in the present moment while also commemorating the past and imagining the future. Studio Museum Harlem (SMH) does this, especially on the day of its reopening. The museum originally opened in 1968, amongst many Civil Rights and Black Power demonstrations occurring across the country. This innovative spirit is still visible today despite the museum closing and reopening again. The museum made its grand reopening on November 15th, 2025, after seven years of having its doors closed for construction. The Bronx African American History Project team had the special opportunity to visit SMH …
Gambian, Muslim, American: A Bronx Woman, Olatoni Akinbamowo
Gambian, Muslim, American: A Bronx Woman, Olatoni Akinbamowo
Occasional Essays
Kujegi Camara is Gambian, Muslim, and American. She was raised in the Bronx, in neighborhoods, madrasas (Arabic, school for Islamic education) and masjids (Arabic, mosque) rooted deeply in Senegambian (a region encompassing Senegal, Gambia, and neighboring countries) culture and community. Kujegi was raised by a stay-at-home mother and a father who worked in construction. The oldest of nine children, she spent her childhood taking care of her siblings and doing housework, but her parents always emphasized and prioritized her education. Her adolescence and early adulthood were marred, but not tainted, by experiences of Islamophobia in school. After 9/11, fear and …
Building A New Dream: Mohammed Mardah And The Making Of West African Community In The Bronx, Hatoumata Tunkara
Building A New Dream: Mohammed Mardah And The Making Of West African Community In The Bronx, Hatoumata Tunkara
Occasional Essays
The life of Mohammed Mardah, as demonstrated through his interview, is more than just a personal immigration story. Instead, it is seen as a view into the lived realities of West African migrants in the late twentieth century. His path from a young man looking for opportunity to becoming a community leader symbolizes how African immigrants in the 1980s and ‘90s influenced the Bronx not only by surviving hardship, but also by building networks and institutions that reshaped the cultural and social life of the borough. Mardah’s story enunciates that immigration is not a straight path toward individual success; it …