Public History Commons^™

Mark "Po" Dean, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Dean, first exposed to music through his mother’s occasional record playing, would attend parties and occasionally dance against other b-boys. Upon watching DJ Kool Herc continually unload equipment, Dean found himself immersed in hip hop by first helping DJ Kool Herc move his equipment. He reminisces on the free park parties that these sound systems were taken to, and the ability of the people across the river to hear the sound. Continuing, he discusses the difference between b-boys and breakers, the profound influence of MC’s on hip hop, and the necessary contributions of graffiti to the overall culture. Each part …

Alice Mckenzie - Part 2, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Part 2 of an oral history recorded for the Bronx African American History Project with Alice McKenzie, who grew up in the United Workers Cooperative Colony, or the Allerton Coops, located at 2700 Bronx Park East. In this second part of her oral history, Alice speaks more about her experiences as a professional dancer, her time in the New York public school system, her experiences of race and sexuality, what the Coops represents to her, and much more.

LINK TO VIDEO INTERVIEW: https://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/baahp/id/99/rec/54

Alice Mckenzie - Part 1, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Part 1 of an oral history recorded for the Bronx African American History Project with Alice McKenzie, who grew up in the United Workers Cooperative Colony, or the Allerton Coops, located at 2700 Bronx Park East. Alice's father was a Guyanese national of African descent and her mother an Ashkenazi Jew from Poland. In this part of her oral history, Alice speaks about her family history and background, her experience growing up in the Coops, and much more.

LINK TO VIDEO INTERVIEW: https://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/baahp/id/102/rec/53

Marion "Tiny" Frampton, Wildman, And Mike Sherman - Part 2, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

This interview with early Black Spades members recounts old memories and new directions for the gang, serving as both an oral history and a set of future ambitions for New York communities and the Black Spades. Giving out food, telling New York and Black Spades histories, and fighting for community centers are just a few of the many thing’s TBS: New Direction does for New York. Just as Tiny recounts how his mom brought others together by, “feeding TBS members from across the city,” TBS New Direction is creating communities of New Yorker's by giving back to the city. (Summary …

Mina Jones, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Oral history recorded for the Bronx African American History Project on January 30, 2023 with Mina Jones, who grew up in the United Workers Cooperative Colony, or the Allerton Coops. Mina's grandmother, Celia (Tsivia) Langert, raised her mother, Evelyn Lambert, in the Coops, and Evelyn gave birth to Mina in California. When Evelyn and Mina returned to the Coops after a few years, Leon "Lamby" Lambert became Mina's stepfather. In her oral history, Mina speaks about her family's history and background, her experience growing up in the Coops, the complexity of navigating her biracial identity (her father was Afro-Chicano and …

Revitalizing St. John Nepomuk Church, Elizabeth Fischer, Hannah King, Hunter Rust, Grace Desjardins, Patrick Clover, Kyle Ater

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Our project focuses on the Czech immigrant community of St. John Nepomuk Church in St. Louis, one of the oldest historically Czech parishes in the United States. To promote awareness of the church’s cultural and historical significance, we are creating a dedicated website, informational pamphlet, and social media presence that highlight its history, architecture, and ongoing role in the community. We are also producing a video tour led by a prominent church member to introduce the site, alongside a testimonial video that preserves a personal perspective on the church’s legacy. Through these efforts, we aim to support cultural preservation and …

Visible And Invisible Empires: The Revival Of The Ku Klux Klan 100 Years Ago, Christian Molina

Theses

Hatred and violence breed division, and division breeds more hatred and more violence. In an America where our politics has become name-calling, finger-pointing, scapegoating, and whataboutisms, and violence, unfortunately, it is safe to say our nation has entered this self-perpetuating cycle. A place for malicious groups concerned with growth, power, and profit to capture the angry, the stressed, and the less informed in their webs of elaborate lies and misleading, misinterpreted numbers the way they have in decades past.

Healing Through History, Nancy Baker Jones

Journal of Texas History

This is the written transcription of the author’s closing plenary address to the inaugural conference of the Alliance for Texas History, May 17, 2025. Its purpose is to put into both broad and personal historical contexts the events of 2023 and 2024 that led to the founding of the Alliance for Texas History. It concludes that, despite the difficulties of those events for her and for many other historians of Texas, history offers a potentially healing context for moving forward.

Bertha Weston Hall

African American Funeral Programs

Funeral program for Bertha Hall. Service was held in Winston, Georgia

Stacy Lanier Danley, Sr.

African American Funeral Programs

Funeral program for Stacy Danley.

