African American Studies Commons^™

Why Environmental Racism In The Bronx May Be A More Pressing Issue Than Gentrification, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

The Cultural Capital Bronx Residents Possess, Mark Naison

Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP)

No abstract provided.

The Cultural Capital Bronx Residents Possess, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Marietta J. Tanner, Mark Naison

Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP)

Interviewee: Marietta J. Tanner

Interviewers: Mark Naison, Donna Joseph, Saudah Muhammad

Date: July 2020

Summarized by Sophia Maier

Marietta J. Tanner was born in 1928 in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Influenced by the activism of her father and the wartime experiences of her uncle, Marietta is a life-long political activist. Her parents explained to her from a young age their experiences in Jim Crow era Pennsylvania and by the age of six she was passing out political pamphlets and registering people to vote with the rest of her family. After attending a segregated school in her youth and a brief period …

Monica Whiting-Hogans, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Whiting-Hogans is proud of community service like a Bronx health fair where they provided free mammograms for those without insurance, fixing up playgrounds, providing hospitalized sexual assault victims with new clothes and undergarments, and visiting seniors at St. Luke’s Hospital. She speaks to moments when members of the sorority have even come together to help her personally. Today, she wishes younger members would remember the ideals of manners and respect more, following in the decorum of a “sisterhood.” Whiting-Hogans acknowledges the setbacks of the pandemic but encourages young people to get engaged.

LINK TO VIDEO INTERVIEW: http://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/baahp/id/77

Yvonne Marie Smith, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Smith attended James Monroe High School, which is now several academies. Leo Weiss was the principal. His determination encouraged most of her peers to finish high school. Prior to the fires and Bronx burning and the drug epidemic, it was a close knit community. You couldn't do anything that another adult stepping in to remind children that they were children. They reminded Smith to be careful. That was the kind of community it was. People looked out for each other. Her family attended Trinity Episcopal. The 1970s Bronx fires destroyed her building, and the city took a long time to …

Avila, Jose Francisco Interview Part 2, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Summary of José Francisco Ávila (Feb. 17th, 2022) Pt.2 Interview

Summarized by : Katherine Caperan

This is the second part of the José Francisco Ávila interview. In this one, he discusses the experiences that have shaped his efforts as a prominent Garifuna and Afro-Latino social justice activist for Garifuna communities in New York City, nationally, and internationally. As a Garifuna originally from Cristales, Honduras, Ávila notices that the Garifuna communities face the same issues in his country as in the United States. Ávila spent over thirty years researching and writing about the Garifuna Community. Collecting information from the news, television, …

Backdrop To A Musical Revolution: Urban Uprisings, Black Power And The Vietnam War Shatter The Politics Of Respectability In Popular Music, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Avila, Jose Francisco Interview Part 1, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Jose Francisco Avila was born in the Garifuna village of Cristalis, near the city of Trujillo in Honduras. He moved with his family as at 15 years old to the United States because his parents wanted better opportunities, specifically educational opportunities, for him and his siblings. They moved to the Dorchester neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, where Avila had to quickly learn English at the Boston School for Immigrants, before attending Solomon Lewenberg Junior High School and Boston English High until 1981. Living in a predominantly Black neighborhood in a city with a relatively small Garifuna community, there was constant questioning …

The Legacy Of French Colonialism In The Francophone Caribbean: Migration, Anti-Haitianism, And Anti-Blackness In Guadeloupe And French Guiana, Jemina Carla Molines

Senior Theses

Haiti has a huge migration problem. Thousands flee the country every year due to its political and socioeconomic instability. The locations that Haitians prefer to settle in are the United States, Canada, and France. Haitian people have also migrated within neighboring islands in the Caribbean region. Because of Haiti’s current conditions, every country and the territory in the Caribbean Basin has misconstrued views of Haiti. They are very critical of Haitian people and project xenophobia onto those within their presence. The problem is that these are black-majority societies marginalizing another black-majority society. The question this problem raises is why are …

The Crack Epidemic And The Transformation Of Hip Hop: A Bronx Tale, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Brenda Beattie Neuman, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Loving,Julia, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Julia Loving, Summary of Interview with the Bronx African-American History Project

October 14th, 2020

Dr. Mark Naison and Alison Rini

Summarized by Amy Rini August, 2023

Bronx born public school librarian and high school educator Julia Loving’s parents were from Nelson County, Virginia. She has two older brothers, Jesse and Mark. Her grandparents were the only black store owners in 1920s Roseland, Virginia. In 1960, they moved up to New York City because their parents did not want their children to stay South in the height of Jim Crow. They met while going to colored schools and Baptist and Pentecostal …