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

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 …

Denise Oliver-Vélez - Part 2, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Denise Oliver-Vélez not only has one of the most remarkable lives to be recorded for both the BHS and Bronx African-American History Project archives, she also possesses a beautiful spirit, simplicity, and generosity in her personality. It would be expected for a person of such prowess to sound the part and be hard to comprehend in all her sophistication. Despite deserving this podium, Oliver-Vélez’s life is a testament to the power that lies in understanding others, rather than acting above them. In finishing an exceptional interview, she makes sure to leave a piece of advice to future communities and those …

Friends Of Wheeler Home, Project Correspondence, Milly Wright

Correspondence

Correspondence between Milly (with unlisted last name but likely to be Wright based on other collection contents) and William Lindsey McDonald concerning her gratitude for his support of the Wheeler Home restoration project.

Transcription

[page 1]

Card Front

[page 2]

28 Sandra Lane

Athens, AL 35611

January 8, 1996

Dear Bill,

How can I begin to thank you for the stalwart support that you have given me during these many years that we have struggled to get the Wheeler project moving? Your constancy and commitment are an inspiration to all of us.

As we move to a different level of …

Earnestine V. Bonner

African American Funeral Programs

Funeral program for Earnestine Bonner. Service was held in 2011

Jeffery Dean Asberry

African American Funeral Programs

Funeral program for Jeffrey Asberry

Rosetta Wilkins Card

African American Funeral Programs

Funeral program for Rosetta Card. Service was held in Winston, Georgia

Edward Lowe - Part 1, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

In 1960, Lowe’s parents moved to Paulding Avenue, and they lived right next to the Fordham Rose Hill campus and the Bronx Zoo. At this time, Lowe’s mother had recently graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1954, and was now getting her Masters in law at Columbia University. When he wasn’t bothering his mother studying, Lowe and his friends would often play around Paulding Avenue, visiting the Rose Hill campus and the Bronx Zoo. He also had a sister named Leslie and they both went to PS 59 on 183rd and Bathgate together. His family then moved to Teaneck, New …

Denise Oliver Vélez - Part 1, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Describing both the connection and discipline of the YLP, Oliver-Vélez remembers “detention” being held in the Bronx, where a member would read and recite their wrongs in writing before returning to Manhattan to pick up children for free breakfast programs, take them to school, pick up papers, and distribute them for the remainder of the day. She remembers this discipline and the art of the Palante newspaper (1970–76) as quintessential parts of most grassroots organizations of the time. Her commitment to the YLP was significant. Members lived collectively and created ingenious solutions to systemic medical, food scarcity, and education issues …

Frederick Collins - Part 2, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Frederick Collins - Part 1, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Dr. Collins tells the story of 1520 Sedgwick as a place of loss and morality, where tragic events happened “few and far between,” but the community always looked out for each other and was primarily peaceful and safe. It was this environment, of eager youth and supportive adults, that helped the culture that hip hop would blossom from. The sounds that would subsequently be created were a product of this safe space. Also prevalent in the interview is the accurate account of this development from Collins’ perspective, as one of the first three children to live in the building. He …

Bryson Peter - Part 1, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Bryson Peter - Part 1 (Addendum), Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Bryson Peter - Part 2, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Bryson Peter - Part 3, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Charles Latta, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Due to Latta’s initiatives, the BAC has won many awards for community service and social action. He works to make BAC visible to the borough president, congressmen, and councilmen in order to stay involved. In his fifth year as President, BAC hosted the conference for the Northeast Province and the Metro Founders Day, assisting with Atlantic hurricane relief initiatives. Though the COVID-19 pandemic made these initiatives difficult, they still try to persist in their message of outreach that they have held for decades. Latta’s goal is to see the Chapter bring in more people and to develop the ideals and …

Cheryl Simmons Oliver, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Simmons-Oliver’s education reflected those same values. Attending Catholic institutions—St. Anthony of Padua School, Cathedral High School, and Marymount Manhattan College—she encountered racial and ethnic diversity that deepened her awareness of inequality and strengthened her commitment to inclusion and justice. Her studies continued beyond college: she earned a Master of Science, a Juris Doctor, and an M.B.A. from various institutions throughout her career, a rare feat for any woman of her generation, and especially for a Black woman in mid-century Americas. For Simmons-Oliver, education was more than achievement; it was a means of self-definition and a way to honor her family’s …

Back Matter, Editorial Team

Journal of Texas History

No abstract provided.

Queering The Lone Star State. Podcast. Hosted By Wesley G. Phelps.Produced By Sarah Lyngholm., Hannah Fuller

Journal of Texas History

No abstract provided.

William Hanson And The Texas-Mexico Border: Violence, Corruption,And The Making Of The Gatekeeper State, Zaragosa "Mito" Diaz-Espinoza

Journal of Texas History

No abstract provided.