No Innocence Here: How Irish, Jewish And Italian New Yorkers Benefited From Their Whiteness In Post-World War Ii Nyc, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Carolyn S. Bowman, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Bowman became active in the Civil Rights movement in her young adult life. She was active in various organizations including the NAACP, in which she participated in the Youth March on Washington (1958). In her time with the NAACP, she met Aloncita J. Food, a regional director for the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Flood made Bowman promise she would join the AKA’s upon her higher education graduation. In 1966, Bowman officially joined the Bronx Eta Omega Omega Chapter as its youngest member. Within the Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Bowman participated primarily in children and family based initiatives, including working with …

Jacqueline Everette Brown, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

As one of the founding members of Eta Omega Omega, Brown played an integral part in the chartering process, including fundraising and recruitment. As time passed, Brown became less active in the chapter due to familial commitments. In 1969, Brown graduated from Hunter College with a degree in social work. Although Brown adored her time in New York City, especially because most of her family lived there, she was ready for something new – and the South was calling her name. In 1974, she accepted a position as the Clinical Director of a drug treatment program in Atlanta, Georgia, where …

Marietta J. Tanner, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Today, Marietta hopes that the sisters in Eta Omega Omega do not forget about their commitment for service in addition to the sisterhood and community building that comes with being part of a sorority. She encourages them to “go where the people are, ” to register them to vote or to get children in the Headstart programs. At the very least, she encourages going directly to teenagers to teach them the camaraderie and drive for change that comes about as being part of a Black sorority.

LINK TO VIDEO INTERVIEW: http://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/baahp/id/78

Irma Clement, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Ms. Clement’s always has a positive outlook on life journey and noted that “Life is a game that we play to the maximum, with whatever hands we are dealt”.

LINK TO VIDEO INTERVIEW: http://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/baahp/id/72

Martinez, Maximo, Mark Naison

Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP)

Interviewee: Maximo Martinez

Interviewers: Mark Naison and Lisa Betty

Date of Interview: February 14th 2020

Summary of Maximo Martinez Interview

Dr. Maximo Martinez was born and raised in the Bronx, but his family is from Honduras and his ethnic group, the Garifuna, live in Central America, mostly Honduras and Belize. Dr. Martinez answers questions about the Garifuna: culture, religion, language, history, etc…

The Garifuna are a small ethnic population who’s story begins with a slave ship shipwrecked off of the island of Saint Vincent. After mixing with indigenous Americans (Caribs and Arawak) on the island during the 1600s, the French …

Sheila Jackson And Ann Myers, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Biographies:

Sheila Jackson was born in the Harlem Hospital and has one older sister. For her undergraduate studies, Jackson went to the HBCU Morgan State University. After completing her undergraduate studies, she pursued her graduate education at Fordham University, where she obtained her Professional Diploma in Educational Leadership and Administration. During this time, Jackson pledged to the Eta Omega Omega Chapter. Jackson later became deeply involved in the chapter, mentioning that she served as the chapter’s Baselius president. Finally, she retired as Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction in District 29 of Queens.

Ann Myers was born in Virginia. She …

Why Hip Hop Began In The Bronx- Lecture For C-Span, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Mesa, Gloria, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewer: Jane Edward

Interviewee: Gloria Mesa

Date of Interview: October 4, 2019

Transcribed by: Allison Lecce

Summarized by: Allison Lecce

Gloria Mesa emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo with her family when she was a child. She was born and raised in Kinshasa, the capital of DRC, when her family won the diversity lottery. Her oldest siblings moved to the U.S. and eventually her and her parents joined them in Greensboro, North Carolina. Gloria is the youngest of five. She speaks French, which was her first language, English, Lingala, Kikongo and Gimbala, a language from her parents’ ethnic group. …

Critical Review Of Break Beats In The Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop’S Early Years, Corey Lionel Spencer

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Girl Groups In The Bronx: Race Gender And The Pursuit Of Respectability, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Italian Americans In Bronx Doo Wop-The Glory And The Paradox, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

The Multiracial Bronx: A Unique Cultural Incubator In Post War America, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

In The Shadow Of The Great Depression- Car Imagery In Post War Rhythm And Blues Country, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

The Unacknowledged Economic And Political Forces Which Shaped The Rise Of Rock And Roll, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

No abstract provided.

Sanabria, Bobby, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

Bobby Sanabria Summary

Summarized by Ian Smith, August 2022

Bobby Sanabria is a drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, documentary film producer, educator, bandleader, and activist. He is a 7-time grammy nominee as lead, and his versatility as both a drummer and percussionist, from small group to big band, has become legendary. His knowledge of latin jazz, both as a historian and as a maker of its history, has earned him worldwide acclaim.

Bobby Sanabria’s family were from rural Puerto Rico. Bobby was born in 1957 at the historic St. Francis hospital in the South Bronx. When he was 3, his …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …