11 20 232 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/16c45d0b0cfbbac2a32725416d859a52.jpg 17952ecfce069b0d62c5080d8569dd2a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data JPG Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 1192x687px Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Screenshot of Bronx African American History Project Oral History with First Initiate Carolyn Bowman Subject The topic of the resource Bowman, Carolyn Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Description An account of the resource Screenshot of oral history of Carolyn Bowman, first initiate into the Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., recorded for the Bronx African American History Project in August 2020. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 2020 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.009 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/d23bac9cce5001918bcfb238e546761b.mp4 b5aa51d42f2f38fac4d53adfd3d3febd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:44:06 Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Naison, Mark Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Bowman, Carolyn Interview Format Audio or Video Video Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx African American History Project Oral History with First Initiate Carolyn Bowman Subject The topic of the resource Bowman, Carolyn Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Description An account of the resource Oral history of Carolyn Bowman, first initiate into the Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., recorded for the Bronx African American History Project in August 2020. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bowman, Carolyn Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 2020 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral history Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.008 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/9695bfc660e6473aee475c4cb10106df.jpg 336fc0091aa9ee74b5028173f60ea3f6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data JPG Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 1192x803px Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Screenshot of Bronx African American History Project Oral History with LaVerne D. Best King Subject The topic of the resource Best King, LaVerne D. Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Description An account of the resource Screenshot of oral history of LaVerne D. Best King, member of Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., recorded for the Bronx African American History Project in 2020. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Still image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.007 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/bc7eeba07a492da435bcf3f7b747784d.mp4 db23d73a1871ace9faa5c21f60580241 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Naison, Mark Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:13:52 Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Best King, LaVerne D. Interview Format Audio or Video Video Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx African American History Project Oral History with LaVerne D. Best King Subject The topic of the resource Best King, LaVerne D. Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Description An account of the resource Oral history of LaVerne D. Best King, member of Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., recorded for the Bronx African American History Project in 2020. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Best King, LaVerne D. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral history Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.006 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/6e58bf6340d45870ebb99bd409c960ba.mov 10acc64bf8d10c498f75413c57d87f2e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MOV Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:16:11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Compilation of oral histories from Eta Omega Omega Chapter Subject The topic of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Bronx African American History Project Brown, Jacqueline Everette Jackson, Sheila Myers, Anne Best King, LaVerne D. Scott, Dr. Candice Tanner, Marietta Bowman, Carolyn Clement, Irma Description An account of the resource Compilation of oral histories from Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. prepared for "A Preservation of History: Archival/Repository Collection, 1964–Present" event at Wave Hill, The Bronx, New York, September 26, 2021, 12:00–2:30pm Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx African American History Project Payne, Steven Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MOV Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral history compilation Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.005 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/1ba0db7d69df11f55e1b29547d951f9b.jpg afda20e3a2cf93b995e1bda951113ed9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data JPG Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 1426x786px Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Presidents of Eta Omega Omega Chapter, 1964–2021 Subject The topic of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Chellis, Olga Lemon, Delores Wheeler, Grace Jones, Dierdre DeCharbert, Mary Sharpe, Dorthy McLeod, Isabella Jackson, Sheila Morgan-Tomlinson, Helen Daley, Joy Elaine Monsanto, Pauline Forde, Phyllis Best King, LaVerne D. Williams, Regina Simms-Chin, Linda Whiting-Hogans, Monica L. Whitehead, Marci Joseph, Donna Description An account of the resource The 2021 President, Donna Joseph; and Vice-President, Katherine Acevedo; and all the Past Presidents of the Eta Omega Omega Chapter, 1964–2021. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource JPG Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.004 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/2875078b6288e38b211f37f3d5d9242d.jpg 8178a05e70d4aa08e2d41b76bd41f667 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data JPG Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 673x421px Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Members of Eta Omega Omega Chapter at Autumn Frolic Subject The topic of the resource Charter members of Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Autumn Frolic Description An account of the resource Group photograph of members of Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. at Autumn Frolic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource JPG Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.003 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/82292f1c6494f9eddb0e4c55bf459e0e.jpg 072b3e33114b52c897db7521ea9e1cac Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data JPG Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 8000x4500px Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter Charter Members Subject The topic of the resource Chellis, Olga Charter members of Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Brown, Jacqueline Everette Hope, Mary O. Dudley, Thora L. Jones, Mae Tate Silvey, Joan Simms, Gladys B. Wilson, Irma Bland, Gwendolyn Johnson, Bessie Tanner, Marietta Bertin, Nearlene Description An account of the resource Collage of Eta Omega Omega Chapter Charter Members Nearlene Bertin, Marietta J. Tanner, Bessie M. Johnson, Gwendolyn B. Bland, Irma Wilson, Gladys B. Simms, Joan Silvey Drane, Olga G. Chellis, Mae Tate Jones, Thora L. Dudley, Mary O. Hope, and Jacqueline Everette Brown. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource n.d. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource JPG Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.002 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/7e54b320f168c25e52797b419b06b6f0.jpg d67fcf09f33c5e0845fec85a6c2720b1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter Records Subject The topic of the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Bronx African American History Project Eta Omega Omega Bronx Graduate Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Wheeler, Wilson & Johnson Community Projects, Inc. Description An account of the resource Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was chartered on May 23, 1964, by twelve members. The chapter celebrates a rich history of service, philanthropy, and scholarship for the Bronx community. From its inception, programs of service were launched to enhance the quality of life for residents of The Bronx. Specific emphasis was placed on engaging youth, working with developmentally disabled children, and providing services to the elderly. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® provides volunteer services to vulnerable and underserved communities. One of the first programs started by the chapter was a garden project at the Southeast Neighborhood Center for developmentally disabled adults. Since then, the chapter has initiated several other service projects, including Impact Days, Earth Day and Akarosa Adopt A Highway beautification initiatives, financial literacy workshops, Alzheimer's awareness projects, mental health support projects, and healthy heart initiatives. The chapter also spearheads the MLK Day of Service project, various toy drives, collaborative Global Impact Day with South Africa and St, Croix members as well as a host of other programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to serving the Bronx community. In addition to serving the community, members also participate in weekly prayer calls, leadership enrichment opportunities, membership and sisterly relations activities that are intergenerational, like book, movie, exercise, and travel clubs. Eta Omega Omega chartered Xi Xi chapter, an undergraduate chapter at Lehman College on June 25, 1983, and members of that chapter have participated in many of the projects. Eta Omega Omega chapter's signature program is the Rites of Passage Mentoring Program. This program provides high school girls with year-long intensive workshops on personal development, ancestral history, interpersonal relations, etiquette, and goal setting. Since 1991 this program has guided young girls towards their transition into womanhood by fostering a sense of responsibility, sisterhood, and self-pride. The chapter will continue the Rites of Passage Program in collaboration with ((#CAP℠), the current administration’s College Admissions Process program ((#CAP℠), designed to assist students in their efforts to enter college. As a result of the work that Eta Omega Omega has done, the chapter has earned many national and international accolades and awards. Some awards earned were Small and Medium Chapter of the Year, the Spirit Award, Membership, Connection, and Star Award for Outstanding Programs. On a regional level, several chapter members have been recognized for their outstanding service in leadership. Members were honored as Basileus of the year, Silver Star of the year, Graduate Advisor of the year, and the Idell Pugh Angel Award. In 1994, the Chapter established a not-for-profit corporation and later changed the name of this corporation to Wheeler, Wilson and Johnson Community Projects, Inc. The corporation was organized exclusively for educational and charitable purposes within Bronx County. Through the foundation the chapter hosts an annual holiday toy drive, leads peace walks, and donates dorm baskets to students leaving for college. In addition, the Chapter annually gives over $10,000 in scholarships to support youth attending two-year, four year, and HBCU colleges. As a large-sized chapter, with 129 members, Eta Omega Omega is one of seventeen exceptional graduate chapters in Cluster III of the Notable North Atlantic Region. Many members have moved up in leadership. Eta Omega Omega members have served as Cluster and Regional Committee Chairman and Cluster Co-Coordinators. Chapter member Soror Joy Elaine Daley has served previously as the North Atlantic Regional Director and currently serves as the International Regional Director. Eta Omega Omega Members continue to exemplify the ideals that Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated® was founded on well over 110 years ago.  Through the direction of our 30th International President, Dr. Glenda Glover, the Chapter has implemented the 2018–2022 International Program under the theme, "Exemplifying Excellence Through Sustainable Service." The International Program includes five program targets designed to advance the mission of Alpha Kappa Alpha with excellence and underscore a commitment to sustainable service. The five program targets for 2018–2022 are: <ol> <li><a>HBCU for Life: A Call to Action</a></li> <li><a>Women's Healthcare and Wellness</a></li> <li><a>Building Your Economic Legacy</a></li> <li><a>The Arts!</a></li> <li><a>Global Impact</a></li> </ol> In addition, Eta Omega Omega members implement International Community Service Days annually to highlight the organization's collective impact in program target areas: <ul> <li>Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January)</li> <li>Pink Goes Red for Heart Health Day (February)</li> <li>AKA Global Impact Day (April)</li> <li>AKA International Day of Prayer (August)</li> <li>AKA HBCU Day (September)</li> <li>Breast Cancer Awareness Day (October)</li> <li>AKA Caregivers' Day (November)</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Eta Omega Omega Chapter, Donna Joseph, President, Saudah Muhammad, Chapter Historian Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964–present Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Mixed media collection Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data JPG Physical Dimensions The actual physical size of the original image 474x440px Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Certificate of Chartering for Eta Omega Omega Chapter Subject The topic of the resource Charter of Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Description An account of the resource Photograph of Certificate of Chartering for Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1964 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource JPG Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource JPG Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MS-AKAHOO.BD.001 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Suzanne Ross Video Memoirs Description An account of the resource Pending Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930s–2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:52:54 Media Embedded media file for non-oral history recorded sound and moving images. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/daFR7YblIbM?si=3ByVq3yNwJ3Jqx--" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 6-01. Judaism and Anti-Zionism: Palestine, Kibbutz, and the "New" Jew Description An account of the resource In this recording, part of a larger video memoir, Suzanne Ross traces her profound Jewish identity, shaped by her family’s flight from Nazi-occupied Belgium during WWII. As a child refugee across Europe, North Africa, and Palestine, she learned early that being Jewish meant survival amid persecution. Her family’s year in Palestine (before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948) left lasting impressions: while she cherished reunions with relatives, she critiques the left-wing kibbutz’s secular Zionism, which mocked religious traditions and marginalized diaspora Jews like her family. Suzanne recalls visceral discomfort when classmates scorned elderly Jews or scrawled “outsiders leave” on a blackboard—early signs of Zionism’s exclusionary undercurrents. Though the kibbutz idealized a “new Jewish” identity tied to Hebrew and labor, Suzanne’s parents saw Palestine only as temporary refuge. Her father, a polyglot and anti-Nazi operative, leveraged his work with Allied intelligence to secure passage to the U.S.—their ultimate dream of stability. Suzanne’s memoirs highlight how Zionism’s post-Holocaust appeal grew, contrasting with pre-war Jewish diversity (most Jews weren’t Zionists). She honors Jewish resistance fighters like Warsaw Ghetto’s Mordechai Anielewicz, rejecting Zionist narratives that erased diaspora resilience. Her reflections weave personal trauma with sharp ideological critique, revealing how kibbutz life’s contradictions—collective ideals paired with intolerance—shaped what would grow in her adult years to a full-blown anti-Zionism. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the Item, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions with the organization that has made the Item available. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Video memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS.087 Holocaust Israel kibbutz Mordechai Anielewicz Palestine Róza Robota Suzanne Ross Zionism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Suzanne Ross Video Memoirs Description An account of the resource Pending Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930s–2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:10:56 Media Embedded media file for non-oral history recorded sound and moving images. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H5dDXGUc_Ks?si=45P0_JyKbqSP4rqs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 6-02. Judaism and Anti-Zionism: Palestine and the Kibbutz Description An account of the resource In this recording, part of a larger video memoir project, lifetime activist and educator Suzanne Ross recalls her early experience of being exposed to Zionism in Palestine on the kibbutz in the 1940s, before the creation of the state of Israel. Suzanne recalls that a constituent part of early Zionism was the creation of the "sabra," a tough-guy Jewish persona set up in supposed contrast to Jews who went "willingly" to the Holocaust. Suzanne relates that she learned later about Jews' tremendous resistance to the Holocaust, something she did not learn on the kibbutz in Palestine. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the Item, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions with the organization that has made the Item available. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Video memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS.088 Holocaust Israel Palestine sabra Suzanne Ross Zionism Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Suzanne Ross Video Memoirs Description An account of the resource Pending Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930s–2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:16:33 Media Embedded media file for non-oral history recorded sound and moving images. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5emz-VtGXv0?si=eaBMODcqduhcdmWc" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2-07. Family History and Childhood: Mozambique, 1941–1945, Racism Description An account of the resource In this recording, part of a larger video memoir project, lifetime activist and educator Suzanne Ross remembers the development of her morality as a child (starting at 00:09:58), both in Mozambique, while observing the life of her family's Black servant and the chain gang in the park, and later in Palestine in the kibbutz, seeing the treatment of religious elders and the attitude toward outsiders coming to the kibbutz. From Suzanne: "Born in 1937 living with an extended family on maternal and paternal sides in Antwerp Belgium. By 1940 the Nazis invade and most of the family tried and even succeeded in leaving. My parents, brother, and I along with different aunts, uncles, and cousins parted ways with some headed for Portugal, some for Palestine, and other remaining in France or Belgium. Traveling for about a year from France to Spain to North Africa, to Portugal and eventually Mozambique, we found a haven in Mozambique for three years, until the colonial power (Portugal) gave us a deadline by which we had to leave. This was now 1944 and we were able to go to Palestine where we remained for a year before we were able to get the visa we needed to go to the US, my parents’ dream. We arrived in the US on December 25, 1945 and soon became part of an orthodox Jewish community in Queens, Far Rockaway. My brother and I attended the Yeshiva, I loved the chaos of this school, with the students able to challenge the adults, and impose a certain student power. In addition to the students ability to disrupt regular routines, the Hebrew education was excellent, especially the training in Talmudic logic and debate which served me in good stead for many subsequent decades of schooling. By the time I went to public high school I was increasingly losing interest in religion and focused more and more on intellectual interests and wanting to go to an elite college." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the Item, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions with the organization that has made the Item available. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Video memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS.011 Judaism kibbutz morality Mozambique Palestine religion Suzanne Ross Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Description An account of the resource The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a collaboration between Kurt Boone, veteran documentarian of urban culture in New York City, and Dr. Steven Payne, librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. The project aims to document the early years of the graffiti arts movement in The Bronx through recording oral histories and collecting tags from surviving Bronx pioneers of the art form. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boone, Kurt BUTCH 2 Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Payne, Steven Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 11:06 Compression Type/rate of compression for moving image file (i.e. MPEG-4) MPEG-4 Media Embedded media file for non-oral history recorded sound and moving images. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KLO7_5Ro6_E?si=xxLSxRlYKbE-ncNh" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource On the Tracks: Graffiti in NYC (Community Notes) Subject The topic of the resource Graffiti Bronx (New York, N.Y.) Graffiti artists--women Description An account of the resource Video produced by Shekinah Green for the Community Notes section of this repository, inspired by The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Green, Shekinah Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the individual or organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP.2022.11.18 https://digital.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/files/original/4c4309bc81cd91ee2d4ff1c8b50f65fe.pdf c5f4ddf5c454af733d318cd13683d336 PDF Text Text THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL Volume LIX Numbers 1–2 Spring/Fall 2022 The Bronx County Historical Society JOURNAL ��The Bronx County Historical Society JOURNAL Volume LIX Numbers 1–2 Spring/Fall 2022 EDITORIAL BOARD G. Hermalyn Elizabeth Beirne Jacqueline Kutner Patrick Logan Steven Payne Gil Walton Roger Wines © 2022 by The Bronx County Historical Society, Inc. The Bronx County Historical Society Journal is published by The Bronx County Historical Society, Inc. All correspondence should be addressed to 3309 Bainbridge Avenue, The Bronx, New York, 10467. Articles appearing in this Journal are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life, Periodical Source Index, and Recent Scholarship Online. The Journal and its editors disclaim responsibility for statements made by the contributors. ISSN 0007-2249 Articles in The Bronx County Historical Journal can also be found on EBSCO host research databases and on our website under “Collections.” www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org �THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY TRUSTEES Jacqueline Kutner, President Anthony Morante, Vice President Patrick Logan, Treasurer Gil Walton, Secretary Steve Baktidy, Trustee Robert Esnard, Trustee Mei Sei Fong, Trustee Dr. G. Hermalyn, Trustee Joel Podgor, Trustee Lloyd Ultan, Trustee Jac Zadrima, Trustee EX-OFFICIO Hon. Eric Adams Mayor of New York City Hon. Vanessa Gibson Bronx Borough President Hon. Sue Donaghue Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation Hon. Laurie Cumbo Commissioner, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs STAFF Dr. G. Hermalyn, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Steven Payne, Director Teresa Brown, Chief Administrative Officer Clarence Addo-Yobo, Museum of Bronx History Senior Interpreter Pastor Crespo, Jr., Research Librarian Roger McCormack, Director of Education Chris Padilla, Bookstore Manager Valerie Blain, Archival Intern Kathleen A. McCauley, Curator Emerita Dr. Mark Naison, Bronx African American History Project Consultant ii �Volume LIX Numbers 1–2 Spring/Fall 2022 CONTENTS A Note from the Editors.......................................................................................................v ARTICLES Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty..................................................1 Edited and introduction by Steven Payne Kingsbridge Vignettes............................................................................................................19 By Richard Baum Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s........................................................................................29 By Robert Weiss A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters.............................................39 By Mark Naison About the Authors..................................................................................................................44 FROM THE ARCHIVES Afro-Cuban Jazz in The Bronx......................................................................................45 From the David M. Carp Papers on Latin Jazz REVIEWS Cope, Power Hungry (2022)................................................................................................69 By Pastor Crespo, Jr. Sammartino, Freedomland (2022)...................................................................................72 By Roger McCormack iii �ENDOWED FUNDS The Bronx County Historical Society encourages the establishment of named endowment funds. Funds may be created to support the many different programs of The Society or may be established for restricted use. The funds appear permanently on the financial records of the Historical Society in recognition of their ongoing support of its work. Named endowment funds are established for a gift of $5000 or more and once begun, additional contributions may be made at any time. The following funds currently support our work: Astor Fund Bingham Fund Elbaum Fund Fernandez Fund General Board Fund Gordon Fund Gouverneur Morris Fund Halpern Memorial Fund Hermalyn Institute Fund Isabelle Fund Khan Fund Lampell Fund Library Fund Parisse Fund Sander Fund Ultan Fund For further details, contact: Mr. Joel Podgor, CPA Treasurer Emeritus 718-881-8900 �A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS Volume 59 of The Bronx County Historical Society Journal represents a milestone in the history of this storied periodical, which has been published continuously since 1964. In many respects, the COVID-19 pandemic hit The Bronx County Historical Society with a vengeance. Our two historic house museums were closed for the majority of 2020 and the entirety of 2021 and only started to reopen on a limited basis in 2022. Revenue from museum visits, tours, and inperson purchases all experienced a sharp decline and are only beginning to bounce back. Yet on other important fronts, particularly those of collection acquistion, archival processing, and oral history recording, The Society’s activities picked up as never before. The Society recorded over 100 oral histories during these pandemic years across The Bronx African American History Project, The Bronx Latino History Project, and The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project. The Society acquired 43 new archival collections during this same period, and over 100 of the 163 collections currently housed in The Bronx County Archives were fully processed and inventoried and are now available to researchers and the wider public. This volume of our Journal contains some of the first fruits of these pandemic labors, including an edited oral history collection from the Bronx Latino History Project around the life and legacy of Dr. Evelina Antonetty (1910–1984), a pivotal Bronx human rights activist, and an archival manuscript of a lengthy but groundbreaking study of Afro-Cuban jazz from the David M. Carp papers on Latin jazz in The Bronx County Archives. This volume, while longer than many previous volumes, is meant to highlight the recent work of The Society while motioning towards our ever-expanding role as a world-class center of community-based historical documentation and scholarship. v �ISABELLE HERMALYN BOOK AWARD IN NEW YORK URBAN HISTORY Presented annually to an author of a distinguished work in New York urban history. 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Annotated Primary Source 2009 Documents, vol. 2, Roger McCormack 2008 BASEBALL The New York Game, Anthony Morante Hudson’s River, G. Hermalyn and Sidney Horenstein, The 2007 Bronx County Historical Society Concrete Jungle, Niles Eldrige 2006 and Sidney Horenstein, University of California Press Digging The Bronx, Alan 2005 Gilbert, The Bronx County Historical Society 2004 The New York Botanical Garden, Gregory Long and Todd A. Forest, Abrams Books 2003 The Bronx Artist Documentary Project, Judith C. Lane and 2002 Daniel Hauben An Irrepressible Conflict, 2001 Jennifer A. Lemak et al., SUNY Press Supreme City, Donald Miller, 2000 Simon & Schuster Humans of New York, 1999 Brandon Stanton, St. Martin's Press The Impeachment of Governor 1998 Salzer, Matthew L. Lifflander, SUNY Press 1997 Freedomland, Robert McLaughlin and Frank Adamo, Arcadia Publishers Band of Union, Gerard T. Koppel, Da Capa Press Manahatta, Eric W. Sanderson, Abrams Books The New York, Westchester & Boston Railway, Herbert Harwood, Indiana University Press Trying Leviathan, D. Graham Burnett, Princeton University Press Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning, Jonathan Mahler, Ferrar, Strauss & Giroux The Devil’s Own Work, Barnett Schecter, Walker & Co. The Island at the Center of the World, Russell Shorto, Doubleday Capital City, Thomas Kessner, Simon & Schuster Tunneling to the Future, Peter Derrick, NYU Press The Monied Metropolis, Sven Beckert, Cambridge University Press Bronx Accent, Lloyd Ultan and Barbara Unger, Rutgers Press The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, John Manbeck and Zella Jones American Metropolis, George Lankevich, NYU Press Elected Public Officials of The Bronx Since 1898, Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx County Historical Society �TITI: AN ORAL HISTORY OF DR. EVELINA ANTONETTY EDITED AND INTRODUCTION BY STEVEN PAYNE I. Introduction Dr. Evelina Antonetty (1922–1984), a proud Bronxite, was among the most prolific human rights activists of the twentieth century. Over the course of more than four decades of activism, Evelina struggled for an end to racial and national discrimination against Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and other racially and nationally oppressed peoples; quality, affordable housing for all; culturally relevant and bilingual public education; full employment with livable wages, especially for youth; robust funding for after-school programs and community centers; healthcare equity; peace and disarmament; and much more. On the occasion of Evelina’s centenary, as part of “Evelina 100,” a week-long celebration of her life and legacy, on Friday, September 16, 2022, The Bronx County Historical Society screened TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty, an edited oral history collection, at Pregones/Puero Rican Travelling Theater in The Bronx. Section 2 of this article provides a brief biography of Evelina to orient readers who might not be as familiar with her work. Section 3 contains a list of narrators included in the edited oral history collection, together with references to the full-length oral histories recorded by the Historical Society for the Bronx Latino History Project and the Bronx African American History Project. Section 4 reproduces the transcript of TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty in its entirety. Although representing only a sampling of the significant oral history collecting that is taking place around Evelina’s life and legacy, the selections transcribed in the final section of this article demonstrate the multi-layered, complex, emotionally laden, and politically significant impact Evelina continues to have among Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 1 �family members, friends, and the wider Bronx community. Although physically absent, Evelina continues to shape the way that The Bronx and its people struggle for and think about a more livable, sustainable present and future. II. Brief Biography of Dr. Evelina Antonetty Dr. Evelina Antonetty (née López) was born on September 19, 1922 in Salinas, Puerto Rico.1 Her mother, Eva Cruz, raised Evelina and her two younger sisters, Lillian and Elba. Evelina’s aunt and uncle, Vicenta and Enrique Godreau, had relocated to New York City in 1923. A decade later, in 1933, they sent for Evelina to live with them. Evelina left Puerto Rico soon after her youngest sister Elba was born, on September 10, 1933. After arriving in New York on El Ponce, Evelina lived with her aunt and uncle in El Barrio until her mother and sisters could join her. This they did two years later, in 1935, and the entire family lived together in successive East Harlem apartments. Vicenta and Enrique—known to most simply as “Godreau”— had already established extensive ties within the community by the time Evelina’s family arrived. Vicenta was a political activist with close ties to the LaGuardia and Roosevelt administrations. Godreau was a music promoter and numbers runner who regularly socialized with the likes of Machito and Tito Puente. Those close to Evelina while she was growing up remember her as actively engaged in transforming the world and her place within it 1 For longer biographical treatments of Dr. Evelina Antonetty, some more reliable than others, see, for example, Nicholasa Mohr, All for the Better (Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn, 1993); “Guide to the Records of United Bronx Parents, Inc 1966–1989 (Bulk 1970s–1983),” Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY, 2005 https://centropr-archive.hunter.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/faids/ubpf.html; Nélida Pérez, “Antonetty, Evelina López (1922–1984),” pp. 48–49 in Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia (Indiana University Press, 2006); and Nydia Edgecombe, “‘The Hell Lady from the Bronx’ Evelina López Antonetty, el activismo comunitario de una puertorriqueña en la diáspora del Sur del Bronx” (PhD dissertation, El Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y El Caribe, 2018). 2 STEVEN PAYNE �from an early age. One of her friends from childhood, Dolores Roque, remembers a pageant that she and Evelina organized in elementary school in Puerto Rico. It was the largest pageant in the school’s history up to that point.2 In New York City, at the age of sixteen, Evelina joined the Young Communist League, the youth wing of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), a formidable force in the 1940s in progressive, anti-racist, labor, and anti-colonial struggles. Evelina was speaking at mass meetings citywide by the time she was in her late teens. Her youngest sister Elba, for instance, remembers Evelina speaking at a large American Labor Party rally in New York City during the early 1940s in support of the U.S.’s anti-fascist war efforts (as World War II was explicitly characterized at the time). During this rally, as a testament to her ability and reputation, a young Evelina was on the rostrum with Jesús Colón (1901–1974), one of the leading Puerto Rican activists of the day and more than 20 years Evelina’s senior. Evelina also worked very closely with Vito Marcantonio, a progressive Italian politician from East Harlem who built close ties with both Italian and Puerto Rican communities in the neighborhood and around New York. Evelina became a postal worker for a period of time during the war, and it was during these years that she met and married her first husband and moved to Jackson Avenue in The Bronx. Evelina gave birth to her first daughter, Lorraine, in 1943. For a number of years after the war, Evelina worked for District 65 of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), one of the more militant unions that fell under close scrutiny during the McCarthy era.3 Evelina recruited for the local among Puerto Ricans and other people of color who were still discriminated against in many unions 2 See Section 4 below for the transcription of this story from Dolores Roque’s oral history recorded for the Bronx Latino History Project. 3 District 65 of the RWDSU eventually merged with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and became a local affiliated with that union. For a historical overview of this union, see “Guide to the United Automobile Workers of America, District 65 Records WAG.006,” Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, NYU, 2019, https://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/ html/tamwag/wag_006/bioghist.html; and Minna P. Ziskind, “Labor Conflict in the Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 3 �at the time. By this point, Evelina’s mother, two sisters, and some of her extended family had also moved to The Bronx, settling nearby on Concord Avenue. During these years, Evelina divorced her first husband and married Donato Antonetty, with whom she had her second daughter, Anita, and her only son Donald. Navigating the public school system with her three children and other parents in the neighborhood convinced Evelina that education advocacy was an urgent and much needed area of struggle, both in The Bronx and citywide. With community and family members, Evelina founded an organization called United Bronx Parents (UBP) in 1965 in order to train Bronx parents to advocate for their children’s language, cultural, and nourishment needs. Additionally, UBP organized bilingual adult education classes, served as a community center, offered a variety of employment and job training opportunities to youth, became involved in local struggles for healthcare justice, and fought for the people of The Bronx in a variety of other ways. UBP quickly grew to become one of New York City’s leading community organizations. By the early 1970s, UBP was distributing two meals a day to thousands of children in all five boroughs for the city’s new free summer breakfast and lunch program. Both through UBP and independently Evelina was deeply engaged in her community. After youth involvement in gangs experienced an uptick in The Bronx during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Evelina began approaching known gang leaders, befriending them, arranging for their employment, and supporting them throughout their rehabilitation. Additionally, Evelina and other community members drew attention to the abhorrent healthcare being provided at Lincoln Hospital and other “ghetto hospitals” (as they were called at the time). She and others, including groups like the Young Lords and Suburbs: Organizing Retail in Metropolitan New York, 1954–1958,” International Labor and Working‐Class History 64 (2003): 55–79. 4 STEVEN PAYNE �the Black Panthers, advocated for community control of these healthcare facilities.4 Evelina also supported Dr. Helen RodríguezTrías (1929–2001) and others at Lincoln Hospital who opposed the appointment of Dr. Antonio Silva, a doctor with a known history of mass sterilization of women in Puerto Rico.5 When the South Bronx and its people were depicted in racist and dehumanizing ways in films like Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981), Evelina hit the streets in protest, always sticking up for her community.6 In short, Evelina was a loving sister, mother, and aunt, a fierce fighter, a mentor to many, an incredibly active and brilliant human being who loved The Bronx, its people, and all oppressed peoples worldwide. III. Oral History Narrators TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty contains selections from the oral histories of the following narrators, alphabetized by last name, all of whom have recorded at least one oral history for either the Bronx Latino History Project or the Bronx African American History Project. References to these oral histories are provided to facilitate further research about the life and legacy of Dr. Evelina Antonetty. ANITA ANTONETTY is the daughter of Evelina and Donato Anto4 For recent treatments of struggles for community control of healthcare facilities in The Bronx, see Rachel Pagones, Acupuncture as Revolution: Suffering, Liberation, and Love (London: Brevis, 2021), especially chs. 1 and 3; and Johanna Fernández, The Young Lords: A Radical History (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020), 271–304. 5 For a general history of mass sterlization campaigns among Puerto Ricans, see Laura Briggs, Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002), 142–161. A biography of Dr. Helen Rodríguez-Trías can be found in Joyce Wilcox, “The Face of Women’s Health: Helen Rodriguez Trias,” American Journal of Public Health (2002): 566–569. 6 See box 1, folder 3, “Committee Against Fort Apache,” The Gelvin Stevenson papers on Arson and Housing Abandonment, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 5 �netty.7 DONALD ANTONETTY is the son of Evelina and Donato Antonetty.8 ELBA CABRERA is the youngest sister of Evelina.9 JOE CONZO, JR. is the grandson of Evelina and the son of Lorraine Montenegro, who was the oldest daughter of Evelina.10 CARINA MONDESIRE is the daughter of Paul Mondesire, the granddaughter of Elba Cabrera, and the great niece of Evelina.11 PAUL MONDESIRE is the younger son of Elba Cabrera and a nephew of Evelina.12 ANTONIO MONDESÍRE-CABRERA is the older son of Elba Cabrera and a nephew of Evelina.13 7 “Oral History of Anita and Donald Antonetty,” April 13, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 8 “Oral History of Anita and Donald Antonetty.” 9 “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 1,” November 16, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 2,” November 30, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 3,” December 6, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 4,” December 14, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 5,” December 22, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 6,” December 28, 2021; interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 10 “Oral History of Joe Conzo, Jr.,” May 9, 2006, interviewed by Mark Naison, The Bronx African American History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 11 “Oral History of Carina Mondesire,” December 14, 2021, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 12 “Oral History of Paul Mondesire, Part 1,” February 1, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 13 “Oral History of Babá Antonio Mondesire-Cabrera, Part 1,” June 16, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne; “Oral History of Babá Antonio Mondesire-Cabrera, Part 2,” September 22, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne and Pastor Crespo, Jr., The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical 6 STEVEN PAYNE �DOLORES ROQUE is a childhood friend of Evelina who went to elementary school with her in Puerto Rico.14 CLEO SILVERS is a community and labor organizer who was mentored by Evelina as a young activist in the South Bronx in the late 1960s and early 1970s.15 VIVIAN VÁSQUEZ IRIZARRY is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who frequented UBP when she was growing up.16 IV. Transcript of TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty The transcribed oral history collection below is organized into three sections: 1. Evelina’s Life, which includes selected narrations of different aspects of Evelina’s life, from early childhood through adulthood; 2. Evelina’s Struggles, comprised of selected narrations of activist struggles Evelina engaged in from the 1940s until her passing in 1984, with pride of place falling to UBP; and 3. Evelina’s Legacies, which contains selected narrations of the many legacies left behind in Evelina’s wake—from a passion for education to gang rehabilitation to mentoring and inspiring generations of community activists, family members, and Bronxites in general. Society Research Library. 14 “Oral History of Dolores Roque,” February 11, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 15 “Oral History of Cleo Silvers, Part 1,” February 21, 2007; “Oral History of Cleo Silvers, Part 2,” March 12, 2007; interviewed by Mark Naison, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 16 “Oral History of Vivian Vásquez Irizarry,” February 18, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 7 �1. Evelina’s Life ELBA CABRERA: Well, I came to this country in 1935. My sister Evelina had—I was born, I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. And the day I was born, Evelina left to come to New York. She actually saw me— she saw my mother giving birth to me. And she said it was the hardest thing for her to leave, to leave her new baby sister. But my aunt [Vicenta Godreau], who had come to New York from Puerto Rico in 1923, had sent for her. And so, she was leaving. And that was actually September 10, 1933 that Evelina came to this country. And she was with my aunt. She landed in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, I think it was. And the boat was the, El Ponce. That was the name of the boat—boat or ship. When, when Evelina came, she went to live at 117th Street, in East Harlem. And it was, I think, off Fifth Avenue, I think. Because, you know, this is all what I’ve heard, you know. I wasn’t around. And so anyway, two years later, my aunt sent for us, sent for me and my mom and Lillian. And we came on the same ship and landed in Brooklyn as well. And we went to live with my aunt, and this was extended family living in Spanish Harlem. ANITA ANTONETTY: Well, how my mother [Evelina Antonetty] and my father [Donato Antonetty] ended up in The Bronx: well, my mother, when, when she came to this country, she lived in El Barrio in Harlem, East Harlem, New York, with her aunt, and then I believe what she told us was that when she, she got married to her first husband, she, they moved to The Bronx. That seemed to be the place people were going, a lot of people were coming to the Bronx, so they were in the South Bronx, Jackson Avenue. So, and then after she divorced her first husband, she and my, my sister Lorraine, were still there in Jackson Avenue. And her mother and her two sisters followed her to the, to The Bronx. That’s Elba 8 STEVEN PAYNE �and Lillian. And they lived on Concord Avenue, which was a block away from Jackson Avenue. My father came later, I think, around ’55 or so, came to New York. And, and his family also had come to, some of them had already come to New York—my aunt Santos and my other aunt Margo, came, came to New York. Santos lived in the same building, Jackson Avenue. Margo lived in Concord as well. So, we had, we had, we had family all around us. There was other friends also that lived [in] Union Avenue: Tini, Carmen. Carmen Muñoz was godmother to Donny. My, my godmother, Celia Avilés, at the time, lived in, in Jackson Avenue, 625 Jackson, [inaudible], too. So, it was a real family neighborhood, you know, besides being blood relatives, we were close to everybody. It was a very mixed neighborhood. It was, you know, Puerto Ricans, African Americans that came from the South. There were others: Irish; Jewish, mostly from, from Russia; and Chinese. There were Chinese people that lived in the neighborhood, too. So, it was a very mixed neighborhood, very working-class neighborhood. PAUL MONDESIRE: So, the anchor of our family was Titi—everybody called her “Titi.” That would be Dr. Evelina Antonetty. Titi and her family, when I was really, really, really young, they lived, I think it was there on Jackson Avenue. The address I’m remembering: 625 Jackson Avenue. But we used to go visit them all the time. We used to visit Aunt Lilly a lot. She and, she and my grandmother lived in the then new Bridge Apartments, there at 111 Wadsworth, in, you know, technically that’s Man-, Washington Heights. The Bridge Apartments at that time were brand, brand new. They, this was before they kind of turned into a sewer, you know, because that, that turned into a very harsh neighborhood. But Aunt Lilly moved out of there before then. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 9 �But, so, we would visit Titi and Aunt Lilly a lot. Lorraine and her kids. I mean, well, Titi was kind of the, she was the fulcrum. So, everybody went to Titi’s house, no matter what. Right? So, you know, holidays were spent going to Titi’s a lot. DOLORES ROQUE: Let me tell you: one time I went to get together, and we tried to make a pageant. And we made a pageant. And I say, “You know what? We’re gonna have Alma.” Alma was a girl, she was very nice, cute, but she had a cross-eye, and was cross-eyed. Her mother was separating from her father. But Titi and me, we decided to make the pageant. And I made the pageant. So, this man, he was a big man with money, like Alma’s father. They worked in the, in the corporation that then built [inaudible]. And this guy came over to me, and he says, “How much money do you need to make my daughter the queen?” The ticket was two cents —two cents, the ticket! Just [to] buy the stuff for the pageant, and, you know, for the—. So, and then we say, “No, we want to have —Alma will be the president.” And I said [to Titi], “You’re gonna be the, the princess.” So, we made the pageant, okay—the teacher doesn't know anything about it. We’re doing everything behind the teacher’s back. But it happened so that was the biggest event the school has, okay? Titi was the princess, and we made Alma the queen. That was Evelina and me in school, okay? They had a garden. And there we had a, they had a teacher. Mostly for the boys. For teaching gardening and stuff like that. And Titi and me went to see how they seed, plant the tomatoes, just to see. We don’t want to do it, but they don’t allow girls. It was only for the boys. We had to do something else. And Titi and me were there looking to see. And then I said, “I can do it.” Titi said, “I can do it.” 10 STEVEN PAYNE �2. Evelina’s Struggles ELBA CABRERA: This [pointing to a photograph] was during World War Two. We used to have rallies for the war effort, and Evelina was one of the main speakers [for an American Labor Party rally] with Jesús Colón, and two other women. And I have a cute story about that. I was, I was about, I don’t know, maybe seven, eight years old. And I was in the audience with Lillian, with my sister Lillian, and all of a sudden, the rains came. And I had this, they had given me like a costume with crepe paper, color, and the rains came, and all this dye came all over me. And I started crying out for Evelina. We used to call her “Titi.” I said, “Titi!” And, and Lillian says, “You can’t, she can’t come down, just stay with me.” But I’ll never forget that day. Above: Dr. Evelina Antonetty, 1980, Frank Espada, photographer, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquisition made possible through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 11 �PAUL MONDESIRE: I think the most important thing to recall about those years was Titi’s attitude was not by any means necessary. It was by every means necessary, okay? She worked with city, city administrations. She worked with folks that had less than savory reputations in certain places, because that’s what you had to do. But her personal integrity on this was unquestioned. Like I said, she wouldn’t mess around with those SEBCO [South East Bronx Community Organization] people, and they wouldn’t mess around with her. Think about, think about that. The mob wouldn’t f—k with Titi. The mob would not f—k with Titi. And yeah, I said it just like that. Yeah, that’s the kind of powerful person that she was. When she started United Bronx Parents [in 1965], it was first United Bronx Parents, as the, as the, you know, education advocacy organization. Then she started the daycare center, and the daycare center grew into, you know, ultimately serving, you know, all kinds of populations, you know, the, you know, folks that were, you know, recovering from drugs. And later on, when Lorraine was running the organization, she got into helping, you know, creating the women’s shelter. I don’t know as much about the details there. ANITA ANTONETTY: Besides being at Bank Street, after school, we were in United Bronx Parents. And, and since my mother’s consultations moved out of the house, we had to learn how to answer the phone properly. Take messages, all of that. And then in, in, in the office, we, if there was an event going on, and flyers were being run off, we, and we needed to collate material, it was all done by hand, machines, at the time, to do it. So, we were put to work. And we also learned how to sit at the switchboard and transfer calls and all of that. DONALD ANTONETTY: And Elba was the, the office manager. 12 STEVEN PAYNE �ANITA ANTONETTY: The office manager. DONALD ANTONETTY: She was a drill sergeant. ANITA ANTONETTY: She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t take anything from anybody. But we had, we had the run of the place pretty much. But we were in the middle of everything. DONALD ANTONETTY: But we were always expected to work. Always. Matter of fact, my father used to tell us, you know, since this is, you know, since it’s family-run, you’re expected to do more than anybody who was an employee there. Okay. Okay. Always. Always. ANITA ANTONETTY: [Our father] was integral to the operation. DONALD ANTONETTY: He used to translate all the documents into Spanish—like from Spanish to English, or mostly English to Spanish. So, all the, all the materials for the parents organizing, organizing, he would translate it. We always put out everything in English and Spanish. ANITA ANTONETTY: And by hand because it was two dictionaries and two thesauruses, and then just going back and forth. He would spend, spend nights doing that. And then if anything broke, he was fixing it. The machines broke, he would fix them. If, if something had, shelves had to be built, he was building them. But what was good about him is that he was working with people, and especially younger people, and showing them how to do: this is how you measure, this is how you cut, this is how you put it together, and all of that. Estella Rodríguez was the fiscal officer for the organization. She was a good friend. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 13 �DONALD ANTONETTY: She knew where every penny was. ANITA ANTONETTY: She made sure every penny was accounted for. Because in those days, you had to, because otherwise they’d shut you down in a minute. And I, I remember, she, one day her outrage, because they said, you know, they wanted all of the records. The next day, like nine o’clock in the morning, outraged that it was, anything would be wrong, but she made sure everything was right. Every payroll was met. Never, never missed the payroll. DONALD ANTONETTY: They had a great relationship with the banks, a great relationship with the banks. VIVIAN VÁSQUEZ IRIZARRY: Well, the main community center that we were a part of was United Bronx Parents. So, I remember when we were young, we would go to St. Mary’s Park, and, you know, swim in the swimming pool at certain times of the year, but our, my, our main place was UBP. UBP—and, and for a little bit, St. Margaret’s, but not so much—UBP was a place where my sister, my oldest sister, worked year-round. And I worked there as a summer youth employment. But even going before that, you know—and I had not made this link until long afterwards—was that UBP provided free lunch, free breakfast and lunch. And so there were times during the summer where my mother would say, “Okay, go over there and go to 1-, PS 130. And get your lunch and your breakfast, you know, and bring, take—.” So, there were five of us. So, the five of us would go and, and get our sandwiches and our lunch. And you know, it was really great. And, you know, at that time, I don’t think I knew where that was coming from. But then eventually, you know, as I worked for the Summer Youth Employment Program, I think I worked for UBP, summer, maybe three years. And, and you know, we worked, we cleaned up the park and we, we went on trips, and it was the first 14 STEVEN PAYNE �time I think I went to Coney Island. You know, we were exposed to different places throughout the city. We had what I’ll call counseling sessions. At that time, they were called “rap sessions,” you know, where the older employees at UBP, the, the counselors would sit us down and talk to us about what was going on in our lives and, you know, build relationships with us so that I guess we could feel safe. I feel like that was important, you know, looking back, going to a safe place every day in the summer, you know, making friends, having fun, being engaged in, in fun activities, was, was important, was really important to me. DONALD ANTONETTY: But also, when they, you know, they, there was some mass sterilization program going on in Puerto Rico. The one heading that program, when he left there, he went to be the director of Lincoln Hospital. Keep up the “good” work. So, there was a lot of protest about that, a lot organizing about that. ANITA ANTONETTY: And then the stereotypes from Hollywood, so —that’s Fort Apache. That was a big deal, too. We were in the street every single day, every single day. DONALD ANTONETTY: It was the filming crew. One time we saw Paul Newman downtown. We chased him, saying, “Stop the racist movie!” 3. Evelina’s Legacies ANTONIO MONDESIRE-CABRERA: And Titi and Aunt Lilly, through embracing education—education is a universal, when we start understanding other people’s cultures, history, you get past all this stuff. Titi was very much influenced by [Vito] Marcantonio from, from, and LaGuardia, from East Harlem, Italian-American men who had a vision of a larger expanse. She loved Malcolm X. Don Pedro Albizu Campos. So, and of course, Aunt Lilly exposed me to so much. So, I’m trying to say is my formative years were very Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 15 �diverse, very rich, and allowed me—I’m very blessed, man. And I would like, I like to pass that on to people, because we’re living in very testy times now, very testy times. JOE CONZO, JR.: My grandmother never shunned or ran away from any community problems. And yes, there were a lot of gang problems at the time. She took in people like Benji Melendez from the Ghetto Brothers, the president of the Ghetto Brothers, she took in people from the Savage Skulls, all these community people. So, I knew them growing up. She, she involved them in her work and gave them their jobs, gave them jobs. Benji Melendez, you know, who, who had a brigade of, of gang members, who in, you know, a couple of thousand, will tell anybody today how Evelina Antonetty walked into their gang house, pointed them out, and said, “You want a job? Go home, take a bath, shave, and come see me.” And gave him his first job. But that’s how, she—she wasn’t afraid of anybody, because she was doing something for her people, her community. ESPERANZA MARTELL: I began doing activism in The Bronx with, I guess, the, the—’cause I’m trying to really place myself, right? So, in the late, I would say like in the late ’60s. When folks were fighting for community control, bilingual education, and childcare, basically. So, folks like Evelina Antonetty was the leading person in a lot of those struggles. She did a lot of coalition work, and was part of Brown vs. [Board of Education], right? So, you know, I was young, I was in my early 20s, or late teens, and I would come and support actions. CLEO SILVERS: Evelina Antonetty was the leader of United Bronx Parents. She organized all around the South Bronx [for] better education. Now, she had a team of people that worked with her. Ellen Lurie and Kathy Goldman. And Ellen and Kathy did the research. They gave the information to Evelina. She [made it where] parents could understand it and organized around absolute 16 STEVEN PAYNE �conditions inside of the schools, inside of the classrooms—they had information about what was going on inside each classroom. It was one of the most wonderful experiences that I had with Evelina. ELBA CABRERA: The losses for me, you know, my sisters, you know, it’s been really tough. It’s, it’s been a little hard. And especially when I start talking about them. But I have such good, good memories. So yes, so, at any rate, let me, let me backtrack a little bit with Lillian and Evelina, cause it’s important. They, they were my role models. And they, they felt that I, that I could do anything, but I didn’t feel that way. You know, they really, you know, nurtured me and helped me, and I appreciate that till now and forever. So, when Evelina comes to The Bronx now, you know, she’s already, she’s an adult, and she’s very clear as to what’s to be done. So, she gets, you know, she got involved with people, especially when she went to work at the union, too. Because she also was recruiting, recruiting Puerto Rican and other Latinos to work in the industries that they serviced. And she, she was there for quite a few years. I would say something like four years. Before that she had worked in the post office as well. Yeah, during the war. And then she worked at the union. So, you know, she was pretty active in, in her thoughts, you know, because she, she really, you know, I think she was born with, with her knowledge of people and what had to be done, I really do. I don’t think people can learn that, I think it has to come within you, you know, has to be something, your passion. And she had the passion for people. CARINA MONDESIRE: Really, where a lot of the voices [for change] are going to come from are, you know, really, from, like, people like Evelina, you know, who were out here speaking up for us, to make it better. So, I, it’s, maybe I, maybe I [should] just follow in her footsteps and start talking more, you know, but it’s, I don’t know. I guess it’s, it’s like I’ve seen, you know—again, I wasn’t, I wasn’t born Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 17 �for a lot of the struggles that they had to, you know, I wasn’t around a lot of the struggles they had to deal with. So, in a way, I’m ignorant, because I wasn’t, you know, I wasn’t here. And I, you know, I’m lucky enough that, like, my family, you know, for the most part, we haven’t had to have been in the situation where we’re seeing the really hard times that you can face. I mean, the pandemic also showed a lot of that to me. You know, and I, and this is when I started hearing more stories of people struggling. So, I think that like, the hope is that we continue to, I guess, grow, but I don’t know if that’s the right word that I’m looking for. But it’s like we need better, and I—for sure Evelina was on track, and my grandmother [Elba] and Lillian for what they contributed, for sure, are, you know, some of the catalysts for creating that change. And I think we definitely need to keep going, you know. It’s one of those journeys, one of those journeys that doesn’t stop, you know, it’s like we have to keep going, and there’s gonna be a lot of things that we, I guess, face that, you know, are I guess—I guess “adversity,” if that’s the word? And, I mean, I don’t want to say that it’s okay. But that’s a part of it. So, going forward hopefully it’s just better, you know. 18 STEVEN PAYNE �KINGSBRIDGE VIGNETTES BY RICHARD L. BAUM I. Home Number 3P, 225 West 232nd Street—the three-room apartment located in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx, where I grew up with my parents and two sisters from the late 1940s into 1959, was often without heat in the winter. Cold enough that I slept wearing extra layers of clothing and heavy socks. On many winter mornings, my mother would ritually bang on the steam pipes in the vain hope that the super would see fit to raise the level of heat or repair the errant coal furnace. In 1959, after many years in 3P, we moved up, literally, into apartment 6D, a four-room apartment on the sixth and top floor, at the monthly rate of $100.12, a not inconsequential sum at that time. There had been an earlier opportunity to get a four-room apartment. Some years before, my father left a deposit with the building’s super for an apartment that had become available. Shortly thereafter, during my father’s weekly Gin Rummy card game, he mentioned his imminent move to the other players. Not long after, the super returned the deposit, stating that someone else got the apartment. This person turned out to be Mr. Rogers, an electrician, who had been one of the Gin Rummy players. Our new sixth-floor apartment allowed my parents to move out of the living room into their own bedroom. By this time, we were four souls, as my eldest sister Vilma had married two years earlier. Though Vilma missed the joy of this sunny, spacious apartment, our new living space had disabilities that 3P had not had, and Vilma escaped suffering these. The environmental conditions in this sixth-floor space were more Kingsbridge Vignettes 19 �severe than those in 3P. The new apartment was at the southeast corner of the building and overlooked a large open area that was intersected by the Broadway IRT elevated line. When we first moved in, the sound of the trains running along the track, up and down Broadway, interfered with both my studying and sleeping. After some time, I was able to develop the skill of filtering out the clickity-clack of the subway cars running along the glistening steel tracks. If a train was off schedule, however, its delay caused me to look up from whatever I was doing and anxiously wait for the sound of its approach. It was as if the world was out of balance without the sound of the train’s rhythmic passage occurring on cue. In the summer, the new apartment’s orientation, together with its open windows, allowed a crosswind partially to cool the apartment, which was excessively heated by the tarred roof directly above our apartment’s ceiling. The building’s electrical wiring was insufficient for window air conditioning, which was not yet common. Instead, we augmented the crosswind with a water-fed air conditioner that sat on a stand in the middle of the living room and cooled things a bit but added to the humidity. Despite the crosswind and the airconditioner, summer days in that apartment felt as if one were living in a broiler. The winter brought radically different conditions. Perversely, the refreshing summer crosswind was transformed, even with the windows closed, into a malevolent, howling wind that conspired with the rotten wooden window frames to cause severe freezing conditions in the apartment. It was as if there were no windows at all! Stuffing towels along the edges of the window frames seemed to have no measurable effect. On one particularly cold morning, after I had the courage to stick my head out from under my blanket, I scanned the room through the fog of my breath, and my gaze fell upon a square pane of glass. It 20 RICHARD L. BAUM �was frosted over by Jack, hanging by one corner from a wooden slat, swaying lazily in the breeze. Rather than take the chance that I might knock the pane to the street, I called my father. He casually entered the room while tucking his starched white shirt into his pants, immediately sized up the problem, cinched his belt, and slowly reached for the glass pane. As his fingers closed around the glass, the pane, as if in spite, suddenly slipped. Before he could react, it plummeted to the street six stories below, tumbling, flat-end over flat-end, into the distance. Luckily, it was about 7:15 in the morning, and only one person was on the way to work. To our relief, the pedestrian, who was on the opposite side of the street, did not react to the sound of the glass shattering on the sidewalk. II. Play On school-day afternoons, my friends and I would play in front of our building, which was sandwiched on a steep hill between Broadway on the east and Kingsbridge Avenue on the west. The girls would jump rope (sometimes double-dutch) to the rhythm of sung doggerel, or play Potsy, a variation of Hopscotch, tossing house keys into numbered rectangles chalked onto the sidewalk. The boys devoted their free time either to curb ball or to hide-and-seek. Other kids donned roller skates, consisting of four metal wheels, metal tabs, extending outward from the base of the skate, fitted onto the soles of one’s leather shoes (sneakers would not work) and tightened in place with a key. Every now and again, while we were peacefully engrossed in play, kids from Godwin Terrace, sensing an opportunity, would gather into a mob and run full tilt toward us in an attempt to disrupt our fun. Godwin Terrace was perpendicular to our street and, invariably, we spotted the growing mob and would run into the lobby of our Kingsbridge Vignettes 21 �building, locking the heavy iron and glass door behind us. There came a time when I was fed up and, as the mob galloped down Godwin Terrace towards number 225, I refused to flee, despite the entreaties of my friends cowering in the lobby. Just as my friends slammed the heavy metal door shut, the gang rolled over me, like an ocean storm wave, pummeling me with projectiles from peashooters and zip guns. I was hit in the face but stoically kept my ground, standing upright and facing my tormentors, too small to hit back effectively. III. Halloween Halloween was a particularly risky time to be on neighborhood streets. In 1952, when I was eight, I happened to have an early evening dentist appointment with Dr. Cacecci, whose office was on the northwest corner of Kingsbridge Avenue and 231st Street (in later years it became the community office for Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz). The route to the dentist, south along Kingsbridge Avenue, took me past a row of bushes, directly opposite Naples Terrace, that concealed an empty lot. In late October it was already dark at 5:00 PM at that latitude of The Bronx. The depth of the darkness was compounded since that area of the borough is in a valley formed by the Riverdale Ridge to the west and the Fordham Ridge overlooking Bailey Avenue, east of Broadway. I was alone on the avenue. As I approached the darkened lot, the bushes ominously rustling by the breeze, I was overcome by a sense of foreboding. With images of the headless horseman and Ichabod Crane haunting my thoughts, I increased my pace to get past the shadowy bushes. Forewarned too late by muffled giggling coming from behind the bushes, I was set upon by several boys armed with pastel chalk who proceeded to throw me to the ground. They held me down while they basted me from head to toe, front to back, with purple, green, red, blue, and yellow pastel chalk. Not an inch of 22 RICHARD L. BAUM �my clothing, hair, hands, or face was spared. Satisfied with their handiwork, the boys let me up. Otherwise not worse for the experience, I scurried off to a worse fate at the dentist. IV. Neighbors In about 1951, during the Korean War, a Chinese family, consisting of two parents, a daughter, and a son, moved into the neighborhood, opening a laundry a short distance west of Broadway on the north side of 232nd Street, just as the street began to rise toward Kingsbridge Avenue. I became friendly with the family’s son. On his birthday, soon after the family had moved in, his parents decided to buy him a miniature gas station he had spied in a candy store on the northern side of 231st Street, just east of Kingsbridge Avenue. I was invited to come along with the entire family on their buying expedition. The parents wanted to take the short route to the store that would take them up (i.e., south) along Godwin Terrace and then down a flight of steps to West 231st Street, rather than walking south along the busier Broadway to 231st Street and then west to the candy store. I tried to dissuade them from the Godwin Terrace route, as I was well aware that the kids on Godwin Terrace did not take kindly to outsiders. However, due to the parents’ not taking a child’s concerns seriously, they confidently led our little group along the most logical path. As we passed along Godwin Terrace, I continuously glanced left and right, on the lookout for trouble. The outbound trip turned out to be uneventful. However, the brutes that lived along our route had been alerted by the passage of our defenseless squad. While returning, our small party being distracted by the birthday toy gas station, the “Godwin Terrace Gang,” now organized, pounced. We were forced to flee towards the laundry with projectiles buzzing through the air. It was only upon entering the store that I saw my friend’s mother bleeding profusely from a cut in the fleshy part of her face just below her eye. She was lucky: a Kingsbridge Vignettes 23 �little bit higher and she might have lost that eye. With the assault continuing, I ran from the store in an attempt to get help, but not being successful, I rejoined my friends to share their fate. A few days after the assault, I returned to their store to visit. The store was dark and deserted. Sadly, the Chinese family was gone. V. School Public School 7 is the successor to Grammar School 66. Located at the northwest corner of Church Street and Weber’s Lane, today’s Kingsbridge Avenue and 232nd Street, PS 7 opened for classes on November 11, 1895. This structure was made of what appears to be, to a non-geologist such as myself, reddish-brown sandstone. There was a medieval-looking tower dominating the main entrance. When I attended the school, beginning in 1949, the school had clearly been expanded. There was an enclosed, brick bridge connecting a brick building to the old sandstone structure. The entire complex was raised above street level and accessed by twin staircases leading to two large schoolyards. The school grounds extended from Kingsbridge Avenue west to Corlear Avenue and north to 233rd Street. If one looked carefully, one could see that some doors leading into the school had the word “Girls” inscribed over it, and others were labeled “Boys.” The north yard was the boys’ yard where they lined up every school-day morning waiting for their teachers to lead them to their classrooms. The south yard, known as the girls’ yard, was where the girls lined up for classes. Only the youngest children were intermingled, boys with girls. On rainy or snowy days, we lined up in the indoor yard, the boys on one side and the girls on the other. The indoor space doubled as the hot-lunch room and always had a strong, almost nauseating, smell of oranges and tomato soup. Most children walked home for lunch, since families in which both 24 RICHARD L. BAUM �parents worked were in the minority in the neighborhood. Those few children who could not go home were doomed to eat in that odiferous atmosphere. Sometime in the 1950s the influence of our Puritan past began to wane, and boys and girls were allowed to line up together in the south yard. The north yard was reserved for the upper grades. It was a great thrill when I was finally old enough to be in the north schoolyard. I was fascinated by the large, faded, white circle painted on the north yard’s pavement, with the names of countries printed along its radii. I was instantly attracted to the name Turkey, which I was certain was a bird! To my knowledge, neither teacher nor students ever used this circle, which lay there, mute, like an ancient artifact, its function lost to the ages. Above: View looking northwest to the corner of Kingsbridge Avenue and 230th Street, a couple blocks south of the author’s apartment, 1981. From the AF705–Kingsbridge Avenue–230th St. folder, Photograph Collection, The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Kingsbridge Vignettes 25 �A fence of black, cast-iron bars stood guard around the perimeter of the school’s two concrete yards. The tip of each bar was shaped into a spike to discourage trespassers. After school and during summer, when the gates were closed, the local kids, myself included, undiscouraged by the quiet threat of the spikes, would confidently climb over the spiked fence to get into the schoolyard in order to play either basketball or stickball. The schoolyard was the site of the sole neighborhood basketball hoops. Stickball could not be played with pitching in the street because the ball would be too easily lost. In the schoolyard, we played stickball by pitching a pink Spalding —pronounced in the local vernacular as “spaldeen”—against a wall which was inscribed with a chalked rectangular strike zone as a backstop. During my earliest years at the school, I learned how to churn butter in Miss Minahan’s class, went on nature walks around the neighborhood, and listened, enthralled, to stories read by my teacher in the quiet of the cool, shady children’s library, then on Kingsbridge Avenue adjacent to St. John’s Church. Each school-day morning I would look forward to arriving at PS 7, a short walk from where I lived, because it was always warm there. After the mid-morning milk break, it was my task to collect and carry the students’ empty waxed cardboard half-pint milk cartons to the basement coal-burning furnace for incineration. The janitor always allowed me to sit on an upturned wooden milk crate placed in front of the furnace’s open door and luxuriate in the warmth of the heat radiating from the glowing orange-red stones of coal that were uniformly spread on the furnace bed. After a few short minutes I had to be on my way back to the classroom, otherwise I would be missed. By three in the afternoon, however, it was a great relief to be crossing Kingsbridge Avenue and heading eastward down the hill towards home. 26 RICHARD L. BAUM �I walked to school with Stanley and Peter. These two boys lived in my building and were my best friends. Each school morning, as we reached Kingsbridge Avenue, a half block from where we lived, we had to wait for the school crossing guard to allow us to cross. The guard, an older boy, wore a broad white belt that wound its way around his waist and diagonally across his chest, and to which was attached an official, gleaming metal badge. The crossing guard was responsible for the safety of children crossing the intersection. One autumn school morning, the raw gusts of wind swirled brittle brown leaves around our feet as the three of us approached the Kingsbridge intersection. The traffic light changed from green to red. The guard dutifully put his arms out to prevent us from crossing. Peter, a sensitive boy, became upset at having his path blocked and began to cry and scream for his mother. He turned and ran hysterically down the long hill toward Broadway, which his mother was approaching after having just left us in front of our building. Peter’s mother, with Peter in tow, walked the two blocks uphill to where Stanley, the crossing-guard, and I were standing, stunned and frozen in place at this unfathomable display. His mother, on reaching us, calmly asked me for an explanation and then, satisfied that nothing untoward had caused Peter’s upset, said goodbye and went on her way, leaving us to finish our trip. Peter later attended MIT and went on to obtain a PhD in Physics from Brown University. One of the most profound lessons I learned at PS 7 occurred on the first day of school, at the start of fifth grade, in the north schoolyard. In a moment of idleness and indiscretion, while waiting on line with the other students to be escorted to our classroom by our new teacher, Miss Scanlon, I puffed up my cheeks! Miss Scanlon took umbrage at the pair of distended organs, distorting the otherwise perfectly straight line of children, and declared that if the culprit did not reveal himself, the entire class would be kept after school. Kingsbridge Vignettes 27 �Mean-spiritedness, pettiness, group responsibility for the acts of individual members of the group, and the threat of peer revenge were the lessons of the day, distasteful lessons that I have not yet forgotten. In the sixth grade, I achieved a score on the Iowa Achievement Exam equivalent to that expected in the tenth grade in English and in the twelfth grade in Mathematics. My teacher, Mrs. Curley, surprised at this result (as was I), called me to her desk in the front of the room and charged me with cheating by copying from Richard C. This was patently absurd. Richard C. was illiterate. At dinner that night, I told my father what had happened in the childish expectation that he would be enraged and defend my honor to the death. However, without raising his head from Life Magazine, and between swallows of his evening fare, he calmly, and with then unappreciated wisdom, advised me to tell the teacher to give me the test again. Mrs. Curley declined his suggestion. At the end of the term the good teacher assuaged her guilt at making a false charge by presenting me with an award, signed by the principal, Carmela Nesi, for the student who improved the most during the school year. At home, I was about to tear up the award when my mother grabbed it from me and kept it for herself for decades. I found it among her papers after she passed away. In respect of her wishes, I have continued to preserve the award. 28 RICHARD L. BAUM �ALLERTON IN THE 1940S AND 1950S BY ROBERT WEISS The time period about which I am writing encompasses the midforties to the mid-fifties. Much of which characterized that period, for the most part, has been swept away by time, never to return.1 I. Streets Allerton Avenue was bordered on either side by perpendicular side streets bearing such names as Mace, Barnes, and Holland. I never knew how these streets were named. To the east, Allerton crossed Boston Road, a very busy road, the crossing of which required pedestrians to take their life into their hands. Walking under the elevated train tracks, heading in a westerly direction, one would encounter Bronx Park, our neighborhood’s lush, flora- and faunafilled boundary. The avenue and perpendicular side streets broke the neighborhood up into blocks. The actual size of the avenue covered an area of about 24 of these rectangular blocks. The whole thing could easily be walked in a relatively short time. Two blocks were divided in half by alleyways. Bordering either side of these dirt roads were the rear entrances of the block’s row houses, gardens, and garages. The alleys also permitted the Allerton Avenue inhabitants to take a mid-block shortcut by car or foot. For us kids, they were our country dirt roads. II. Hanging Around A well-known singing group performed a song entitled “Old Folks,” the lyrics of which paint a vivid picture of elderly people sitting on park benches, enshrouded in oversized overcoats with newspapers 1 This article is excerpted from selections of an unpublished manuscript by the author about his childhood growing up in the Allerton section of The Bronx. Readers interested in obtaining additional selections or the manuscript itself should write to the author at BRRS137@AOL.COM. Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 29 �blowing around tips of high black shoes. These lyrics captured what I would see in my neighborhood on almost any winter’s day. Wooden boxes, however, were more the seat of choice, primarily because of their portability and easy access. These boxes could be strategically positioned in front of neighborhood stores or a sunny avenue spot. The tops of these crude seats were usually covered with newspapers, providing some degree of cleanliness and protection from splinters, the titles of which included: The Daily News, The New York Post, The World Telegram and Sun, The Freiheit, The Daily Worker, The Forverts (The Jewish Forward), The Herald Tribune, The Daily Mirror, or The New York Times. In addition to newspapers, other convenient forms of printed material were drafted into service. Above: Allerton Avenue, looking west from Barnes Avenue, 1993, showing various more recent shops. Although the kosher delis and appetizing stores have disappeared, along with much of the Jewish community in the neighborhood, Allerton Avenue is still lined with stores and restaurants to this day. From the AF19–Allerton Avenue–Barnes Avenue folder, Photograph Collection, The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 30 ROBERT WEISS �These crude seat boxes usually weren’t schlepped home. Rather, they were left behind to provide another elderly person with a place to perch. III. Kosher Deli Then there was the Kosher delicatessen or deli, as it was commonly called. Such delicacies as pastrami, hot dogs, corned beef, mustard, and sauerkraut were available to be ordered by a waiter and eaten off a square table. The waiter would walk up to the table. Usually he was a gray-haired, balding, old guy. He wore a white apron with stains. The waiter was boss. He would look down at you and command, in his heavy accent, “So vot do you vant?” As he reached across the table, distributing metal eating implements, his sleeve would ride up, sometimes exposing numbers across his wrist. At that time, I never knew where he got the number tattoo. Regular hot dogs might be wrapped in two types of casings. One was real cow’s intestine and the other casings were made in a plastics factory. “Specials” were super-duper fat hot dogs. Both hot dogs and “specials” were attached to their own kind by either string or twisted extensions of the casing. This enabled the franks to be hung along with the Kosher salami on the rear wall behind the counter man. Should you decide “take out,” the accompanying deli mustard was stored in a stiff cone-shaped piece of shiny, stiff paper. To release the spicy yellow-brown mustard, the rolled-up tube was squeezed while the tube tip rested on whatever was to be covered. Sour pickles were found on all the tables, which caused the whole joint to wreak of garlic. Kosher salami seemed to contain about thirty percent meat, seventy percent fat. After eating a salami sandwich on rye with mustard, it might be stored in the body for an untold period of time. You were reminded of this by the repeated belching and acidic regurgitation during repetitive garlicky heart-burn episodes. Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 31 �A favorite side dish was something called kishke, the more sophisticated Jewish name for stuffed derma. Kishke was made by stuffing cow’s intestines with some kind of yellowish, grainy, fatty, garlickytype of substance. It was served as fried slices. The casing was eaten along with the stuffing. Again, a health department genius came up with the idea that eating cow intestines was not good for you. Consequently, most kishke factories, like the hot dog factories, replaced the animal intestine with a casing made of plastic. Before consuming the kishke, the plastic had to be peeled off and placed on the side. I am sure that at some time, in some deli somewhere, this plastic caused choking or inadvertently was used as dental floss. In addition to laws preventing the shaking of dust mops and the burning of leaves, and doing away with intestine casings, a law should have been passed stipulating a label to accompany plasticwrapped delicacies. The label would have read: “Warning! Remove the plastic ring before eating the kishke or hot dogs or you run the risk of dying.” Before the lights went out, there would be an old man in a dirty apron standing over the gasping patron making a loud official announcement: “Pay up front.” As previously mentioned, people never gave much thought about eating healthy. If you wanted to see an unhealthy, happy person, go to a Kosher deli and look at the regulars. They often tipped the scale at about 300 pounds. “Spit Puss” owned the only Jewish appetizing store on the avenue. The Legend of Spit Puss originated with the recognition of the accumulation of foamy spit at the corners of his mouth. He never seemed to object to the name. It was almost a form of homey marketing. Spit Puss’s appetizing store was about the size of a large walk-in closet. The outside of the store had windows opaque with filth. If the name of the appetizing store wasn’t written on the front, one would think that an illegal card game was going on the other side of the front wall. 32 ROBERT WEISS �Looking through the front during a hot summer day, I could see old people, the women with their house dresses and the men clutching their wife’s shopping list. The women all had raised fists grasping shopping lists, eagerly trying to push in front of the other 99 patrons. The floor creaked under the load. The place was always wall-to-wall people as the merchandise hung or fell off the rickety shelves. The shelved packages consisted of canned foods, cellophane bags, and bottled liquids. When you walked through the entrance of the store, immediately to your left was something like a counter with glass display cases. Only a limited area of about five feet was used for business transactions. Inside the display cases were such exotic delicacies as smoked sturgeon, smoked carp, lox, pickled herring in sour cream and onions, pickled herring without sour cream, just onions, jars of salmon caviar, smoked white fish, and sable. There was no doubt that the display case contained the body or body parts of dead animals. Some of the smoked fish still had their heads, sunken eyes, gills, mouths including teeth and fins. The guts were removed prior to the smoking process, as viewed through an abdominal slit. Also, occupying space behind the counter sat bulk cream cheese, something called pot cheese, butter, and farmer cheese. Except for the caviar, all others were out of package lying in pans or on clean white pieces of packaging paper. I remember the store, stinking of a pungent fishy, pickley, garlicy odor. No other store on the avenue could claim that distinct stink. The Jewish deli odor was far different from the scent of stinky feet imported from Italy. Spit Puss would yell over the counter, “Vot you vant?” Behind the counter display cases, Spit Puss marched back and forth with his belly polishing the steel molding of the counter as he fulfilled the orders shot at him from the opposite side. The orders were to Spit Puss like a starting gun to a runner. He would run from one section of the counter to the other with a “clop! clop!” sound emanating from the soles of his feet as they struck the wooden floor boards behind the counter. The sharp eyes of Spit Puss’s customers could Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 33 �clearly see what they were ordering. In heavy accents, you could hear, “Dalink, you should slice me quarter pound lox, a nice piece of carp, not the end, the middle, and I vant a small vite fish.” “Dalink, the lox you should give me: Belly, not Novi. It’s too expensive.” “Don’t give me any bleck pieces and the vite fish, not dat vun, da fet vun.” The orders were put on the scale and a price was determined. The items were then wrapped in yellowish white wrapping paper and secured with cellophane tape. They were handed across the counter or placed on top of the display case. “So how moch I owe you?” the customer would yell out. A tally was made by using a pencil, pulled from Spit Puss’s ear. The numbers were scribbled and summed up on the brown paper bag, into which the filled order was to be placed. A monetary exchange, and “Next!” Spit Puss yelled out. Sometimes, this started an all-out war. Mostly, the women would start bellowing phrases such as, “Vot are you doink, it is my toin.” “No it’s not your toin.” “I’m next!” a voice somewhere in the crowd would spring forth from the crowd. “I was here foist,” someone else would yell. A brief skirmish might ensue. In the name of fairness and to break up the log-jam, a small jury would form, providing patrons the opportunity to invest their two cents. “I tink she vus here foist,” an arbitrator would announce. The offended customer would respond with a, “I neva hoid soch a thing!” “Next!” Spit Puss would once again yell out to his audience. He was protected by this no man’s land of counter space and display cases. Spit Puss never got involved in the store wars. Everyone knew where Spit Puss’s appetizing store was located. The whole front of the store and somewhat extending outside was a stink that no other avenue store possessed. On the sidewalk, in front of the store, were these four-foot-high, brown, grungy-looking wooden barrels. One barrel contained very sour pickles, another barrel contained not-so-sour pickles, and the third barrel contained a 34 ROBERT WEISS �powerfully strong, fishy-smelling stuff. Floating in this barrel were what appeared to be rotten fish in an equally putrid looking liquid. This was the schmaltz herring barrel. The last barrel contained madjes herring. The contents of this barrel contained what looked like reddish-colored schmaltz herrings. It had the “fency” name: “Herring in wine sauce.” Eventually, the health department deemed that the outside uncovered barrels were a health hazard. It did make some sense. The fact that they were open to the public made the barrels a target for all kinds of foreign stuff. Should anything be thrown or dropped in, like bird shit, no one would have been the wiser. Spit Puss was now required, by law, to store all barreled products inside closed plastic containers inside the store. The familiar and odd aroma that diffused from the appetizing store and into the neighborhood declined significantly. This was a small price to pay for the fact that the people of our neighborhood, both consumers and just plain “sniffers,” were, once again, saved from some horrific disease. Allerton Avenue was getting safer and safer as a result of these various health regulations. Everything in the Jewish appetizing store took on its unique garlicky odor, including the people who worked there. A good friend, Dave Leher, may he rest in peace, worked all day in an appetizing store. After work, he would drop by our clubroom, of which he was a member. This was usually a pre-shower visit. He wore the same stained apron from work into our subterranean clubroom. The air was unusually close, in that the basement room had no windows. Needless to say, when Dave paid us a visit, he brought with him every possible garlicky, fishy stink that pervaded his workplace. Upon his entrance, the appetizing molecules would release themselves from Dave and diffuse into the surrounding clubroom atmosphere. This would create a great uproar punctuated by a barrage of curses such as, “Dave, get the f—k out of here.” Dave Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 35 �would stand his ground with a self-satisfied toothy grin on his face. We couldn’t decide whether to kick him above ground, rip his clothes off, or put him on a bagel with cream cheese and eat him. IV. Our Bronx Park Oasis We lived close to a New York oasis rivaled only by the forests, fields, streams, and lakes of Central Park in Manhattan. What Central Park was to Manhattan, Bronx Park was, and still is, to The Bronx. All we had to do was walk six blocks west from my apartment house to the Bronx Park perimeter. The park stretches approximately two-thirds the length of The Bronx. The northern part sits close to the borders of suburban Westchester. Southern Bronx Park dipped into what might presently be described as the more congested and industrial area of The Bronx. Most of the buildings consisted of old, pre-war apartment houses interspersed with private homes. Going back in time, the inhabitants were made up of Black, Puerto Rican, Jewish, Italian, and Irish immigrants. Many were poor, lower-middle-, and working-class people. It could be said that Bronx Park was an emerald-green oasis that was divided into three main sections. The northernmost part is Bronx Park proper. Traveling southward, the park included the Botanical Garden, which merged with the Bronx Zoo. The Bronx Zoo had fences that defined its borders. Bronx Park proper and the Botanical Garden had no such barriers of demarcation. Each melded into the other. I could ride my bike and enter without paying a penny through Bronx Park proper and continue “freely” into the Botanical Gardens and finally into the Bronx Zoo. Within park sections, one could find small lakes, large rock outcroppings, caves, streams, a river, swamps, fields, waterfalls, forests, ball fields, playgrounds, bicycle paths, hiking paths and handball courts. Bicycle paths enabled us to gain access to everywhere. 36 ROBERT WEISS �The lakes and the surrounding parkland contained various forms of animal life. Varieties of fish included perch, eels, bass, sunfish, carp, and minnows. Amphibians included frogs and salamanders. Reptiles included varieties of snakes and turtles. Many of these beasts were caught and kept as pets. We frequently saw mammals rushing the leaves such as water rats, musk rats, plain-old rat rats, mice, moles, rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks, and finally birds, the listing of which would be too numerous. V. The Grand Finale As time moved on, values and behaviors changed frequently. These changes occurred subconsciously. It was after Buzz’s and my high school graduation, when he turned to me and said, “We are getting to be too old to do some of the things we use to do.” After all the sloppy kisses and well wishes finished, we ran home, pulled off our suit, tie, and fancy shirt and replaced them with old jeans, sneakers, and tee shirts. RoRo, the family dog, was leashed, and off to the park we went. We ended up at the bank of the Bronx River. Sitting on the shore, we spotted a muddy and rusted cement bin, the kind construction workers mix cement in. After a moment of planning, we slipped it into the river and each of us, including RoRo, gingerly climbed in. With a stick, we pushed off from shore. Slowly we drifted downstream, for the first time seeing the park from a different vantage point. Here we were, the three of us together, “Rub a dub, dub, three schmucks in a tub.” Suddenly, for some reason, only the golfball-sized brain of the dog understood. RoRo decided to abandon ship. In his enthusiasm to leap, he flipped the cement bin. While on board, a careful balance was maintained. Once the dog left, there was no more careful balance. Buzz and I became a part of the floating wood, leaves, and other debris in the river. It was easy enough to get to shore. The river was never very wide. Climbing onto shore was another matter. The bank was slippery with muddy, grey silt. By the time we reached a solid grassy area, we were soaked, Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 37 �but even worse, we were covered from head to toe with caked mud. Outfitted in our muddy attire, we walked right down the center of Allerton Avenue. It was a spectacle that captured a lot of attention: muddy me, Buzzy, and RoRo. Here we were, high school graduates, looking more like smelly rock people that appeared in an old Flash Gordon movie. It would be impossible for me to describe the expression on Lena and Mom’s face when they confronted the three of us in the street. Lena laughed. Mom, with a serious, straight face asked, “When are you kids going to grow up? You’re too old to be doing this nonsense. Look how filthy you are, and you stink!” 38 ROBERT WEISS �A TRIBUTE TO BOB GUMBS AND HARRIET MCFEETERS BY MARK NAISON I. Bob Gumbs (1939–2022) Bob Gumbs was a brilliant graphic designer and publisher who played a pioneering role in the Black Arts movement in the 1950s and early 1960s, and then 40 years later, played a central role in the creation of The Bronx African American History Project. Brought up on Lymon Place, a small street in the Morrisania section of The Bronx that played an important part in American jazz history because jazz pianists Elmo and Bertha Hope resided there and Thelonious Monk visited regularly, Bob was part of a small group of young Bronxites who sponsored jazz concerts in the borough in the middle of the 1950s to call attention to jazz as an art form of African origin. Even in later years when he moved to Harlem and became a graphic designer whose work highlighted Black history and culture, The Bronx held a special place in his heart, and when he read an article about a Fordham professor who started an oral history project with Black residents of the Patterson Houses, he contacted that professor to urge him to include Morrisania, which he called “The Harlem of The Bronx.” This began a 20-year collaboration that turned The Bronx African American History Project into one of the premier community-based oral history projects in the nation. Bob helped organize over a hundred oral history interviews, participated in scores of community tours, was responsible for landmarking several streets and parks in the Morrisania neighborhood, and collaborated on Before The Fires: An Oral History of African American Life in the Bronx from the 1930s to the 1960s (Fordham University Press, 2016), which transformed the dominant narrative of Bronx history to include Black experiences and perspectives. Bob also appeared on numerous radio and teleA Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters 39 �vision shows highlighting Black contributions to Bronx history, and helped create an exhibit at The Bronx County Historical Society with that as its theme! Finally, at a time when the world honors The Bronx’s role in the creation of hip hop, Bob made sure, through his joyous but relentless activism, that the world also recognized The Bronx’s contribution to jazz from the mid ’40s through the late ’60s, not only as a place where the most important jazz artists of that era performed regularly but also where many of them lived. Bob Gumbs was one of those rare individuals who changed the way people defined themselves and interpreted their own histories. As a creative artist and community historian, he helped people see The Bronx as a site of unparalleled cultural creativity and a true melting pot for peoples of the African Diaspora. The Bronx African American History Project would not have had a fraction of its influence and historic reach without Bob Gumbs’s guidance. He will be sorely missed by family, friends, and all his collaborators in the Black Arts movement and The Bronx African American History Project. II. Harriet McFeeters (1926–2022) Harriet McFeeters was one of The Bronx’s greatest educators and a driving force behind the creation of The Bronx African American History Project. A graduate of Hunter College who lived her entire adult life in her family’s brownstone on 168th Street between Union and Prospect Avenues in the Morrisania section, Harriet was a fixture in Bronx schools for almost 50 years, serving as a teacher, principal, staff developer, and assistant district superintendent. 40 MARK NAISON �Harriet, who was as passionate about learning as she was about teaching and who was deeply committed to the children of The Bronx, left an indelible mark on everyone who encountered her. More than 300 people, most of them fellow educators, came to her 90th birthday celebration several years ago and spoke of her with reverence and affectionate humor, as Harriet was a person who commanded every room she was in. But though Harriet radiated intellect and power, she also was a kind, generous person who created a sense of community among those she worked with, and her friends represented every cultural group in The Bronx. My own connection with Harriet came in the spring of 2003 when we started The Bronx African American History Project. I was put in touch with Harriet by her brother, Jim Pruitt, former director of the Upward Bound Program, who told me that Harriet, who had recently retired, was passionately interested in Bronx African American history and would have a lot to contribute to our research. That proved to be a considerable understatement. Once she discovered what we were trying to do, Harriet literally took command of The Bronx African American History Project’s research on Morrisania, helping us recruit interview subjects, identifying important community institutions, and holding events at her home on 168th Street, where she took a particular interest in the brilliant young research assistants I hired, to whom Harriet became a surrogate grandmother. Along with Bob Gumbs, another brilliant product of the Black Morrisania community, Harriet helped recover the lost history of a Black community in The Bronx, which produced several generations of professionals in a wide number of fields and created as many varieties of popular music as any neighborhood in the United States. It was Harriet who introduced us to Valerie Capers, the great jazz pianist, educator, and composer, whose concerts and performances became a fixture for The Bronx African American History Project’s A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters 41 �staff, and who alerted us to the significance of St. Augustine Presbyterian Church and its brilliant minister Rev. Edler Hawkins, who mentored so many of the great leaders who came out of Morrisania. Until her health began to falter a few years ago, Harriet was a fixture at The Bronx African American History Project’s conferences, concerts, and interviews at Fordham, where she was as commanding a presence as she was in Bronx public schools. She also made a huge contribution to the Project via our fundraising, both through her individual donations and by encouraging others to contribute. As I write this tribute, with tears in my eyes, I will close with this final comment. Although Harriet’s degrees were in education, not history, and although she spent her life working in public schools, Harriet was as much a historian as any professor working at our most distinguished universities. When I first learned that Morrisania was the community where The Bronx African American History Project should concentrate its research, it was Harriet who told us how the community evolved, who its most important leaders were, which schools and churches we should focus on, and who we should interview. Of the more than 100 interviews we did with Morrisania residents past and present, more than half came through Harriet. Without her guidance, the Project would not have had the fraction of the influence it ultimately attained. We can learn so much from the example Harriet McFeeters set. Harriet was passionately devoted to learning about and teaching Black history. She fought hard to have it included in public school curricula and made it an integral part of her pedagogy. But she did so in a way that drew everyone around her in, insisting that Black history was everyone’s history, that learning it would uplift all who possessed that knowledge and would help people from all backgrounds better understand their American journey. That is one of the reasons why so many teachers who were Jewish, Italian, Irish, 42 MARK NAISON �and Puerto Rican joined their Black fellow educators in paying tribute to Harriet at her 90th birthday celebration. Harriet spread knowledge but she also spread love. She embodied the highest values of The Bronx and its people. She may have passed on, but her spirit lives in the tens of thousands of people she touched as an educator and in the publications and digital archive of The Bronx African American History Project, where Harriet McFeeters’s vision of community history has been brought to life. Above: Members of The Bronx African American History Project at Harriet McFeeters’s family home on East 168th Street in Morrisania, December 2003. Pictured in front row, left to right, are Michelle Tollinici, Harriet PruitMcFeeters, Joyce Tolliver, and Kevin Ross. Pictured in back row, left to right, are Bess Pruitt, Mark Naison, Claude Mangum, Bob Gumbs, Patricia Wright, and Candace Lee. Courtesy of the author. A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters 43 �ABOUT THE AUTHORS STEVEN PAYNE is Director of The Bronx County Historical Society and social historian whose interests in Bronx history span community activism; underground music and art cultures; organized labor; race, class, and gender; housing struggles, and more. He records oral histories for The Bronx African American History Project, The Bronx Latino History Project, and The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project. RICHARD BAUM grew up in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx during the 1950s and 1960s and writes about his experiences growing up in the neighborhood. ROBERT WEISS, who came of age in the Allerton neighborhood of The Bronx during the 1940s and 1950s, has authored an unpublished manuscript about his childhood in Allerton, selections of which are printed here. MARK NAISON, Professor of African American Studies and History at Fordham University, is the c0-founder of The Bronx African American History Project, one of the largest community-based oral history projects in the nation. Dr. Naison has authored seven books and over 300 articles on African American politics, labor history, popular culture, and education policy. �FROM THE ARCHIVES A HISTORY OF AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ IN THE BRONX FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ Editor’s Note: The below piece comes from an untitled, unpublished, and unatributed manuscript included in the David M. Carp papers on Latin Jazz in The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Slight edits have been made for style and clarity throughout and are indicated by text in [brackets].1 I. Introduction New York City is among the most ethnically diverse places in the entire world. Since it was founded, New York has served as the chief center for immigration in the country, and its population continues to grow and diversify. Without a doubt, the largest percentage of immigrants in New York speaks Spanish. In the borough of The Bronx, Latinos make up half of the population, far more than any other demographic. Latino immigrants have always blessed New York City with their culture and traditions, music and art. The story of Afro-Cuban jazz in Manhattan and The Bronx illustrates the marriage of traditional Latino customs and the native music of New York City. During the early years of the twentieth century, music in Cuba was a 1 A note at the bottom of the manuscript reads: “All information used for this ar- ticle came from interviews from the David Carp Collection, courtesy Bronx County Historical Society. The following interviews were conducted by David Carp unless otherwise noted: Mario Bauzá, 2/8/89; Mario Bauzá, 4/18/91; Willie Colón (undated); José Curbelo, 10/3/93; Graciela Pérez (interviewed by Max Salazar), 5/10/85; Joe Orange, 2/6/99; José Mangual, Jr., 11/8/98; Eddie Palmieri, 8/13/98; Frank Rivera, 6/8/97; Mark Weinstein 11/24/96.” A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 45 �way of life. Parents would teach their children the basics of Cuban music as a birthright. The people of Cuba would take up every street corner, playing congas, timbales, and bongos. Children would buy sheep skins from local markets and stretch them over drums made by hand. Cuba was music. By embracing their African roots, Cubans would distinguish their music from the rest of Latin America by making the terms “Cuban roots music” and “Afro-Cuban music” synonymous. Musicians from the most prestigious conservatories as well as working men and women who relaxed on the street with a conga or djembe—all began to embrace the sounds of Cuban son and danzon. By the 1920s and ’30s, American musical influence would begin to find its way to Cuba. Radio stations from Miami and New Orleans would start to become popular on the island. Music fans would tune into American jazz stations on short-wave radio to try and absorb the latest musical trends. Musicians and music fans would begin to collect records from the United States and remind anyone who ventured north to bring the latest jazz albums back to Cuba. Shortly after, the finest musicians from the most prestigious conservatories and orchestras would slowly [immigrate] to America’s birthplace and home for jazz, New York City. Jazz would never be the same. Cubans, or Afro-Cubans, made a huge impact on American jazz. Jazz had a huge effect on Afro-Cuban musical traditions as well. Before long, a new type of music would emerge and take New York City by storm—Latin jazz. Not exclusively drawing from Cuban musical traditions, Latin jazz would incorporate traditions from all over Latin America and would inspire [traditional] jazz bands to expand their repertoires and include more global sounds. Eventually, the scene was huge. Ballrooms and dance halls like the Palladium and [the] Savoy in Manhattan and the Hunts Point Palace and Tritons Club in The Bronx would serve as key centers for jazz acts from 46 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �Charlie Parker to Tito Puente. Latinos in The Bronx would be affected forever. Following the closing of the Palladium, the major Latin jazz scene would pick up in The Bronx. Kids on the streets would embrace Latin jazz and appreciate the African roots behind it. Bands and orchestras would spring up all over The Bronx, and the borough would soon produce some of the most prominent names of Latin jazz in all of New York City. From a couple of key figures moving from Cuba to New York in the ’30s, through the Palladium era, to Latinos setting up crude drum sets and playing along with the radio, Latin jazz remains a vital part of life for many Latin American immigrants today as well as New Yorkers and music fans. II. Afro‐Cuban Jazz Begins in Cuba: Mario Bauzá, José Curbelo, Graciela Pérez The story of Afro-Cuban jazz in New York begins in Havana. Music was everywhere in the ghettos and crowded streets of Cuba’s capital. Street vendors would line the markets with animal skins for drums, musicians would play on the street, and families would sit on their porch and jam with bongos, congas, and hand drums. Classical forms of Cuban music mixed European instruments with African drums, embracing traditions from both the African slaves and rich Europeans who inhabited the colony of Cuba since it was founded. As years developed, more variations, new instrumentation, and a finer-tuned orchestration would build on the rich foundation of Afro-Cuban traditions. Pioneers like Arsenio Rodríguez would add new elements to traditional Cuban son, like African percussion and A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 47 �syncopation. Eventually, Afro-Cuban music became the music of the people and Cubans were introduced to this tradition at an early age. This is the setting in which Mario Bauzá was raised. Bauzá, who would later become the most important figure in the fusion of Afro-Cuban and American jazz, started in Havana as a child. I tell you how everything happen. I was about five years old. My godfather used to teach the kids in my neighborhood in Cuba solfeggio. And I used to hear the kid try to sing those lesson, good intonation. And they have so much problem. So, one day I said to my godfather, “How come those kids have so much trouble with that lesson.” He say, “How do you know?” I said, “Well I think I know all those lessons.” He said, “You know lessons now?” I said, “Yeah, I think I know.” . . . He said, “I don’t want you to be an ear musician, so I’m gonna get a teacher for you.” So, he got me a teacher, I was in solfeggio for two years. And then I went to the Conservatory and . . . the first instrument they give me was the oboe. I didn’t like it. I heard the man play the clarinet, and I fell in love with the sound he produced. I said, “I would like to play that instrument.” And that’s how I become . . . a clarinet player. With Bauzá learning more and more music, his special ability became more apparent. Bauzá would excel at the Havana Conservatory and began to gain esteem from his colleagues. Soon, his teachers and fellow musicians helped him cultivate his talent. When I was a graduate, the Havana Philharmonic, they need a bass clarinet. And they approach me, I say, “Well, I’m willing to play, but somebody have to buy the instrument.” So, they sent to France for a bass clarinet. So, they brought it, they give it to me and say, “You practice, when you think you ready, let us know.” So, I 48 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �took my bass clarinet home, I start fooling around, it was the same thing, embouchure a little different and sound was kind of peculiar. When I thought I was ready, I came to one of the rehearsals . . . that’s how I (became) a bass clarinet and a clarinet player. Mario Bauzá was not the only person at this time to truly embrace his musical talents. A few years down the line a woman singer would join Bauzá’s Machito Orchestra in New York. Graciela Pérez would sing along with her brother Machito over the unique Afro-Cuban jazz sound Bauzá perfected. Graciela Pérez also began her music career at a young age in Cuba. Her father, an avid musician, would constantly have musicians to his house, and one day Graciela stayed up past her bedtime to enjoy one of them. I was born in Cuba. In Havana, el barrio Jesús María. . . . There were six of us. When I was four years old . . . there was a lot of music and (my father) bring some cantadores en la casa like (vocalist) María Teresa Vera . . . and the other kids in my house are still in bed . . . and then María Teresa Vera sees my finger doing the clave and María Teresa Vera said to my father, “You see, Graciela is going to be a singer.” Pérez’s father was reluctant, at first, to allow Graciela to sing. However, he would continue to inspire his daughter by having more and more musical guests come in and out of the Pérez home. Graciela remembers Septeto Nacional, in particular. Septeto Nacional . . . was to play because my father, the only party (that) was at my house was my mother’s birthday, and at my house was Septeto Nacional. . . . They was in my house, in my neighborhood nobody came then, you know, in that time. In my house was Nacional. As they grew up, Pérez and her brother Machito began to nurture A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 49 �her gift little by little, until she had completely been absorbed by the music. Pérez would sing everywhere she went and join several groups thanks [to] Machito’s familiarity with the local music scene. Still, her father didn’t want her to sing professionally, and Graciela would have to sneak out at nights. One night while working as a delivery man, Pérez’s father recognized the voice coming from a club across the street from where he was working. He was staying over there, and he sees me singing and everybody applauds me. “Ohh, Graciela!” And then (at the house) he don’t say nothing to my mother, to nobody. Then he was waiting when I go hiding, when I go to working and (he said), “I know Chela, she’s singing in Alai de Libre in El Prado because I heard her last night. It’s alright, she sings beautiful.” Graciela Pérez had her father’s blessing and began to truly excel as a singer free from any restrictions. She would travel to South America with Al Anacaona and eventually move to Harlem in the 1930s, where she would meet up with Bauzá and Machito to start the AfroCuban Orchestra. A third key figure in the fusion of Afro-Cuban and American jazz is José Curbelo. Curbelo, who would manage and book Afro-Cuban jazz bands, was among the top performers in New York City during the Palladium Era. Curbelo’s uniquely vibrant sounds would place him in the highest echelon of Latin jazz performers along with Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez. Curbelo, the son of a musician, started as a classically trained pianist and musician in Cuba. I (was) born in Havana, Cuba (on) February 18, 1917. Pedro Menéndez was my teacher, piano teacher in Cuba. He used to be the piano player in my father’s orchestra, at one time. So, he was my private teacher in piano. . . . I went to the school of music in Cuba, to the Academy of 50 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �Music to study. And I had different teachers like in voice and harmony and whatever, you know, different types of technique, et cetera. . . . My father was a fine violinist, he played for the Philharmonic Orchestra in Cuba, first violin. And . . . he was a bandleader, he had his own orchestra where he played all the famous nightclub and supper club and casino in Cuba. . . . I’m talking (about) the late ’20s and the early ’30s. And then he play the most typical Cuban music, with the charanga music that used to be played, what they call in Cuba the “Academias.” . . . The real Cuban music at that time was charanga bands. It’s not with saxophones and trumpets. . . . Cuban music is the charanga sound—violins and flute and rhythm. That is what the real nitty-gritty of the Cuban music is. . . . And it’s really Afro-Cuban music. Because the Negro slaves that came to Cuba from Africa, they brought the rhythm. And in Cuba they put the voicings out, the melody and harmony. . . . But that was, still is, the real Cuban music should be called not salsa [but] Afro-Cuban music. Curbelo would develop into a finely trained musical genius. He began to master the curriculum of the Academy of Music and decided to enter Cuba’s prestigious Molinas Conservatory. Like his contemporary Mario Bauzá, Curbelo became fascinated with new forms of music, in particular American jazz. His understanding and love for music fueled his passion for exploration, and American jazz was exciting and fresh. Curbelo and Bauzá both became obsessed with jazz. In the ’20s I was a very young kid. But I always was a fan, and my favorite music always has been jazz. . . . I find that jazz is the most interesting music that is, as far as popular music is concerned, I love it . . . in Cuba I used to have records from Chick Webb where Mario Bauzá, A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 51 �when he came to United States, he was the first trumpet. Bauzá remembers listening to his favorite American jazz musicians on the radio in Cuba. Duke Ellington used to (broadcast) almost every night from the Cotton Club. And I used to catch that in Havana through short-wave radio. And that music was so fascinating, was so different. All different jazz— completely different. And I always said, “That’s AfricanAmerican music, that’s Africa.” The sound of the music, the way he uses harmony, he give you that color. And I was dying to get into New York. Bauzá would get a taste of the New York jazz scene shortly after, by happenstance. He got his break after going into his favorite music store in Havana and meeting bandleader Antonio Romeu. I used to go practically almost every day. I go to the music store to see what new records came and what piece come. So, when I got there, the head man said, “Mario, I want to try this clarinet that just came out from France, a Buffet Crampon, I want you (to) try.” So, I was practicing clarinet over there, you know, testing the clarinet, and Romeu was there. . . . He said, “You don’t mind play this one with me?” I said, “No.” He said, “But do you know how to transpose from clarinet to—?” I said, “Oh, yeah.” So, I played the danzon with him and he was (amazed). . . . About two weeks later he found my telephone number and called my father. He said, “I would like to take Mario to New York to record with me, my orchestra.” Bauzá went to record with Romeu and his orchestra in New York and was blown away by the live jazz musicianship he encountered. Upon seeing saxophonist Frankie Tumbaur, Bauzá’s attention shifted to a new instrument. He fell in love with the saxophone and 52 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �would take it up immediately upon returning to Cuba. The saxophone would provide an outlet for Bauzá to grow musically, and it provided more opportunities to gain exposure in the Havana music scene. Though it was hard for a dark-skinned musician to find work, Bauzá still managed to make a name for himself. He recalls the racial inequities in Havana at the time. When they heard me play . . . that’s when I got the opportunity to get a first-class job in Havana. Up to then, no, because the average musician on the big-time job over there was white. . . . That country is no different than Mississippi was . . . not much different. We had that problem, still have that problem, and gonna have that problem. . . . So, we are still fighting those problems . . . the only discrimination there in those days when I was a young kid, like you go in the interior of Havana and the colored people walk on . . . one side of the park. Don’t allowed to go on the other side with the white people. That’s the way, you know. You go in the barber shop, you had to go to the Black barber shop. But the trouble with my country is so much mixture. Because after all, how the Cuban race was produced? By Spaniard and African womans. After finally gaining acceptance in the Havana music scene, both Curbelo and Bauzá would look to the future. Each of them saw himself as a jazz musician waiting to break out and creatively explore his musicianship. Both Curbelo and Bauzá decided the only way to truly embrace their passion for music was by going to [the] hottest music spot in the world, the home of jazz, New York City. Everybody talk about Mario, Mario, Mario, clarinet player and saxophone player. So, I said, “Well the next stop gotta be the United States,” come to the Mecca of jazz . . . nothing else I can learn in Cuba. A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 53 �III. Cuba Comes to New York: The Palladium Era Once in the United States, Mario Bauzá’s first order of business was to learn yet another instrument. It was rough because when I got here it was in the heart of the Depression. And I’m lucky that I was, I met Benny Carter and he gave me advice . . . (and) there was another fella that came here on the boat with me with the Don Azpiazu Orchestra by the name of Antonio Machin. . . . So, I used to go into his house every day, to listen to rehearsals, (one day) I say, “I have no problem to play the music the way you want to. . . . I don’t play trumpet, but I think if you buy me a trumpet, I think I can do the job.” So, we went to the pawnshop and bought a cheap trumpet for fifteen bucks or something like that. So, I took it home and I start, I knew the positions and all I had to do was to get some embouchure, and that was that. Said, “Mario, I only got . . . fifteen days to recording.” I said, “Well, you ain’t got nobody. If you give me the opportunity, I think I can do it, otherwise I wouldn’t even talk about it.” So, I start practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing. So finally, we go into the recording. . . . Then I fell in love with the trumpet. And then I figured I had a better chance with the trumpet than I did with the saxophone to join one of those jazz bands. Bauzá quickly became known around jazz circles, and his rise to prominence was fast. First, Bauzá joined the Chick Webb Band, where under the wing of bandleader Chick Webb he would gain a vast knowledge of jazz. Webb opened up doors for Bauzá and introduced him to some of the biggest names in the New York jazz scene. Bauzá played with countless musicians from Webb to Cab Calloway to Ella Fitzgerald. All over New York from the Apollo to 54 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �the Savoy Ballroom, Bauzá spread his love for jazz as he collaborated with a myriad of jazz legends. In addition to the various collaborations that were taking place, another tradition of the era was the Battle of the Bands. Two bands would play the same hall or ballroom and try to show one another up. This is when Afro-Cuban rhythms really stood out, earning Afro-Cubans a reputation for their showmanship. Mario Bauzá remembers battling Benny Goodman in the late 1930s with the Chick Webb Band. The Savoy Ballroom was pack(ed) around five o’clock in the afternoon, they had to close the door. . . . Benny Goodman playe(ed) the first set . . . they close with “Big John Special.” So, Chick say, “What’choo gonna play?” I say, “How about the same number, gonna play ‘Big John Special’ . . . and close with ‘Harlem Conga?’” . . . The battle of music was through in the first set. The band was too powerful for Benny. Benny’s band was too light for that, that and especially with that crowd. When that band hit, it was something else. This period of the 1930s was essential to the birth of Latin jazz music. Pioneers like Bauzá were becoming big names and starting to influence the music scene. By adding elements from their [strong] background in Cuban music, people like Bauzá, Curbelo, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez would usher in a new form of music —Afro-Cuban jazz. In 1940, Bauzá hooked up with his brother-inlaw, Machito, and together they created Machito’s Afro-Cuban Orchestra, along with Graciela Pérez. Despite initial skepticism about the use of the name “Afro-Cuban,” Latinos, Blacks, and even whites would enjoy the music. When I started Machito Orchestra, whole lot of Puerto Rican people reject my music. They say I use bongo and that was a disgrace, that was “nanigo” music, “Negroes A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 55 �from Africa” music. They didn’t go for that. But in the new generation, Puerto Rican born in New York begin to like what I was doin’. Soon there was a huge following for the acts and the premiere venue was Manhattan’s Palladium Ballroom. The Palladium was an important institution that would operate from 1949 to 1966, delighting fans of mambo and jazz alike. Celebrities like Marlon Brando and Bob Hope as well as everyday working-class immigrants would crowd the Palladium. With unparalleled integration, it became the single most important place for Latin jazz music in New York City. The rise of the Palladium marked a turning point in New York’s music scene. Tastes were beginning to change and people were becoming more and more intrigued with the new Afro-Cuban jazz sound. Afro-Cubans were gaining acceptance and earning respect. Along with Afro-Cuban jazz, many of the Latino musicians involved collaborated with American jazz artists. Bauzá himself broke in legend Dizzy Gillespie, with whom he teamed up Machito percussionist Chano Pozo. And then I brought Dizzy into the band. . . . I went and got a hold of Dizzy: “Dizzy, bring your trumpet with a mute. I want you to play anything you want on top of that.” . . . Rhythm crazy. And he can dance. I got a videotape they made in Havana. . . . And when he came out there and dancing, dance a rumba. It’s amazin’! And Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy’s, Dizzy all right! Helluva fellow. . . . I love the guy, my son. The language barrier illustrates the connection Afro-Cubans made with American jazz musicians. Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo made terrific music and rose to the top of the jazz world in New York City, but Pozo didn’t speak a word of English. 56 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �You know the only word that Chano (could speak) to Dizzy? “Hundred dollar.” That’s all. Despite the cultural differences and language barrier, Gillespie found a niche in Latin jazz. In 1947, the two were set to perform a number called the “Afro-Cuban Drums Suite” at Carnegie Hall. The show was instrumental in bringing Latin jazz into mainstream awareness. Additionally, Gillespie’s improvisation added a whole new dimension to jazz. Gillespie’s musicianship became the groundwork for later improvisation such as bee bop and the music of greats like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. By 1950, Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez were among the biggest names in all of New York. Collaborations would continue, and Charlie Parker would get into the act, teaming up with pianist Norman Granz and Bauzá on one of the best examples of Latin jazz, “The Peanut Vendor.” Charlie Parker made a very big impression on Bauzá, and that would lead to partnership on the song “Mango Mangue.” People might think that Charlie Parker play because he was high, or—no, no, no, no. He knew everything he would do in the music, and nobody told him how to do it. That was his own creation, his own mentality, his own approach about music. . . . He says, “Oh man, play anything, let me hear the arrangement.” . . . When we play the arrangement, he say, “I like that.” I said, “But it’s a vocal.” He say, “All you gotta do, when the vocal supposed to be sing, tell ’em ‘don’t sing’ and gimme the cue, I’ll play.” . . . He went through that number like nothing, back to the montuno, and . . . “Oh my goodness!” I say, “this man is a genius!” As Afro-Cuban jazz’s popularity grew, more and more great bandleaders would emerge, and great musicians would flourish in the new form. José Curbelo’s orchestra was one of the bands that A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 57 �benefited the most from the success of the other Afro-Cuban performers. Curbelo’s success came at a time when the music that was originally confined to Harlem began to spread downtown to places like the Palladium and uptown to The Bronx, again thanks to the success of Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez, but mainly because of Bauzá’s Machito Orchestra. Curbelo explains the phenomenon. That was Machito and his Afro-Cubans . . . because when you hit Broadway you did the biggest, the Broadway show, the Strand Theater, the Capitol Theater, the Paramount Theater. All the big theaters, the big ballrooms, the Roseland, the Arcadia, everything was on Broadway between 42nd, the Astor Roof, and 54th, where the Palladium was. And the first band, Black, to come from El Barrio . . . was a great accomplishment. After Machito broke through to the mainstream, Afro-Cuban jazz exploded. The 1950s saw more and more Afro-Cuban jazz bands sprouting up, and the phenomenon became insanely popular. The Palladium was at its peak as a venue, consistently packing the house to see Tito Puente or Machito. At the height of the Palladium era, people of all races, backgrounds, and ethnicities came together to enjoy the music. IV. The Late Palladium Era: Afro‐Cubans in The Bronx The exposure Afro-Cuban jazz was experiencing affected all of New York, but no borough embraced the tradition like The Bronx. Just over the river from the “Mecca of Jazz,” Harlem, The Bronx served as the next major center for music in New York. At that time, clubs and dance halls in The Bronx would attract the biggest names in Afro-Cuban jazz, mambo, and American jazz. Venues like the Hunts Point Palace, the Tritons Club, and the Rockland Palace would put The Bronx on the map as the place to see Afro-Cuban music. While the main forum was still the Palladium, many people would look no 58 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �further than The Bronx for a quality Afro-Cuban jazz experience. Bronxites would go to have a good time, get down, and listen to some amazing music from the greats. Machito, Tito Puente, José Curbelo (before becoming a manager), Tito Rodríguez, and even Charlie Parker would play at Bronx clubs during the late 1950s. New bands started to come out of the borough as a result of the developing Afro-Cuban jazz scene in The Bronx. Young Bronxites would pack the clubs to get a glimpse of their favorite bands, go home, and try to imitate their sound. Afro-Cuban records were played from every window in every Latino neighborhood in The Bronx, and a new generation of Afro-Cuban jazz lovers would emerge. This new wave of Afro-Cuban jazz buffs would see music any chance they had. Joe Orange, Bronx native and jazz trombonist who played with Herbie Mann and Eddie Palmieri, recalls students at his high school going all the way downtown to see Afro-Cuban music. When I was going to Morris (High School) there was a whole group of kids that used to go to the Palladium and they used to come to school talkin’ about, “Man, last Saturday night at the Palladium. Tito Puente did this and Tito Rodríguez—.” And I (was) kind of like, “Give me a break!” But there was a real strong interest in Latin music. Even the non-musicians, Latin dance was like a craze that was going on you know, ’57, ’58, when I was in high school. The Bronx would serve as a breeding ground for some of the freshest talent in Latin jazz and this was, in part, due to the emergence of Afro-Cuban jazz’s popularity in the latter half of the 1950s. Willie Colón, one of the foremost innovators of Latin music in the late 1960s, remembers going to the Hunts Point Palace when he was thirteen. In those days you had to have a cabaret license, so I had a A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 59 �friend who was older and he had one, (gave) me his and we kind of doctored it up and put my picture in it. . . . I grew a mustache as soon as possible, and I used to smoke cigars to try to look older, you know. I even used to put frosting on my hair sometimes, it must have been pretty pathetic but I got away with it most of the time. And yeah, we used to go to the Hunts Point Palace, which is now like an office building. . . . They would have like fourteen bands and the poster, you know, just looked like a checkerboard, it had so many faces and stuff on it. . . . And you would go in and I think you’d pay something like five dollars, and you’d be able to see twenty something orchestras. . . . There was a big boom at one time. The popularity of the local venues was apparent by the amount of talent that came onto the Afro-Cuban scene in the late 1950s and early ’60s. One of the premiere acts that came from The Bronx at the time was Eddie Palmieri and his conjunto La Perfecta. My mother arrived in New York in 1925, that’s how it all starts. . . . She came here with an uncle and an aunt, and there was another uncle and aunt here. . . . And then my father followed a year later on a boat. . . . In 1926, they married, my brother was born in ’27, and I was born in ’36 . . . on 112th Street . . . between Madison and Park. We moved from there when I was five years old, and then we went right to Kelly Street between Longwood and Intervale, known now and later as the South Bronx. Palmieri’s extended family had also immigrated to The Bronx and would introduce Eddie to music as a child. His uncle had his own traditional band and encouraged Eddie and his older brother Charlie to take up the piano but emphasized the importance of traditional Latin percussion instruments. But Eddie Palmieri was a piano player. A prodigy, Palmieri played Carnegie Hall at the age of eleven. By 60 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �thirteen he had joined up with his uncle, as a percussionist. By the time I was fifteen I sold my timbales back to my uncle, (and) went back on the piano, which I’m still playing to this day. Like Willie Colon, Palmieri also gained a lot of musical knowledge by going to shows in The Bronx. Palmieri attributes his start as a serious pianist to seeing bands and orchestras at Bronx clubs and dance halls in the 1950s. I saw Charlie Parker, and that was at the Rockland Palace. He would get gigs like that because he used to work for a promoter, that was a Black promoter called Cecil Bowen. At the Hunts Point Palace I know I saw Charlie Parker and I didn’t know who he was but I saw rubber bands and band-aids on the saxophone, alto. I saw different groups but my main interest was to try to play the piano. ’Cause I hadn’t been reading music, I was playing timbales with my uncle, folkloric band, and then it was very difficult to get back to reading. Palmieri would get his break in 1955 playing with Eddie Forrestier’s Orchestra and would even play with the legendary Tito Rodríguez for a year before starting La Perfecta in 1961. Palmieri’s orchestra was fresh and new, replacing trumpets with trombones. The innovative La Perfecta became the key attraction in Latin music during the 1960s. By assembling some of the greatest musicians in all of New York, the Bronx-based conjunto was wildly popular and virtually unrivaled for the better part of the decade. To a large degree, the success of La Perfecta was truly a group effort, and the band incorporated one of the most influential musicians in the history of New York, trombonist Barry Rogers. Described as a true “renaissance man,” Rogers came out of a Jewish community in The Bronx and was an avid car mechanic, musician, writer, and most A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 61 �prominently, a lover of all music. Mark Weinstein recalls Barry’s knack at instrumentation well beyond the trombone, including the folkloric double string guitar from Cuba known as the tres. “Barry was a great tres player. Barry was one of the better tres players in the city of New York.” Peers remember the late Barry Rogers spending hours upon hours listening to records and playing music. Rogers’s distinct trombone sound was of paramount importance in the development of Latin music from Afro-Cuban revivalist jazz to salsa. Known for his incessant writing, and re-writing, of charts, almost obsessive personality, and perfectionism, Rogers put all he had into Latin music. When asked about the influence Barry Rogers had on him, Eddie Palmieri remembers Rogers’s uniqueness. Those trombones, when they used to get into a riff behind the flute they don’t stop, and then Barry just takes off and keeps going and we just kept pushing and pushing, and that instrument is not an instrument to be able to do that with and they did it. . . . (I remember) his preparation, his musical knowledge, of all different kinds of music. With Rogers’s innovation and virtuosity with the trombone and Eddie Palmieri leading the band behind the piano, La Perfecta soon found themselves playing with the greats. Eddie Palmieri remembers the circumstances in which he played alongside legends at the Palladium. Oh, Machito, Tito Rodríguez, Tito Puente, La Perfecta dealt with each and every one one-on-one. No quarter taken. There was four sets, you did sixteen sets a week at the Palladium for 72 dollars, before taxes. . . . They had lost their liquor license and now they gave me 90 engagements, so once they give you the 90 engagements, then anybody that wants to book you out would have to 62 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �pay more and that was the deal, you know, and José Curbelo handled that pretty well. La Perfecta continued to thrive during the 1960s and played all over New York City, from the ritziest hotels to the local clubs of The Bronx. La Perfecta illustrates a rich history of music in The Bronx. While the music scene had always been big in places like Morrisania and Hunts Point, La Perfecta was one of the first real successful jazz bands to come out of The Bronx during the era. Mark Weinstein, second trombonist (with Barry Rogers) remembers playing in different clubs all over New York City. You couldn’t buy a second microphone, man! I mean the Hunts Point Palace, I don’t think they owned two microphones . . . and the trombone players would sweat, sweat blood. . . . Barry would catch the edge of the microphone by pointin’ his trombone towards (it). But because we were always playing during the montunos, the singer was in the way. . . . The Hunts Point was one of the bigger rooms, there were a couple other places. . . . The Palladium was a great room—Palladium was the best room to play, I loved the Palladium. . . . We played Birdland a couple of times, I mean then we’d have microphones. La Perfecta’s popularity soared in the ’60s. New Yorkers identified with both the jazz sound and the Latin roots. La Perfecta would draw from many musical traditions to form their unique sound. Mark Weinstein remembers The Bronx as one of the hottest spots for Afro-Cuban music. It was Cuban revivalist. I mean the amazing thing about playing with Eddie’s band was playing Latin music for people of Latino heritage, and this was basically the A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 63 �cultural revival that occurred at the Triton Club, I mean the Triton Club was the center of it . . . in The Bronx, Southern Boulevard, right next door to the Hunts Point Palace. . . . And the model of the trombone improvisation came from the way . . . the soloist would play against the trumpets. But then Barry extended that. That was the model. In 1966, La Perfecta played the Palladium for its final show. The Palladium Era had officially ended, but Latin music would continue to gain steam up in The Bronx. V. The Bronx and Latin Jazz: The 1950s, 1960s, and Beyond With the Palladium closed and other Manhattan dance halls following suit, Latin music still thrived in one place. The Bronx was now the center for Latin jazz in New York and would become a hotbed for talent. The biggest names in Latin music were coming from The Bronx because communities were raising their kids on music. The Bronx in the ’50s and ’60s was rich in musical traditions from all over Latin America, and residents would expose different types of music to one another. Vibrant neighborhoods like Hunts Point, Morrisania, and Longwood became a breeding ground for musical talent. The public schools provided instruments for students, neighbors sat on their stoops and jammed, and Latin and jazz music blared from every street corner. Frank Rivera was a resident of the Longwood community in the ’50s and ’60s and remembers the neighborhood as well as developing a love for dancing. It was real nice and everybody knew everybody in the neighborhood. . . . Some of ’em became teachers and musicians like Joe Loco, he lived in the corner by the drugstore . . . when we went to (PS) 42, that’s when they started to open the school at night and that’s when we 64 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �started to have parties and dancing. . . . At that time it was more like they call “mambo”—mambo, not salsa like they call it now. Joe Orange, a longtime resident of Morrisania, remembers hearing music all over The Bronx when he was growing up. I was always hearing it. . . . I was always around it. My brother played conga. And there were all these bands, over at PS 99 they used talent shows. . . . You know, bands in junior high and high school, there were Latin bands all around me. . . . They used to have a place up in The Bronx on Boston Road that was really a great place for jam sessions when I was a kid. I was in high school and I would go in and listen . . . right where Boston and Prospect Avenue meet, and it was down in this little basement and I would sneak in there . . . it wasn’t open for very long but it was very popular. Orange contributes the large number of musicians who came out of The Bronx to a surrounding culture that nourished young musicians and helped to develop the talents of the community residents. I think the programs in the public schools had a lot to do with it. I started in (PS) 40, most of us started in 40 or one of those junior high schools. . . . PS 99 had that afterschool community center. We used to have talent shows once a week, some great things came through those talent shows! Because of the rich cultural environment, young kids on the street would aspire for musical greatness. Latinos and African Americans would all embrace the various sounds of Latin music, thanks to the diversity of The Bronx, and lively musicians would surface all over the borough. Willie Colón was one such musician. A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 65 �The South Bronx in the ’50s . . . was exactly like a town in Puerto Rico or any other Latin American country. . . . There were domino games on the sidewalks and there were bembes, which is a group of guys playing congas . . . and we’d sing choruses and maybe some of the hit songs of the day. From that upbringing, Colón embraced both Puerto Rican and Cuban son, and became a trombonist in his own band. Mark Weinstein attributes youth interest in Latin music to the popularity of Barry Rogers. There was LeBron Brothers and there was Willie Colón, I mean both Barry and I were very, very arrogant about what was happening with the trombone. ’Cause both of us had come to Latin music from very rich trombone traditions whereas all the kids who were comin’ up had learned to play trombone by listening to Barry essentially. Regardless of who influenced him, Willie Colón was a young upstart trombonist and he teamed up with a beautiful voice, [a] soñero named Héctor Lavoe. The two delighted fans with songs like trombone anthem with a Panamanian sound “La Murga,” or with the album El Malo, named after the persona Colón would embrace as a rough kid from The Bronx. Ushering the newly dubbed “boogaloo” style, El Malo and Lavoe would travel all over the world with their exciting, trombone-driven sound until Lavoe unfortunately fell victim to heroin and began showing up late for gigs and acting out. In 1973, Colón was forced to fire Lavoe, ending their six-year partnership. Colón would continue to write and record music, and his name became synonymous with salsa music. Colón has written socially conscious songs like “El General” and “Si La Ves,” has sold over 30 66 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ �million records worldwide, and has amassed fifteen gold and five platinum records since his humble beginning in The Bronx. VI. One Last Word From the start in Cuba, through the coalescence with jazz in Manhattan, to the popularization in The Bronx, Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz has become one of the most important cultural phenomena in the history of New York. The various musical forms from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and other Caribbean nations illustrate the diversity of the city. The story of Afro-Cuban music’s popularity in New York is a microcosm of all the wonderful things that make the city uniquely diverse. The way this music was embraced by native New Yorkers as well as [more recent] immigrants is an amazing tribute to the capital of the world, New York. Musical geniuses brought their incredibly well-trained and knowledgeable background to New York, where they mixed with the native population of jazz musicians, and history was made. The importance of The Bronx in all of this cannot be emphasized enough. It’s because of the borough’s love for Latin music that other musical forms could thrive and be introduced. The music served as a familiar reminder that The Bronx was a place for all people from all over the world. Though many, like Mario Bauzá, detest the term “Latin jazz,” the music itself tells the important story of two cultures merging to form great art. A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 67 �BRONX BUSINESS LEADERS OF THE YEAR AWARD Presented to Bronx business leaders who support the humanities and the arts. 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 Ram Gupta, Chatam 2000 Management Co., Inc. Michael Max Knobbe, BronxNet 1999 Richard Legnini, Bronx Ad Group 1998 John Calvelli, Bronx Zoo James H. Alston, McCalls 1997 Bronxwood Funeral Home Steve Baktidy, S&T Auto Body 1996 Shop 1995 Matthew Engel, Langsam Property Services Greg Gonzalez, Manhattan Parking Group Steve Tisso, Teddy Nissan Joseph Kelleher, Hutchinson Metro Center Adam Green, Rocking the Boat Anthony Mormile, Hudson Valley Bank Lenny Caro, Bronx Chamber of Commerce Katherine Gleeson, Goldman Sachs Sandra Erickson, Erickson Real Estate Cecil P. Joseph, McDonald’s Frank Cassano, New Bronx Chamber of Commerce Dart Westphal, Norwood News James J. Houlihan, HoulihanParnes David Greco, Mike’s Deli & Caterers Peter Madonia, Madonia Brothers Bakery 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 John Reilly, Fordham-Bedford Housing Corp. Mario Procida, Procida Construction Corp. Veronica M. White, NYC Housing Partnership Dr. Spencer Foreman, Montefiore Medical Center Monroe Lovinger, CPA Gil and Jerry Beautus, Walton Press William O’Meara, Greentree Restaurant Larry Barazzoto, Soundview Discount Muffler Gail McMillan, Con Edison Susan E. Goldy, ERA Susan Goldy & Co. Mike Nuñez, Bronx Venture Group Mark Engel, Langsam Property Services Carlos Nazario, Metro Beer & Soda Joel Fishman, Nehring Brother Realty Co. Michael Durso, Dollar Dry Dock Savings Bank Elias Karmon, EMK Enterprises �REVIEWS Cope, Suzanne. Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2022. 304 pp. ISBN: 9781641604529. $27.99. Suzanne Cope’s expertly written, extensively researched book chronicles the Civil Rights Movement in the United States through the lived experiences of two unacknowledged Black women champions of the movement, Aylene Quin and Cleo Silvers. Cope is a writer, professor, narrative journalist, and scholar. She earned a PhD in Adult Learning from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University, where she is a “food studies scholar with a focus on food as a tool for social and political change.” Cope’s work illuminates the stories of “unsung leaders . . . mainly women of color who are left out of history,” individuals who “elevate women’s work” through their uses of food as a “political tool.” Cope does a magnificent job at presenting this historical survey of the Civil Rights Movement in an easy-to-read manner that metaphorically transplants the reader to a stool at Aylene Quin’s food counter. In 22 short and detailed chapters, Power Hungry recounts the dual narratives of Aylene Quin’s community organizing and voter rights’ activism out of her McComb, Mississippi restaurant and tavern South of the Border during the Freedom Summer of 1964, on the one hand, and Cleo Silvers’s organizing in the South Bronx, first through VISTA1 and then with the Black Panther Party shortly after the start of the New York Chapter’s Children’s Free Breakfast Program in 1969, on the other. Cope argues that the two womens’ significance to the Civil Rights Movement is not reflected accurate1 VISTA: Volunteers in Service to America, part of President Johnson’s AntiPoverty program and predecesser to today’s AmeriCorps. Cope, Power Hungry 69 �ly in the historical record, in which such activity as cooking, if included at all, occurs as footnotes. As a tribute to the scholars whose research has inspired and informed her own work, Cope provides the bibliographical citations preceding her prologue. Aylene Quin, or “Mama Quin” as she was affectionately known in her community of McComb, Mississippi, was a pivotal figure in the local and state-wide civil rights and voter registration efforts. Power Hungry vividly recounts Mama Quin’s story through the events of 1961 leading up to the Freedom Summer of 1964 and beyond. The book captures Mama Quin’s personal sacrifices in preparing and delivering meals to activists jailed, in one case for attempting to stage a sit-in at the McComb Woolworth’s food counter and in another for participating in a high school walk-out and march to the County Hall. Although a visible staple of the community, Mama Quin even took part in the latter as a show of support, alongside her daughter Jacqueline. Cope details the many other civil rights actions supported by Mama Quin, like holding secret meetings of the local Black middle-class and business people at her restaurant (who would arrive in the back of delivery trucks) and feeding civil rights workers, such as the SNCC Freedom Riders, and the community at large. 2 Cope describes Mama Quin’s efforts at feeding civil rights activists and the wider community as “community building, done around the kitchen tables rather than on the front lines.” As Cope emphasizes, Mama Quin’s independent “financial means,” as a self-employed business owner, gave her the ability to support the movement without direct consequence to her employment status (which was not the case with many others). Cope introduces Cleo Silvers in chapter 4. She affably details Cleo’s beginnings in her hometown of Philadelphia while growing up enjoying Sunday meals at her grandmother’s house. The experience of social gatherings around meals influenced Cleo’s love for what 2 SNCC: The Student Non-Violenct Coordinating Committee, one of the leading student groups of the Civil Rights Movement. 70 PASTOR CRESPO, JR. �Cope describes as “culinary diplomacy.” Cope expounds on the myriad ways that Cleo hosted and prepared gatherings around food at her apartment in the South Bronx (and elsewhere over the years), not only to garner financial support for the Black Panther Party but as a mentoring tool for what Cleo called her “Black and Brown cadre.” Cope cogently presents the lessons that Aylene Quin and Cleo Silvers provide as the “power of community organizing” and “the power of food to help create community among activists and local people.” At the same time, Cope takes care to ensure that the reader understands Cleo’s accomplishments in the contexts of navigating patriarchy within the Black Panther Party, on the one hand, and enduring extensive FBI efforts to “neutralize and destroy” the Party’s leaders and the brutality of local law enforcement, on the other. As Cope eloquently posits, “This is the insidious nature of white supremacy, particularly when it infiltrates every nook and cranny of governmental power.” Drawing attention to Mama Quin’s context in Mississippi, Cope warns also of the terroristic lengths white supremacy is willing to go to maintain a racist system—drive-by shootings, drive-by bombings, firebombs, and economic sanctions. Power Hun‐ gry is a testament to the strength and perseverance of countless unknown, unrecognized, and uncredited African American women leaders and their use of varied foodways to build and feed the community. This is an absolutely captivating book that is a must read. Pastor Crespo, Jr. The Bronx, New York Cope, Power Hungry 71 �Sammartino, Annemarie. Freedomland: Co‐Op City and The Story of New York. Ithaca/London: Three Hills/Cornell University Press, 2022. 320 pp. ISBN: 9781501716430. $32.95. As its title suggests, Freedomland: Co‐Op City and the Story of New York frames the history of Co-op City, the largest cooperative housing development in the U.S., as a microcosm of wider twentiethcentury New York City history. Co-Op City was constructed at the end of the 1960s in the far reaches of the northeast Bronx, carved out of swampland along the Hutchinson River. The title derives from the ill-fated amusement park, Freedomland, which during the first half of the 1960s occupied a portion of the land on which Co-Op City was built. At the same time, the title evokes the promise of Co-Op City: a place where affordable housing and a cohesive community life would be available to residents without necessitating a move to the suburbs. Here was a place where working- and middle-class New Yorkers could flourish and share in the American dream of home-own-ership. The cooperative housing movement in New York City, of which Coop City was a part, emerged in the early twentieth century among progressive Jewish and other trade unionists. Tenants, or “cooperators,” would purchase equity shares in an apartment upon move-in and would receive the amount back, plus interest, when vacating the apartment. Early cooperative housing in New Yorkwith pronounced leftwing influence such as the Allerton Coops in The Bronx had some of the first racially integrated housing in New York City. Other cooperatives had a less than stellar record in this regard, and this is a part of the story of Co-op City as well. Co-Op City was built by the United Housing Foundation (UHF), a nonmarket housing corporation known for cooperative projects like 72 ROGER MCCORMACK �the Amalgamated Housing Co-operative in The Bronx, opened in 1927, and Rochdale Village in Queens, opened in 1963. Co-op City, whose first apartments opened in 1968, provided middle-income housing at a time when many middle-class New Yorkers had decamped for the suburbs. All of these UHF developments served as crucibles for the inexorable demographic and economic changes buffeting New York City in the second half of the twentieth century —not least because in the late 1960s the UHF was mandated by the state to conform to non-discriminatory housing policies. Racial integration was not without tension in these developments, particularly as the original goals of the cooperative movement lost their luster amid rising crime and the racialized perception among many that an influx of Blacks and Puerto Ricans to Co-Op City heralded the demise of the neighborhood in the late 1970s and 1980s. According to Sammartino, however, Co-Op City never succumbed to New York’s vituperative racial politics to the same extent as Rochdale Village did, with the latter coming apart over busing and integration in the 1970s. UHF initially stressed a homogenously middle-class community at Co-op City and refused to jettison the middle-income requirement to appeal to more Blacks and Latinos, who were on average employed in jobs that paid them less for comparable work done by whites and experienced higher rates of unemployment. The approach of UHF created tension with prominent city agencies and Mayor Lindsay’s administration, which advocated—at least on paper—various policies to uplift Black and Latino populations in the 1960s. According to Sammartino, the common socio-economic level of Co-Op City nourished racial integration, subduing racial tension and rancor at a time when such tensions were high elsewhere in New York. Sammartino argues for Co-Op City’s unusual role within New York City: problems found in the rest of the city, though perceptible in Co-Op City, were diminished by the middle-class character of the development and the ideology of the “cooperators” or residents of Co-Op City, stressing, Sammartino, Freedomland 73 �as it did, shared ownership and the diminution of the profit motive in real estate. Other critics of Co-Op City at the time drew attention to its “Towers in the park” model. Towering residential skyscrapers, these critics argued, contributed to urban alienation and malaise. In this telling, Co-Op City would never be able to achieve a spontaneous community. Architectural and urban planners—chief among them Jane Jacobs—celebrated the community life of old, smaller-scale neighborhoods and were quick to denounce massive urban development projects like Co-Op City. Sammartino argues that this portrayal of Co-Op City was false, citing a number of anecdotes from her own life and from other residents highlighting the robustness of community in Co-Op City. Community life was, in fact, celebrated by people of varying ethnicities and backgrounds, most notably Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who moved to Co-Op City as a young girl. Here, Sammartino probably overstates her thesis. While her anecdotes of vibrant community life in Co-Op City are nonetheless true, the development to this day remains isolated from the rest of The Bronx and New York City (many plans for a subway line to Co-Op City have proved abortive), making the development convenient primarily for automobile drivers. Sammartino masterfully describes the ethos of the cooperative’s founders, the United Housing Foundation, and their utopian aims for cooperative housing, desiring nothing less than a wholesale reevaluation of how New Yorkers envisioned housing. She is also unsparing in detailing the corruption of the Mitchell-Lama program (and probably the UHF) and the enormous cost overruns during the construction of Co-Op City, overruns eventually paid for by increases in “carrying charges,” or rents, by the development’s residents. The increase in carrying charges and resentment towards the UHF’s 74 ROGER MCCORMACK �perceived corruption culminated in the rent strike of 1975–1976, the longest and largest so far in U.S. history. Led by the bombastic labor organizer Charles Rosen—dubbed by the Village Voice “the Lenin of the North Bronx”—Co-Op City cooperators eventually gained board control of Co-Op City but remained bedeviled by the same financial problems the UHF faced. The strike destroyed the UHF: it would never build another cooperative housing complex after the imbroglios involved in the construction and maintenance of Co-Op City. Here, Sammartino uses the example of Co-Op City to chart the history of New York’s social welfare apparatus, where robust funding was provided for education, housing, and a variety of other urban programs in the 1930s and 1940s. By the 1970s, this model was in desuetude. Instead, the ruling governing philosophy became “neoliberalism,” which Sammartino defines as market-based solutions to urban problems, and austerity, encapsulated by the federal government’s refusal to bail out New York City during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s (and symbolized by the New York Post’s famous headline, “Ford to New York—Drop Dead!”). Co-Op City, though, founded just prior to the high-water point of these policies in New York City, offered a rival conception of housing, with its roots in the social welfare model of the 1930s and ’40s and the tenant activism of the Lower East Side and The Bronx of this same era. Initially a safe-haven for Jews leaving once prosperous ethnic neighborhoods in the West Bronx, Co-Op City was widely seen as part of The Bronx and yet distinct from older neighborhoods not only because of its far-flung location and towering skyscrapers but also because of the absence of crime and urban blight. Complicating narratives of white flight and twentieth-century urban histories, Sammartino argues against Co-Op City as having a decisive destructive impact on the west Bronx. According to a standard narrative, Co-Op City exacerbated white flight from west Bronx neighborhoods and was one of the main contributors to urban decay in the borough. But, Professor Sammartino notes, many Jewish Sammartino, Freedomland 75 �residents of the Grand Concourse had already left for the suburbs of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut before the construction of Co-Op City was finished in 1968. In her view, Co-Op City simply reinforced a social trend already underway. The book also benefits from Sammartino’s measured appraisal of the reasons for the Jewish exodus from the west Bronx. Many previously storied west Bronx neighborhoods had begun to experience decreases in city services and overall building maintenance, and new arrivals to Co-Op City cited actual crimes and a perceived decline in their old neighborhoods. For a time, Co-Op City was seen as an escape from such blight. Unlike many other scholars of this period, however, Sammartino is similarly careful to weigh the largely manufactured fears of white residents of an increase in crime in Co-Op City in the 1980s and 1990s. Sammartino concludes her commendable volume with a paean to Co-Op City’s multicultural identity, even as demographics in the development have shifted, and to its continued existence as a middle-class neighborhood for newer populations of Bronxites. Roger McCormack The Bronx, New York 76 ROGER MCCORMACK �SELECT PUBLICATIONS AND GIFTS OF THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY The below items, and additional publications and gifts, are available for purchase in-person at any of our locations; by mail, through writing to The Bronx County Historical Society at 3309 Bainbridge Avenue, The Bronx, NY 10467; or online, at www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/store. Life in The Bronx Series Lloyd Ultan and G. Hermalyn, The Birth of The Bronx: 1609–1900 $30.00 Lloyd Ultan and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx in the Innocent Years: $25.00 1890–1925 Lloyd Ultan and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx: It Was Only Yesterday, $25.00 1935–1965 Lloyd Ultan, The Beautiful Bronx: 1920–1950 $25.00 Life in The Bronx, four-volume set $90.00 History of The Bronx Nicholas DiBrino, History of Morris Park Racecourse $10.00 Allan S. Gilbert (ed.), Digging The Bronx $25.00 G. Hermalyn et al., A Historical Sketch of The Bronx, 2nd edition $15.00 G. Hermalyn and Thomas X. Casey, Bronx Views $12.00 G. Hermalyn and Anthony Greene, Yankee Stadium: 1923–2008 $22.00 G. Hermalyn and Robert Kornfeld, Landmarks of The Bronx $15.00 Kathleen A. McAuley, Westchester Town: Bronx Beginnings $15.00 Kathleen A. McAuley and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx: Then and Now $22.00 John McNamara, History in Asphalt: The Origin of Bronx Street and Place Names (encyclopedia), 3rd edition $30.00 John McNamara, McNamara’s Old Bronx $20.00 Rubio P. Mendez, A History of the Riverdale Yacht Club $20.00 Michael Miller, Theatres of The Bronx $5.00 �Lloyd Ultan, Blacks in the Colonial Bronx: A Documentary History $18.00 Lloyd Ultan, The Bronx in the Frontier Era $20.00 Lloyd Ultan, Legacy of the Revolution $15.00 Lloyd Ultan, The Northern Borough: A History of The Bronx $28.00 George Zoebelein, The Bronx: A Struggle for County Government $15.00 History of New York City Elizabeth Beirne, The Greater New York Centennial $20.00 Peter Derrick, Tunneling to the Future $20.00 G. Hermalyn, Morris High School and the Creation of the New York City Public High School System $34.00 George Lankevich, New York City: A Short History $20.00 Lawrence Stelter, By the El: Third Avenue and Its El at Mid‐Century $20.00 History of New York State G. Hermalyn and Sidney Horenstein, Hudson’s River $20.00 Elizabeth Beirne, The Hudson River $20.00 Douglas Lazars et al., Re‐inspired: The Erie Canal $20.00 Roots of the Republic Series George Lankevich, Chief Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court $20.00 George Lankevich, The First House of Representatives and $20.00 the Bill of Rights Edward Quinn, The Signers of the Constitution of the United States $20.00 Edward Quinn, The Signers of the Declaration of Independence $20.00 Richard Streb, The First Senate of the United States $20.00 Lloyd Ultan, Presidents of the United States $20.00 Roots of the Republic Series, six-volume set $99.00 Educational Material Anthony Greene, Annotated Primary Source Documents, vol. 1 $20.00 Roger McCormack, Annotated Primary Source Documents, vol. 2 $22.00 Dan Eisenstein, Local History Classroom Resource Guide $15.00 �Lisa Garrison, The South Bronx and the Founding of America $15.00 G. Hermalyn, The Study and Writing of History $20.00 Samuel Hopkins, West Farms Local History Curriculum Guide $15.00 Alonso Serrano, Latin Bicentennial, comic book $5.00 The Bronx County Historical Society Journal Back issues of The Bronx County Historical Society Journal, 1963–2021, are available for purchase for $15.00 an issue, excepting special issues like the Centennial of The Bronx issue, available for purchase for $20.00. Research Center Dominick Caldiero et al., Newspaper Titles of The Bronx $15.00 G. Hermalyn, Publications and Other Media of The Bronx County Historical Society Since 1955 $5.00 G. Hermalyn et al., The Bronx in Print $10.00 G. Hermalyn et al., Education and Culture in The Bronx $20.00 G. Hermalyn and Laura Tosi, Genealogy of The Bronx $10.00 Kathleen A. McAuley, A Guide to the Collections of The Bronx County Archives $20.00 Laura Tosi et al., Ethnic Groups in The Bronx $20.00 Laura Tosi et al., Index to The Sheet Map Collection of The Bronx County Historical Society $20.00 Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Elected Public Officials of The Bronx Since 1898 $15.00 Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Atlas Collection of The Bronx County Historical Society $10.00 Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Microfilm/Microfiche Collection of The Bronx County Historical Society $10.00 Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Bronx County Historical Society Media Collection $10.00 Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Bronx County Historical Society Video Collection $10.00 �Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, a documentary on DVD $20.00 Elizabeth Beirne, Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe at Fordham $20.00 Kathleen A. McAuley, Edgar Allan Poe at Fordham $15.00 Special Interest Peter Derrick and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx Cookbook $15.00 Remember The Bronx, Bronx history calendar for 2023 $12.00 Gifts The Beautiful Bronx coffee mug $7.95 The Bronx Afghan, washable cotton blanket, 50" x 65" $50.00 The Bronx River Parkway, c. 1915, poster, 20.5" x 29.5" $20.00 Edgar Allan Poe coffee mug The Grand Concourse, 1892, poster, 25" x 12" $7.95 $20.00 The Bronx Comfort gift set, includes The Bronx Cookbook, the Bronx Afghan, and The Beautiful Bronx coffee mug $60.00 �THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESIDENTS Jacqueline Kutner, 1993– Robert R. Hall, 1986–1993 Raymond F. Crapo, 1976–1986 Robert Farkas, 1976 Lloyd Ultan, 1971–1976 Ronald Schliessman, 1969–1971 Roger Arcara 1967–1969 Thomas J. Mullins, 1964–1967 George J. Fluhr, 1963–1964 Ray D. Kelly, 1963 Fred E. J. Kracke, 1960–1963 Joseph Duffy, 1958–1960 Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff, 1955–1958 LIFE MEMBERS Dr. Elizabeth Beirne Louis H. Blumegarten Adolfo Carrión Sam Chermin James Conroy Dorothy Curran John Dillon Dan Eisenstein Mark Engel Natalie and Robert Esnard Ken Fisher Fordham Hill Owner’s Co. Katherine Gleeson Greg Gonzalez David Greco Robert Hall Daniel Hauben Dr. Gary Hermalyn James Houlihan Marsha Horenstein Dr. Reintraut E. Jonsson Cecil P. Joseph Joseph Kelleher Mark Lampell Douglas Lazarus Maralyn May Kathleen A. McAuley Steven A. Ostrow Alan Parisse Jane Mead Peter Joel Podgor Steve Baktidy Marilyn and Morris Sopher Elizabeth Stone Henry G. Stroobants Susan Tane Lloyd Ultan Van Courtlandt Village CC Jac Zadrima HONORARY MEMBERS Robert Abrams Jorge L. Batista Michael Benedetto Lorraine Cortez-Vazquez Gloria Davis Hector Diaz Ruben Díaz, Jr. Jeffrey Dinowitz Eliot Engel Carmen Fariña Dr. Joseph A. Fernandez Fernando Ferrer George Friedman Robert T. Johnson Stephen Kaufman Jeff Klein Joel I. Klein G. Oliver Koppell Jeffrey Korman Lawrence Levine Harold O. Levy Michael M. Lippman James J. Periconi Ricardo Oquendo Nathan Quinoñes Roberto Ramírez Carl E. Heastie Lee Holtzman Gustavo Rivera Joel Rivera José Rivera Ninfa Segarra José E. Serrano Stanley Simon Thomas Sobol ��THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 3309 Bainbridge Avenue The Bronx, New York 10467 718-881-8900 www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org The publication of this volume was made possible, in part, through the generous support of The National Realty Club Foundation. The Bronx County Historical Society is supported through funds and services provided by: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Historic House Trust of New York City New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation The Bronx Delegation of the New York City Council The Office of the President of the Borough of The Bronx The Bronx Delegation of the New York State Assembly The Bronx Delegation of the New York State Senate The H. W. Wilson Foundation The Astor Fund The Isabelle Fund The Elbaum Fund The Ultan Fund The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation The S. Hermalyn Institute The New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, Inc. The Susan Tane Foundation The New York Public Library The New York Community Trust The National Realty Club Foundation �THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL Volume LIX Numbers 1–2 Spring/Fall 2022 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx County Historical Society Journal Description An account of the resource The repository for digital editions of the full run of The Bronx County Historical Society Journal, 1962–present, the premier publication on Bronx history and culture. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx County Historical Society Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Bronx County Historical Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966–present Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource © The Bronx County Historical Society Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Periodical Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BCHSJOUR Periodical Text Any textual data included in the document The Bronx County Historical Society JOURNAL The Bronx County Historical Society JOURNAL Volume LIX Numbers 1–2 Spring/Fall 2022 EDITORIAL BOARD G. Hermalyn Elizabeth Beirne Jacqueline Kutner Patrick Logan Steven Payne Gil Walton Roger Wines © 2022 by The Bronx County Historical Society, Inc. The Bronx County Historical Society Journal is published by The Bronx County Historical Society, Inc. All correspondence should be addressed to 3309 Bainbridge Avenue, The Bronx, New York, 10467. Articles appearing in this Journal are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life, Periodical Source Index, and Recent Scholarship Online. The Journal and its editors disclaim responsibility for statements made by the contributors. ISSN 0007-2249 Articles in The Bronx County Historical Journal can also be found on EBSCO host research databases and on our website under “Collections.” www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY TRUSTEES Jacqueline Kutner, President Patrick Logan, Treasurer Steve Baktidy, Trustee Mei Sei Fong, Trustee Joel Podgor, Trustee Jac Zadrima, Trustee Hon. Eric Adams Mayor of New York City Hon. Sue Donaghue Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation Dr. G. Hermalyn, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Steven Payne, Director Teresa Brown, Chief Administrative Officer Clarence Addo-Yobo, Museum of Bronx History Senior Interpreter Pastor Crespo, Jr., Research Librarian Roger McCormack, Director of Education Chris Padilla, Bookstore Manager Valerie Blain, Archival Intern Kathleen A. McCauley, Curator Emerita Dr. Mark Naison, Bronx African American History Project Consultant Anthony Morante, Vice President Gil Walton, Secretary Robert Esnard, Trustee Dr. G. Hermalyn, Trustee Lloyd Ultan, Trustee EX-OFFICIO Hon. Vanessa Gibson Bronx Borough President Hon. Laurie Cumbo Commissioner, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs STAFF ii Volume LIX Numbers 1–2 Spring/Fall 2022 CONTENTS A Note from the Editors.......................................................................................................v ARTICLES Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty..................................................1 Edited and introduction by Steven Payne Kingsbridge Vignettes............................................................................................................19 By Richard Baum Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s........................................................................................29 By Robert Weiss A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters.............................................39 By Mark Naison About the Authors..................................................................................................................44 FROM THE ARCHIVES Afro-Cuban Jazz in The Bronx......................................................................................45 From the David M. Carp Papers on Latin Jazz REVIEWS Cope, Power Hungry (2022)................................................................................................69 By Pastor Crespo, Jr. Sammartino, Freedomland (2022)...................................................................................72 By Roger McCormack iii ENDOWED FUNDS The Bronx County Historical Society encourages the esta- blishment of named endowment funds. Funds may be created to support the many different pro- grams of The Society or may be established for restricted use. The funds appear permanently on the financial records of the Historical Society in recognition of their ongoing su- pport of its work. Named endowment funds are established for a gift of $5000 or more and once begun, additional con- tributions may be made at any time. The following funds currently Astor Fund Bingham Fund Elbaum Fund Fernandez Fund General Board Fund Gordon Fund Gouverneur Morris Fund Halpern Memorial Fund support our work: Hermalyn Institute Fund Isabelle Fund Khan Fund Lampell Fund Library Fund Parisse Fund Sander Fund Ultan Fund For further details, contact: Mr. Joel Podgor, CPA Treasurer Emeritus 718-881-8900 A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS Volume 59 of The Bronx County Historical Society Journal represents a milestone in the history of this storied periodical, which has been published continuously since 1964. In many respects, the COVID-19 pandemic hit The Bronx County Historical Society with a ven- geance. Our two historic house museums were closed for the ma- jority of 2020 and the entirety of 2021 and only started to reopen on a limited basis in 2022. Revenue from museum visits, tours, and in- person purchases all experienced a sharp decline and are only beginning to bounce back. Yet on other important fronts, particularly those of collection acquistion, archival processing, and oral history recording, The Society’s activities picked up as never before. The Society recorded over 100 oral histories during these pandemic years across The Bronx African American History Project, The Bronx Latino History Project, and The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project. The Society acquired 43 new archival collec- tions during this same period, and over 100 of the 163 collections currently housed in The Bronx County Archives were fully processed and inventoried and are now available to researchers and the wider public. This volume of our Journal contains some of the first fruits of these pandemic labors, including an edited oral history collection from the Bronx Latino History Project around the life and legacy of Dr. Evelina Antonetty (1910–1984), a pivotal Bronx human rights activist, and an archival manuscript of a lengthy but ground- breaking study of Afro-Cuban jazz from the David M. Carp papers on Latin jazz in The Bronx County Archives. This volume, while longer than many previous volumes, is meant to highlight the recent work of The Society while motioning towards our ever-expanding role as a world-class center of community-based historical docu- mentation and scholarship. v ISABELLE HERMALYN BOOK AWARD IN NEW YORK URBAN HISTORY Presented annually to an author of a distinguished work in New York urban history. 2022 Annotated Primary Source 2009 Documents, vol. 2, Roger McCormack 2008 2021 BASEBALL The New York Game, Anthony Morante 2020 Hudson’s River, G. Hermalyn and Sidney Horenstein, The 2007 Bronx County Historical Society 2019 Concrete Jungle, Niles Eldrige 2006 and Sidney Horenstein, University of California Press 2018 Digging The Bronx, Alan 2005 Gilbert, The Bronx County Historical Society 2004 2017 The New York Botanical Garden, Gregory Long and Todd A. Forest, Abrams Books 2003 2016 The Bronx Artist Documentary Project, Judith C. Lane and 2002 Daniel Hauben 2015 An Irrepressible Conflict, 2001 Jennifer A. Lemak et al., SUNY Press 2014 Supreme City, Donald Miller, 2000 Simon & Schuster 2013 Humans of New York, 1999 Brandon Stanton, St. Martin's Press 2012 The Impeachment of Governor 1998 Salzer, Matthew L. Lifflander, SUNY Press 1997 2011 Freedomland, Robert McLaughlin and Frank Adamo, Arcadia Publishers 2010 Band of Union, Gerard T. Manahatta, Eric W. Sanderson, Abrams Books The New York, Westchester & Boston Railway, Herbert Harwood, Indiana University Press Trying Leviathan, D. Graham Burnett, Princeton University Press Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning, Jonathan Mahler, Ferrar, Strauss & Giroux The Devil’s Own Work, Barnett Schecter, Walker & Co. The Island at the Center of the World, Russell Shorto, Doubleday Capital City, Thomas Kessner, Simon & Schuster Tunneling to the Future, Peter Derrick, NYU Press The Monied Metropolis, Sven Beckert, Cambridge University Press Bronx Accent, Lloyd Ultan and Barbara Unger, Rutgers Press The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, John Manbeck and Zella Jones American Metropolis, George Lankevich, NYU Press Elected Public Officials of The Bronx Since 1898, Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx County Historical Society Koppel, Da Capa Press TITI: AN ORAL HISTORY OF DR. EVELINA ANTONETTY EDITED AND INTRODUCTION BY STEVEN PAYNE I. Introduction Dr. Evelina Antonetty (1922–1984), a proud Bronxite, was among the most prolific human rights activists of the twentieth century. Over the course of more than four decades of activism, Evelina struggled for an end to racial and national discrimination against Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and other racially and nationally oppressed peoples; quality, affordable housing for all; culturally relevant and bilingual public education; full employment with livable wages, especially for youth; robust funding for after-school programs and community centers; healthcare equity; peace and disarmament; and much more. On the occasion of Evelina’s cen- tenary, as part of “Evelina 100,” a week-long celebration of her life and legacy, on Friday, September 16, 2022, The Bronx County Historical Society screened TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty, an edited oral history collection, at Pregones/Puero Rican Travelling Theater in The Bronx. Section 2 of this article provides a brief biography of Evelina to orient readers who might not be as familiar with her work. Section 3 contains a list of narrators included in the edited oral history collection, together with references to the full-length oral histories recorded by the Historical Society for the Bronx Latino History Project and the Bronx African American History Project. Section 4 reproduces the transcript of TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty in its entirety. Although representing only a sampling of the significant oral his- tory collecting that is taking place around Evelina’s life and legacy, the selections transcribed in the final section of this article demonstrate the multi-layered, complex, emotionally laden, and politically significant impact Evelina continues to have among Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 1 family members, friends, and the wider Bronx community. Although physically absent, Evelina continues to shape the way that The Bronx and its people struggle for and think about a more livable, sustainable present and future. II. Brief Biography of Dr. Evelina Antonetty Dr. Evelina Antonetty (née López) was born on September 19, 1922 in Salinas, Puerto Rico.1 Her mother, Eva Cruz, raised Evelina and her two younger sisters, Lillian and Elba. Evelina’s aunt and uncle, Vi- centa and Enrique Godreau, had relocated to New York City in 1923. A decade later, in 1933, they sent for Evelina to live with them. Evelina left Puerto Rico soon after her youngest sister Elba was born, on September 10, 1933. After arriving in New York on El Ponce, Evelina lived with her aunt and uncle in El Barrio until her mother and sisters could join her. This they did two years later, in 1935, and the entire family lived together in successive East Harlem apart- ments. Vicenta and Enrique—known to most simply as “Godreau”— had already established extensive ties within the community by the time Evelina’s family arrived. Vicenta was a political activist with close ties to the LaGuardia and Roosevelt administrations. Godreau was a music promoter and numbers runner who regularly socialized with the likes of Machito and Tito Puente. Those close to Evelina while she was growing up remember her as actively engaged in transforming the world and her place within it 1 For longer biographical treatments of Dr. Evelina Antonetty, some more reliable than others, see, for example, Nicholasa Mohr, All for the Better (Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn, 1993); “Guide to the Records of United Bronx Parents, Inc 1966–1989 (Bulk 1970s–1983),” Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY, 2005 https://centropr-archive.hunter.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/faids/ubpf.html; Nélida Pé- rez, “Antonetty, Evelina López (1922–1984),” pp. 48–49 in Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia (Indiana University Press, 2006); and Nydia Edgecombe, “‘The Hell Lady from the Bronx’ Evelina López Antonetty, el activismo comunitario de una puertorriqueña en la diáspora del Sur del Bronx” (PhD dissertation, El Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y El Caribe, 2018). 2 STEVEN PAYNE from an early age. One of her friends from childhood, Dolores Roque, remembers a pageant that she and Evelina organized in ele- mentary school in Puerto Rico. It was the largest pageant in the school’s history up to that point.2 In New York City, at the age of sixteen, Evelina joined the Young Communist League, the youth wing of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), a formidable force in the 1940s in progressive, anti-racist, labor, and anti-colonial struggles. Evelina was speaking at mass meetings citywide by the time she was in her late teens. Her youngest sister Elba, for instance, remembers Evelina speaking at a large American Labor Party rally in New York City during the early 1940s in support of the U.S.’s anti-fascist war efforts (as World War II was explicitly characterized at the time). During this rally, as a testament to her ability and reputation, a young Evelina was on the rostrum with Jesús Colón (1901–1974), one of the leading Puerto Rican activists of the day and more than 20 years Evelina’s senior. Evelina also worked very closely with Vito Marcantonio, a progressive Italian politician from East Harlem who built close ties with both Italian and Puerto Rican communities in the neighborhood and around New York. Evelina became a postal worker for a period of time during the war, and it was during these years that she met and married her first husband and moved to Jackson Avenue in The Bronx. Evelina gave birth to her first daughter, Lorraine, in 1943. For a number of years after the war, Evelina worked for District 65 of the Retail, Whole- sale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), one of the more militant unions that fell under close scrutiny during the McCarthy era.3 Evelina recruited for the local among Puerto Ricans and other people of color who were still discriminated against in many unions 2 See Section 4 below for the transcription of this story from Dolores Roque’s oral history recorded for the Bronx Latino History Project. 3 District 65 of the RWDSU eventually merged with the United Auto Workers (UAW) and became a local affiliated with that union. For a historical overview of this union, see “Guide to the United Automobile Workers of America, District 65 Records WAG.006,” Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, NYU, 2019, https://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/ html/tamwag/wag_006/bioghist.html; and Minna P. Ziskind, “Labor Conflict in the Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 3 at the time. By this point, Evelina’s mother, two sisters, and some of her extended family had also moved to The Bronx, settling nearby on Concord Avenue. During these years, Evelina divorced her first husband and married Donato Antonetty, with whom she had her second daughter, Anita, and her only son Donald. Navigating the public school system with her three children and other parents in the neighborhood convinced Evelina that education advocacy was an urgent and much needed area of struggle, both in The Bronx and citywide. With community and family members, Evelina founded an organi- zation called United Bronx Parents (UBP) in 1965 in order to train Bronx parents to advocate for their children’s language, cultural, and nourishment needs. Additionally, UBP organized bilingual adult education classes, served as a community center, offered a variety of employment and job training opportunities to youth, became in- volved in local struggles for healthcare justice, and fought for the people of The Bronx in a variety of other ways. UBP quickly grew to become one of New York City’s leading community organi- zations. By the early 1970s, UBP was distributing two meals a day to thousands of children in all five boroughs for the city’s new free summer breakfast and lunch program. Both through UBP and independently Evelina was deeply engaged in her community. After youth involvement in gangs experienced an uptick in The Bronx during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Evelina began approaching known gang leaders, befriending them, arranging for their employment, and supporting them throughout their rehabilitation. Additionally, Evelina and other community members drew attention to the abhorrent healthcare being provided at Lincoln Hospital and other “ghetto hospitals” (as they were called at the time). She and others, including groups like the Young Lords and Suburbs: Organizing Retail in Metropolitan New York, 1954–1958,” International Labor and Working‐Class History 64 (2003): 55–79. 4 STEVEN PAYNE the Black Panthers, advocated for community control of these healthcare facilities.4 Evelina also supported Dr. Helen Rodríguez- Trías (1929–2001) and others at Lincoln Hospital who opposed the appointment of Dr. Antonio Silva, a doctor with a known history of mass sterilization of women in Puerto Rico.5 When the South Bronx and its people were depicted in racist and dehumanizing ways in films like Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981), Evelina hit the streets in protest, always sticking up for her community.6 In short, Evelina was a loving sister, mother, and aunt, a fierce fighter, a mentor to many, an incredibly active and brilliant human being who loved The Bronx, its people, and all oppressed peoples worldwide. III. Oral History Narrators TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty contains selections from the oral histories of the following narrators, alphabetized by last name, all of whom have recorded at least one oral history for either the Bronx Latino History Project or the Bronx African American History Project. References to these oral histories are pro- vided to facilitate further research about the life and legacy of Dr. Evelina Antonetty. ANITA ANTONETTY is the daughter of Evelina and Donato Anto- 4 For recent treatments of struggles for community control of healthcare facilities in The Bronx, see Rachel Pagones, Acupuncture as Revolution: Suffering, Liberation, and Love (London: Brevis, 2021), especially chs. 1 and 3; and Johanna Fernández, The Young Lords: A Radical History (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020), 271–304. 5 For a general history of mass sterlization campaigns among Puerto Ricans, see Laura Briggs, Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002), 142–161. A biography of Dr. Helen Rodríguez-Trías can be found in Joyce Wilcox, “The Face of Women’s Health: Helen Rodriguez Trias,” American Journal of Public Health (2002): 566–569. 6 See box 1, folder 3, “Committee Against Fort Apache,” The Gelvin Stevenson papers on Arson and Housing Abandonment, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 5 netty.7 DONALD ANTONETTY is the son of Evelina and Donato Antonetty.8 ELBA CABRERA is the youngest sister of Evelina.9 JOE CONZO, JR. is the grandson of Evelina and the son of Lorraine Montenegro, who was the oldest daughter of Evelina.10 CARINA MONDESIRE is the daughter of Paul Mondesire, the grand- daughter of Elba Cabrera, and the great niece of Evelina.11 PAUL MONDESIRE is the younger son of Elba Cabrera and a nephew of Evelina.12 ANTONIO MONDESÍRE-CABRERA is the older son of Elba Cabrera and a nephew of Evelina.13 7 “Oral History of Anita and Donald Antonetty,” April 13, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 8 “Oral History of Anita and Donald Antonetty.” 9 “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 1,” November 16, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 2,” November 30, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 3,” December 6, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 4,” December 14, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 5,” December 22, 2021; “Oral History of Elba Cabrera, Part 6,” December 28, 2021; interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 10 “Oral History of Joe Conzo, Jr.,” May 9, 2006, interviewed by Mark Naison, The Bronx African American History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 11 “Oral History of Carina Mondesire,” December 14, 2021, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 12 “Oral History of Paul Mondesire, Part 1,” February 1, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 13 “Oral History of Babá Antonio Mondesire-Cabrera, Part 1,” June 16, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne; “Oral History of Babá Antonio Mondesire-Cabrera, Part 2,” September 22, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne and Pastor Crespo, Jr., The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical 6 STEVEN PAYNE DOLORES ROQUE is a childhood friend of Evelina who went to elementary school with her in Puerto Rico.14 CLEO SILVERS is a community and labor organizer who was men- tored by Evelina as a young activist in the South Bronx in the late 1960s and early 1970s.15 VIVIAN VÁSQUEZ IRIZARRY is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who frequented UBP when she was growing up.16 IV. Transcript of TITI: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty The transcribed oral history collection below is organized into three sections: 1. Evelina’s Life, which includes selected narrations of different aspects of Evelina’s life, from early childhood through adulthood; 2. Evelina’s Struggles, comprised of selected narrations of activist struggles Evelina engaged in from the 1940s until her passing in 1984, with pride of place falling to UBP; and 3. Evelina’s Legacies, which contains selected narrations of the many legacies left behind in Evelina’s wake—from a passion for education to gang rehabilitation to mentoring and inspiring generations of community activists, family members, and Bronxites in general. Society Research Library. 14 “Oral History of Dolores Roque,” February 11, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 15 “Oral History of Cleo Silvers, Part 1,” February 21, 2007; “Oral History of Cleo Silvers, Part 2,” March 12, 2007; interviewed by Mark Naison, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 16 “Oral History of Vivian Vásquez Irizarry,” February 18, 2022, interviewed by Steven Payne, The Bronx Latino History Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 7 1. Evelina’s Life ELBA CABRERA: Well, I came to this country in 1935. My sister Evelina had—I was born, I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. And the day I was born, Evelina left to come to New York. She actually saw me— she saw my mother giving birth to me. And she said it was the hardest thing for her to leave, to leave her new baby sister. But my aunt [Vicenta Godreau], who had come to New York from Puerto Rico in 1923, had sent for her. And so, she was leaving. And that was actually September 10, 1933 that Evelina came to this country. And she was with my aunt. She landed in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, I think it was. And the boat was the, El Ponce. That was the name of the boat—boat or ship. When, when Evelina came, she went to live at 117th Street, in East Harlem. And it was, I think, off Fifth Avenue, I think. Because, you know, this is all what I’ve heard, you know. I wasn’t around. And so anyway, two years later, my aunt sent for us, sent for me and my mom and Lillian. And we came on the same ship and landed in Brooklyn as well. And we went to live with my aunt, and this was extended family living in Spanish Harlem. ANITA ANTONETTY: Well, how my mother [Evelina Antonetty] and my father [Donato Antonetty] ended up in The Bronx: well, my mother, when, when she came to this country, she lived in El Barrio in Harlem, East Harlem, New York, with her aunt, and then I believe what she told us was that when she, she got married to her first husband, she, they moved to The Bronx. That seemed to be the place people were going, a lot of people were coming to the Bronx, so they were in the South Bronx, Jackson Avenue. So, and then after she divorced her first husband, she and my, my sister Lorraine, were still there in Jackson Avenue. And her mother and her two sisters followed her to the, to The Bronx. That’s Elba 8 STEVEN PAYNE and Lillian. And they lived on Concord Avenue, which was a block away from Jackson Avenue. My father came later, I think, around ’55 or so, came to New York. And, and his family also had come to, some of them had already come to New York—my aunt Santos and my other aunt Margo, came, came to New York. Santos lived in the same building, Jackson Avenue. Margo lived in Concord as well. So, we had, we had, we had family all around us. There was other friends also that lived [in] Union Avenue: Tini, Carmen. Carmen Muñoz was godmother to Donny. My, my godmother, Celia Avilés, at the time, lived in, in Jackson Avenue, 625 Jackson, [inaudible], too. So, it was a real family neighborhood, you know, besides being blood relatives, we were close to everybody. It was a very mixed neighborhood. It was, you know, Puerto Ricans, African Americans that came from the South. There were others: Irish; Jewish, mostly from, from Russia; and Chinese. There were Chinese people that lived in the neighborhood, too. So, it was a very mixed neighborhood, very working-class neighborhood. PAUL MONDESIRE: So, the anchor of our family was Titi—everybody called her “Titi.” That would be Dr. Evelina Antonetty. Titi and her family, when I was really, really, really young, they lived, I think it was there on Jackson Avenue. The address I’m remembering: 625 Jackson Avenue. But we used to go visit them all the time. We used to visit Aunt Lilly a lot. She and, she and my grandmother lived in the then new Bridge Apartments, there at 111 Wadsworth, in, you know, technically that’s Man-, Washington Heights. The Bridge Apartments at that time were brand, brand new. They, this was before they kind of turned into a sewer, you know, because that, that turned into a very harsh neighborhood. But Aunt Lilly moved out of there before then. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 9 But, so, we would visit Titi and Aunt Lilly a lot. Lorraine and her kids. I mean, well, Titi was kind of the, she was the fulcrum. So, everybody went to Titi’s house, no matter what. Right? So, you know, holidays were spent going to Titi’s a lot. DOLORES ROQUE: Let me tell you: one time I went to get together, and we tried to make a pageant. And we made a pageant. And I say, “You know what? We’re gonna have Alma.” Alma was a girl, she was very nice, cute, but she had a cross-eye, and was cross-eyed. Her mother was separating from her father. But Titi and me, we decided to make the pageant. And I made the pageant. So, this man, he was a big man with money, like Alma’s father. They worked in the, in the corporation that then built [inaudible]. And this guy came over to me, and he says, “How much money do you need to make my daughter the queen?” The ticket was two cents —two cents, the ticket! Just [to] buy the stuff for the pageant, and, you know, for the—. So, and then we say, “No, we want to have —Alma will be the president.” And I said [to Titi], “You’re gonna be the, the princess.” So, we made the pageant, okay—the teacher doesn't know anything about it. We’re doing everything behind the teacher’s back. But it happened so that was the biggest event the school has, okay? Titi was the princess, and we made Alma the queen. That was Evelina and me in school, okay? They had a garden. And there we had a, they had a teacher. Mostly for the boys. For teaching gardening and stuff like that. And Titi and me went to see how they seed, plant the tomatoes, just to see. We don’t want to do it, but they don’t allow girls. It was only for the boys. We had to do something else. And Titi and me were there looking to see. And then I said, “I can do it.” Titi said, “I can do it.” 10 STEVEN PAYNE 2. Evelina’s Struggles ELBA CABRERA: This [pointing to a photograph] was during World War Two. We used to have rallies for the war effort, and Evelina was one of the main speakers [for an American Labor Party rally] with Jesús Colón, and two other women. And I have a cute story about that. I was, I was about, I don’t know, maybe seven, eight years old. And I was in the audience with Lillian, with my sister Lillian, and all of a sudden, the rains came. And I had this, they had given me like a costume with crepe paper, color, and the rains came, and all this dye came all over me. And I started crying out for Evelina. We used to call her “Titi.” I said, “Titi!” And, and Lillian says, “You can’t, she can’t come down, just stay with me.” But I’ll never forget that day. Above: Dr. Evelina Antonetty, 1980, Frank Espada, photographer, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquisition made possible through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 11 PAUL MONDESIRE: I think the most important thing to recall about those years was Titi’s attitude was not by any means necessary. It was by every means necessary, okay? She worked with city, city administrations. She worked with folks that had less than savory reputations in certain places, because that’s what you had to do. But her personal integrity on this was unquestioned. Like I said, she wouldn’t mess around with those SEBCO [South East Bronx Community Organization] people, and they wouldn’t mess around with her. Think about, think about that. The mob wouldn’t f—k with Titi. The mob would not f—k with Titi. And yeah, I said it just like that. Yeah, that’s the kind of powerful person that she was. When she started United Bronx Parents [in 1965], it was first United Bronx Parents, as the, as the, you know, education advocacy organization. Then she started the daycare center, and the daycare center grew into, you know, ultimately serving, you know, all kinds of populations, you know, the, you know, folks that were, you know, recovering from drugs. And later on, when Lorraine was running the organization, she got into helping, you know, creating the women’s shelter. I don’t know as much about the details there. ANITA ANTONETTY: Besides being at Bank Street, after school, we were in United Bronx Parents. And, and since my mother’s con- sultations moved out of the house, we had to learn how to answer the phone properly. Take messages, all of that. And then in, in, in the office, we, if there was an event going on, and flyers were being run off, we, and we needed to collate material, it was all done by hand, machines, at the time, to do it. So, we were put to work. And we also learned how to sit at the switchboard and transfer calls and all of that. DONALD ANTONETTY: And Elba was the, the office manager. 12 STEVEN PAYNE ANITA ANTONETTY: The office manager. DONALD ANTONETTY: She was a drill sergeant. ANITA ANTONETTY: She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t take anything from anybody. But we had, we had the run of the place pretty much. But we were in the middle of everything. DONALD ANTONETTY: But we were always expected to work. Always. Matter of fact, my father used to tell us, you know, since this is, you know, since it’s family-run, you’re expected to do more than any- body who was an employee there. Okay. Okay. Always. Always. ANITA ANTONETTY: [Our father] was integral to the operation. DONALD ANTONETTY: He used to translate all the documents into Spanish—like from Spanish to English, or mostly English to Spanish. So, all the, all the materials for the parents organizing, organizing, he would translate it. We always put out everything in English and Spanish. ANITA ANTONETTY: And by hand because it was two dictionaries and two thesauruses, and then just going back and forth. He would spend, spend nights doing that. And then if anything broke, he was fixing it. The machines broke, he would fix them. If, if something had, shelves had to be built, he was building them. But what was good about him is that he was working with people, and especially younger people, and showing them how to do: this is how you measure, this is how you cut, this is how you put it together, and all of that. Estella Rodríguez was the fiscal officer for the organization. She was a good friend. Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 13 DONALD ANTONETTY: She knew where every penny was. ANITA ANTONETTY: She made sure every penny was accounted for. Because in those days, you had to, because otherwise they’d shut you down in a minute. And I, I remember, she, one day her outrage, because they said, you know, they wanted all of the records. The next day, like nine o’clock in the morning, outraged that it was, anything would be wrong, but she made sure everything was right. Every payroll was met. Never, never missed the payroll. DONALD ANTONETTY: They had a great relationship with the banks, a great relationship with the banks. VIVIAN VÁSQUEZ IRIZARRY: Well, the main community center that we were a part of was United Bronx Parents. So, I remember when we were young, we would go to St. Mary’s Park, and, you know, swim in the swimming pool at certain times of the year, but our, my, our main place was UBP. UBP—and, and for a little bit, St. Margaret’s, but not so much—UBP was a place where my sister, my oldest sister, worked year-round. And I worked there as a summer youth employment. But even going before that, you know—and I had not made this link until long afterwards—was that UBP provided free lunch, free breakfast and lunch. And so there were times during the summer where my mother would say, “Okay, go over there and go to 1-, PS 130. And get your lunch and your breakfast, you know, and bring, take—.” So, there were five of us. So, the five of us would go and, and get our sandwiches and our lunch. And you know, it was really great. And, you know, at that time, I don’t think I knew where that was coming from. But then eventually, you know, as I worked for the Summer Youth Employment Program, I think I worked for UBP, summer, maybe three years. And, and you know, we worked, we cleaned up the park and we, we went on trips, and it was the first 14 STEVEN PAYNE time I think I went to Coney Island. You know, we were exposed to different places throughout the city. We had what I’ll call counseling sessions. At that time, they were called “rap sessions,” you know, where the older employees at UBP, the, the counselors would sit us down and talk to us about what was going on in our lives and, you know, build relationships with us so that I guess we could feel safe. I feel like that was important, you know, looking back, going to a safe place every day in the summer, you know, making friends, having fun, being engaged in, in fun activities, was, was important, was really important to me. DONALD ANTONETTY: But also, when they, you know, they, there was some mass sterilization program going on in Puerto Rico. The one heading that program, when he left there, he went to be the director of Lincoln Hospital. Keep up the “good” work. So, there was a lot of protest about that, a lot organizing about that. ANITA ANTONETTY: And then the stereotypes from Hollywood, so —that’s Fort Apache. That was a big deal, too. We were in the street every single day, every single day. DONALD ANTONETTY: It was the filming crew. One time we saw Paul Newman downtown. We chased him, saying, “Stop the racist movie!” 3. Evelina’s Legacies ANTONIO MONDESIRE-CABRERA: And Titi and Aunt Lilly, through embracing education—education is a universal, when we start understanding other people’s cultures, history, you get past all this stuff. Titi was very much influenced by [Vito] Marcantonio from, from, and LaGuardia, from East Harlem, Italian-American men who had a vision of a larger expanse. She loved Malcolm X. Don Pedro Albizu Campos. So, and of course, Aunt Lilly exposed me to so much. So, I’m trying to say is my formative years were very Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 15 diverse, very rich, and allowed me—I’m very blessed, man. And I would like, I like to pass that on to people, because we’re living in very testy times now, very testy times. JOE CONZO, JR.: My grandmother never shunned or ran away from any community problems. And yes, there were a lot of gang problems at the time. She took in people like Benji Melendez from the Ghetto Brothers, the president of the Ghetto Brothers, she took in people from the Savage Skulls, all these community people. So, I knew them growing up. She, she involved them in her work and gave them their jobs, gave them jobs. Benji Melendez, you know, who, who had a brigade of, of gang members, who in, you know, a couple of thousand, will tell anybody today how Evelina Antonetty walked into their gang house, pointed them out, and said, “You want a job? Go home, take a bath, shave, and come see me.” And gave him his first job. But that’s how, she—she wasn’t afraid of anybody, because she was doing something for her people, her community. ESPERANZA MARTELL: I began doing activism in The Bronx with, I guess, the, the—’cause I’m trying to really place myself, right? So, in the late, I would say like in the late ’60s. When folks were fighting for community control, bilingual education, and childcare, basically. So, folks like Evelina Antonetty was the leading person in a lot of those struggles. She did a lot of coalition work, and was part of Brown vs. [Board of Education], right? So, you know, I was young, I was in my early 20s, or late teens, and I would come and support actions. CLEO SILVERS: Evelina Antonetty was the leader of United Bronx Parents. She organized all around the South Bronx [for] better education. Now, she had a team of people that worked with her. Ellen Lurie and Kathy Goldman. And Ellen and Kathy did the research. They gave the information to Evelina. She [made it where] parents could understand it and organized around absolute 16 STEVEN PAYNE conditions inside of the schools, inside of the classrooms—they had information about what was going on inside each classroom. It was one of the most wonderful experiences that I had with Evelina. ELBA CABRERA: The losses for me, you know, my sisters, you know, it’s been really tough. It’s, it’s been a little hard. And especially when I start talking about them. But I have such good, good memories. So yes, so, at any rate, let me, let me backtrack a little bit with Lillian and Evelina, cause it’s important. They, they were my role models. And they, they felt that I, that I could do anything, but I didn’t feel that way. You know, they really, you know, nurtured me and helped me, and I appreciate that till now and forever. So, when Evelina comes to The Bronx now, you know, she’s already, she’s an adult, and she’s very clear as to what’s to be done. So, she gets, you know, she got involved with people, especially when she went to work at the union, too. Because she also was recruiting, recruiting Puerto Rican and other Latinos to work in the industries that they serviced. And she, she was there for quite a few years. I would say something like four years. Before that she had worked in the post office as well. Yeah, during the war. And then she worked at the union. So, you know, she was pretty active in, in her thoughts, you know, because she, she really, you know, I think she was born with, with her knowledge of people and what had to be done, I really do. I don’t think people can learn that, I think it has to come within you, you know, has to be something, your passion. And she had the passion for people. CARINA MONDESIRE: Really, where a lot of the voices [for change] are going to come from are, you know, really, from, like, people like Evelina, you know, who were out here speaking up for us, to make it better. So, I, it’s, maybe I, maybe I [should] just follow in her footsteps and start talking more, you know, but it’s, I don’t know. I guess it’s, it’s like I’ve seen, you know—again, I wasn’t, I wasn’t born Titi: An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty 17 for a lot of the struggles that they had to, you know, I wasn’t around a lot of the struggles they had to deal with. So, in a way, I’m ignorant, because I wasn’t, you know, I wasn’t here. And I, you know, I’m lucky enough that, like, my family, you know, for the most part, we haven’t had to have been in the situation where we’re seeing the really hard times that you can face. I mean, the pandemic also showed a lot of that to me. You know, and I, and this is when I started hearing more stories of people struggling. So, I think that like, the hope is that we continue to, I guess, grow, but I don’t know if that’s the right word that I’m looking for. But it’s like we need better, and I—for sure Evelina was on track, and my grandmother [Elba] and Lillian for what they contributed, for sure, are, you know, some of the catalysts for creating that change. And I think we definitely need to keep going, you know. It’s one of those journeys, one of those journeys that doesn’t stop, you know, it’s like we have to keep going, and there’s gonna be a lot of things that we, I guess, face that, you know, are I guess—I guess “adversity,” if that’s the word? And, I mean, I don’t want to say that it’s okay. But that’s a part of it. So, going forward hopefully it’s just better, you know. 18 STEVEN PAYNE KINGSBRIDGE VIGNETTES BY RICHARD L. BAUM I. Home Number 3P, 225 West 232nd Street—the three-room apartment located in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx, where I grew up with my parents and two sisters from the late 1940s into 1959, was often without heat in the winter. Cold enough that I slept wearing extra layers of clothing and heavy socks. On many winter mornings, my mother would ritually bang on the steam pipes in the vain hope that the super would see fit to raise the level of heat or repair the errant coal furnace. In 1959, after many years in 3P, we moved up, literally, into apartment 6D, a four-room apartment on the sixth and top floor, at the monthly rate of $100.12, a not inconsequential sum at that time. There had been an earlier opportunity to get a four-room apartment. Some years before, my father left a deposit with the building’s super for an apartment that had become available. Shortly thereafter, during my father’s weekly Gin Rummy card game, he mentioned his imminent move to the other players. Not long after, the super returned the deposit, stating that someone else got the apartment. This person turned out to be Mr. Rogers, an electrician, who had been one of the Gin Rummy players. Our new sixth-floor apartment allowed my parents to move out of the living room into their own bedroom. By this time, we were four souls, as my eldest sister Vilma had married two years earlier. Though Vilma missed the joy of this sunny, spacious apartment, our new living space had disabilities that 3P had not had, and Vilma escaped suffering these. The environmental conditions in this sixth-floor space were more Kingsbridge Vignettes 19 severe than those in 3P. The new apartment was at the southeast corner of the building and overlooked a large open area that was intersected by the Broadway IRT elevated line. When we first moved in, the sound of the trains running along the track, up and down Broadway, interfered with both my studying and sleeping. After some time, I was able to develop the skill of filtering out the clickity-clack of the subway cars running along the glistening steel tracks. If a train was off schedule, however, its delay caused me to look up from whatever I was doing and anxiously wait for the sound of its approach. It was as if the world was out of balance without the sound of the train’s rhythmic passage occurring on cue. In the summer, the new apartment’s orientation, together with its open windows, allowed a crosswind partially to cool the apartment, which was excessively heated by the tarred roof directly above our apartment’s ceiling. The building’s electrical wiring was insufficient for window air conditioning, which was not yet common. Instead, we augmented the crosswind with a water-fed air conditioner that sat on a stand in the middle of the living room and cooled things a bit but added to the humidity. Despite the crosswind and the air- conditioner, summer days in that apartment felt as if one were living in a broiler. The winter brought radically different conditions. Perversely, the refreshing summer crosswind was transformed, even with the win- dows closed, into a malevolent, howling wind that conspired with the rotten wooden window frames to cause severe freezing con- ditions in the apartment. It was as if there were no windows at all! Stuffing towels along the edges of the window frames seemed to have no measurable effect. On one particularly cold morning, after I had the courage to stick my head out from under my blanket, I scanned the room through the fog of my breath, and my gaze fell upon a square pane of glass. It 20 RICHARD L. BAUM was frosted over by Jack, hanging by one corner from a wooden slat, swaying lazily in the breeze. Rather than take the chance that I might knock the pane to the street, I called my father. He casually entered the room while tucking his starched white shirt into his pants, immediately sized up the problem, cinched his belt, and slowly reached for the glass pane. As his fingers closed around the glass, the pane, as if in spite, suddenly slipped. Before he could react, it plummeted to the street six stories below, tumbling, flat-end over flat-end, into the distance. Luckily, it was about 7:15 in the morning, and only one person was on the way to work. To our relief, the pedestrian, who was on the opposite side of the street, did not react to the sound of the glass shattering on the sidewalk. II. Play On school-day afternoons, my friends and I would play in front of our building, which was sandwiched on a steep hill between Broadway on the east and Kingsbridge Avenue on the west. The girls would jump rope (sometimes double-dutch) to the rhythm of sung doggerel, or play Potsy, a variation of Hopscotch, tossing house keys into numbered rectangles chalked onto the sidewalk. The boys devoted their free time either to curb ball or to hide-and-seek. Other kids donned roller skates, consisting of four metal wheels, metal tabs, extending outward from the base of the skate, fitted onto the soles of one’s leather shoes (sneakers would not work) and tightened in place with a key. Every now and again, while we were peacefully engrossed in play, kids from Godwin Terrace, sensing an opportunity, would gather into a mob and run full tilt toward us in an attempt to disrupt our fun. Godwin Terrace was perpendicular to our street and, invariably, we spotted the growing mob and would run into the lobby of our Kingsbridge Vignettes 21 building, locking the heavy iron and glass door behind us. There came a time when I was fed up and, as the mob galloped down Godwin Terrace towards number 225, I refused to flee, despite the entreaties of my friends cowering in the lobby. Just as my friends slammed the heavy metal door shut, the gang rolled over me, like an ocean storm wave, pummeling me with projectiles from peashooters and zip guns. I was hit in the face but stoically kept my ground, standing upright and facing my tormentors, too small to hit back effectively. III. Halloween Halloween was a particularly risky time to be on neighborhood streets. In 1952, when I was eight, I happened to have an early evening dentist appointment with Dr. Cacecci, whose office was on the northwest corner of Kingsbridge Avenue and 231st Street (in later years it became the community office for Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz). The route to the dentist, south along Kingsbridge Avenue, took me past a row of bushes, directly opposite Naples Terrace, that concealed an empty lot. In late October it was already dark at 5:00 PM at that latitude of The Bronx. The depth of the darkness was compounded since that area of the borough is in a valley formed by the Riverdale Ridge to the west and the Fordham Ridge overlooking Bailey Avenue, east of Broadway. I was alone on the avenue. As I approached the darkened lot, the bushes ominously rustling by the breeze, I was overcome by a sense of foreboding. With images of the headless horseman and Ichabod Crane haunting my thoughts, I increased my pace to get past the shadowy bushes. Forewarned too late by muffled giggling coming from behind the bushes, I was set upon by several boys armed with pastel chalk who proceeded to throw me to the ground. They held me down while they basted me from head to toe, front to back, with purple, green, red, blue, and yellow pastel chalk. Not an inch of 22 RICHARD L. BAUM my clothing, hair, hands, or face was spared. Satisfied with their handiwork, the boys let me up. Otherwise not worse for the experience, I scurried off to a worse fate at the dentist. IV. Neighbors In about 1951, during the Korean War, a Chinese family, consisting of two parents, a daughter, and a son, moved into the neighborhood, opening a laundry a short distance west of Broadway on the north side of 232nd Street, just as the street began to rise toward Kingsbridge Avenue. I became friendly with the family’s son. On his birthday, soon after the family had moved in, his parents decided to buy him a miniature gas station he had spied in a candy store on the northern side of 231st Street, just east of Kingsbridge Avenue. I was invited to come along with the entire family on their buying expedition. The parents wanted to take the short route to the store that would take them up (i.e., south) along Godwin Terrace and then down a flight of steps to West 231st Street, rather than walking south along the busier Broadway to 231st Street and then west to the candy store. I tried to dissuade them from the Godwin Terrace route, as I was well aware that the kids on Godwin Terrace did not take kindly to outsiders. However, due to the parents’ not taking a child’s concerns seriously, they confidently led our little group along the most logical path. As we passed along Godwin Terrace, I con- tinuously glanced left and right, on the lookout for trouble. The outbound trip turned out to be uneventful. However, the brutes that lived along our route had been alerted by the passage of our defenseless squad. While returning, our small party being distracted by the birthday toy gas station, the “Godwin Terrace Gang,” now organized, pounced. We were forced to flee towards the laundry with projectiles buzzing through the air. It was only upon entering the store that I saw my friend’s mother bleeding profusely from a cut in the fleshy part of her face just below her eye. She was lucky: a Kingsbridge Vignettes 23 little bit higher and she might have lost that eye. With the assault continuing, I ran from the store in an attempt to get help, but not being successful, I rejoined my friends to share their fate. A few days after the assault, I returned to their store to visit. The store was dark and deserted. Sadly, the Chinese family was gone. V. School Public School 7 is the successor to Grammar School 66. Located at the northwest corner of Church Street and Weber’s Lane, today’s Kingsbridge Avenue and 232nd Street, PS 7 opened for classes on November 11, 1895. This structure was made of what appears to be, to a non-geologist such as myself, reddish-brown sandstone. There was a medieval-looking tower dominating the main entrance. When I attended the school, beginning in 1949, the school had clearly been expanded. There was an enclosed, brick bridge con- necting a brick building to the old sandstone structure. The entire complex was raised above street level and accessed by twin staircases leading to two large schoolyards. The school grounds extended from Kingsbridge Avenue west to Corlear Avenue and north to 233rd Street. If one looked carefully, one could see that some doors leading into the school had the word “Girls” inscribed over it, and others were labeled “Boys.” The north yard was the boys’ yard where they lined up every school-day morning waiting for their teachers to lead them to their classrooms. The south yard, known as the girls’ yard, was where the girls lined up for classes. Only the youngest children were intermingled, boys with girls. On rainy or snowy days, we lined up in the indoor yard, the boys on one side and the girls on the other. The indoor space doubled as the hot-lunch room and always had a strong, almost nauseating, smell of oranges and tomato soup. Most children walked home for lunch, since families in which both 24 RICHARD L. BAUM parents worked were in the minority in the neighborhood. Those few children who could not go home were doomed to eat in that odiferous atmosphere. Sometime in the 1950s the influence of our Puritan past began to wane, and boys and girls were allowed to line up together in the south yard. The north yard was reserved for the upper grades. It was a great thrill when I was finally old enough to be in the north schoolyard. I was fascinated by the large, faded, white circle painted on the north yard’s pavement, with the names of countries printed along its radii. I was instantly attracted to the name Turkey, which I was certain was a bird! To my knowledge, neither teacher nor students ever used this circle, which lay there, mute, like an ancient artifact, its function lost to the ages. Above: View looking northwest to the corner of Kingsbridge Avenue and 230th Street, a couple blocks south of the author’s apartment, 1981. From the AF705–Kingsbridge Avenue–230th St. folder, Photograph Collection, The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Kingsbridge Vignettes 25 A fence of black, cast-iron bars stood guard around the perimeter of the school’s two concrete yards. The tip of each bar was shaped into a spike to discourage trespassers. After school and during summer, when the gates were closed, the local kids, myself included, undiscouraged by the quiet threat of the spikes, would confidently climb over the spiked fence to get into the schoolyard in order to play either basketball or stickball. The schoolyard was the site of the sole neighborhood basketball hoops. Stickball could not be played with pitching in the street because the ball would be too easily lost. In the schoolyard, we played stickball by pitching a pink Spalding —pronounced in the local vernacular as “spaldeen”—against a wall which was inscribed with a chalked rectangular strike zone as a backstop. During my earliest years at the school, I learned how to churn butter in Miss Minahan’s class, went on nature walks around the neigh- borhood, and listened, enthralled, to stories read by my teacher in the quiet of the cool, shady children’s library, then on Kingsbridge Avenue adjacent to St. John’s Church. Each school-day morning I would look forward to arriving at PS 7, a short walk from where I lived, because it was always warm there. After the mid-morning milk break, it was my task to collect and carry the students’ empty waxed cardboard half-pint milk cartons to the basement coal-burning furnace for incineration. The janitor always allowed me to sit on an upturned wooden milk crate placed in front of the furnace’s open door and luxuriate in the warmth of the heat radiating from the glowing orange-red stones of coal that were uniformly spread on the furnace bed. After a few short minutes I had to be on my way back to the classroom, otherwise I would be missed. By three in the afternoon, however, it was a great relief to be crossing Kingsbridge Avenue and heading eastward down the hill towards home. 26 RICHARD L. BAUM I walked to school with Stanley and Peter. These two boys lived in my building and were my best friends. Each school morning, as we reached Kingsbridge Avenue, a half block from where we lived, we had to wait for the school crossing guard to allow us to cross. The guard, an older boy, wore a broad white belt that wound its way around his waist and diagonally across his chest, and to which was attached an official, gleaming metal badge. The crossing guard was responsible for the safety of children crossing the intersection. One autumn school morning, the raw gusts of wind swirled brittle brown leaves around our feet as the three of us approached the Kingsbridge intersection. The traffic light changed from green to red. The guard dutifully put his arms out to prevent us from crossing. Peter, a sensitive boy, became upset at having his path blocked and began to cry and scream for his mother. He turned and ran hysterically down the long hill toward Broadway, which his mother was approaching after having just left us in front of our building. Peter’s mother, with Peter in tow, walked the two blocks uphill to where Stanley, the crossing-guard, and I were standing, stunned and frozen in place at this unfathomable display. His mo- ther, on reaching us, calmly asked me for an explanation and then, satisfied that nothing untoward had caused Peter’s upset, said goodbye and went on her way, leaving us to finish our trip. Peter later attended MIT and went on to obtain a PhD in Physics from Brown University. One of the most profound lessons I learned at PS 7 occurred on the first day of school, at the start of fifth grade, in the north school- yard. In a moment of idleness and indiscretion, while waiting on line with the other students to be escorted to our classroom by our new teacher, Miss Scanlon, I puffed up my cheeks! Miss Scanlon took umbrage at the pair of distended organs, distorting the otherwise perfectly straight line of children, and declared that if the culprit did not reveal himself, the entire class would be kept after school. Kingsbridge Vignettes 27 Mean-spiritedness, pettiness, group responsibility for the acts of individual members of the group, and the threat of peer revenge were the lessons of the day, distasteful lessons that I have not yet forgotten. In the sixth grade, I achieved a score on the Iowa Achievement Exam equivalent to that expected in the tenth grade in English and in the twelfth grade in Mathematics. My teacher, Mrs. Curley, surprised at this result (as was I), called me to her desk in the front of the room and charged me with cheating by copying from Richard C. This was patently absurd. Richard C. was illiterate. At dinner that night, I told my father what had happened in the childish expectation that he would be enraged and defend my honor to the death. However, without raising his head from Life Magazine, and between swallows of his evening fare, he calmly, and with then unappreciated wisdom, advised me to tell the teacher to give me the test again. Mrs. Curley declined his suggestion. At the end of the term the good teacher assuaged her guilt at making a false charge by presenting me with an award, signed by the principal, Carmela Nesi, for the student who improved the most during the school year. At home, I was about to tear up the award when my mother grabbed it from me and kept it for herself for decades. I found it among her papers after she passed away. In respect of her wishes, I have continued to preserve the award. 28 RICHARD L. BAUM ALLERTON IN THE 1940S AND 1950S BY ROBERT WEISS The time period about which I am writing encompasses the mid- forties to the mid-fifties. Much of which characterized that period, for the most part, has been swept away by time, never to return.1 I. Streets Allerton Avenue was bordered on either side by perpendicular side streets bearing such names as Mace, Barnes, and Holland. I never knew how these streets were named. To the east, Allerton crossed Boston Road, a very busy road, the crossing of which required pedestrians to take their life into their hands. Walking under the elevated train tracks, heading in a westerly direction, one would encounter Bronx Park, our neighborhood’s lush, flora- and fauna- filled boundary. The avenue and perpendicular side streets broke the neighborhood up into blocks. The actual size of the avenue covered an area of about 24 of these rectangular blocks. The whole thing could easily be walked in a relatively short time. Two blocks were divided in half by alleyways. Bordering either side of these dirt roads were the rear entrances of the block’s row houses, gardens, and garages. The alleys also permitted the Allerton Avenue inhabitants to take a mid-block shortcut by car or foot. For us kids, they were our country dirt roads. II. Hanging Around A well-known singing group performed a song entitled “Old Folks,” the lyrics of which paint a vivid picture of elderly people sitting on park benches, enshrouded in oversized overcoats with newspapers 1 This article is excerpted from selections of an unpublished manuscript by the author about his childhood growing up in the Allerton section of The Bronx. Readers interested in obtaining additional selections or the manuscript itself should write to the author at BRRS137@AOL.COM. Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 29 blowing around tips of high black shoes. These lyrics captured what I would see in my neighborhood on almost any winter’s day. Wooden boxes, however, were more the seat of choice, primarily because of their portability and easy access. These boxes could be strategically positioned in front of neighborhood stores or a sunny avenue spot. The tops of these crude seats were usually covered with newspapers, providing some degree of cleanliness and protection from splinters, the titles of which included: The Daily News, The New York Post, The World Telegram and Sun, The Freiheit, The Daily Worker, The Forverts (The Jewish Forward), The Herald Tribune, The Daily Mirror, or The New York Times. In addition to newspapers, other convenient forms of printed material were drafted into service. Above: Allerton Avenue, looking west from Barnes Avenue, 1993, showing various more recent shops. Although the kosher delis and appetizing stores have disappeared, along with much of the Jewish community in the neighborhood, Allerton Avenue is still lined with stores and restaurants to this day. From the AF19–Allerton Avenue–Barnes Avenue folder, Photograph Collection, The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. 30 ROBERT WEISS These crude seat boxes usually weren’t schlepped home. Rather, they were left behind to provide another elderly person with a place to perch. III. Kosher Deli Then there was the Kosher delicatessen or deli, as it was commonly called. Such delicacies as pastrami, hot dogs, corned beef, mustard, and sauerkraut were available to be ordered by a waiter and eaten off a square table. The waiter would walk up to the table. Usually he was a gray-haired, balding, old guy. He wore a white apron with stains. The waiter was boss. He would look down at you and command, in his heavy accent, “So vot do you vant?” As he reached across the table, distributing metal eating implements, his sleeve would ride up, sometimes exposing numbers across his wrist. At that time, I never knew where he got the number tattoo. Regular hot dogs might be wrapped in two types of casings. One was real cow’s intestine and the other casings were made in a plastics factory. “Specials” were super-duper fat hot dogs. Both hot dogs and “specials” were attached to their own kind by either string or twisted extensions of the casing. This enabled the franks to be hung along with the Kosher salami on the rear wall behind the counter man. Should you decide “take out,” the accompanying deli mustard was stored in a stiff cone-shaped piece of shiny, stiff paper. To release the spicy yellow-brown mustard, the rolled-up tube was squeezed while the tube tip rested on whatever was to be covered. Sour pickles were found on all the tables, which caused the whole joint to wreak of garlic. Kosher salami seemed to contain about thirty percent meat, seventy percent fat. After eating a salami sandwich on rye with mustard, it might be stored in the body for an untold period of time. You were reminded of this by the repeated belching and acidic regurgitation during repetitive garlicky heart-burn episodes. Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 31 A favorite side dish was something called kishke, the more sophis- ticated Jewish name for stuffed derma. Kishke was made by stuffing cow’s intestines with some kind of yellowish, grainy, fatty, garlicky- type of substance. It was served as fried slices. The casing was eaten along with the stuffing. Again, a health department genius came up with the idea that eating cow intestines was not good for you. Consequently, most kishke factories, like the hot dog factories, replaced the animal intestine with a casing made of plastic. Before consuming the kishke, the plastic had to be peeled off and placed on the side. I am sure that at some time, in some deli somewhere, this plastic caused choking or inadvertently was used as dental floss. In addition to laws preventing the shaking of dust mops and the burning of leaves, and doing away with intestine casings, a law should have been passed stipulating a label to accompany plastic- wrapped delicacies. The label would have read: “Warning! Remove the plastic ring before eating the kishke or hot dogs or you run the risk of dying.” Before the lights went out, there would be an old man in a dirty apron standing over the gasping patron making a loud official announcement: “Pay up front.” As previously mentioned, people never gave much thought about eating healthy. If you wanted to see an unhealthy, happy person, go to a Kosher deli and look at the regulars. They often tipped the scale at about 300 pounds. “Spit Puss” owned the only Jewish appetizing store on the avenue. The Legend of Spit Puss originated with the recognition of the accumulation of foamy spit at the corners of his mouth. He never seemed to object to the name. It was almost a form of homey mar- keting. Spit Puss’s appetizing store was about the size of a large walk-in closet. The outside of the store had windows opaque with filth. If the name of the appetizing store wasn’t written on the front, one would think that an illegal card game was going on the other side of the front wall. 32 ROBERT WEISS Looking through the front during a hot summer day, I could see old people, the women with their house dresses and the men clutching their wife’s shopping list. The women all had raised fists grasping shopping lists, eagerly trying to push in front of the other 99 patrons. The floor creaked under the load. The place was always wall-to-wall people as the merchandise hung or fell off the rickety shelves. The shelved packages consisted of canned foods, cellophane bags, and bottled liquids. When you walked through the entrance of the store, immediately to your left was something like a counter with glass display cases. Only a limited area of about five feet was used for business transactions. Inside the display cases were such exotic delicacies as smoked sturgeon, smoked carp, lox, pickled her- ring in sour cream and onions, pickled herring without sour cream, just onions, jars of salmon caviar, smoked white fish, and sable. There was no doubt that the display case contained the body or body parts of dead animals. Some of the smoked fish still had their heads, sunken eyes, gills, mouths including teeth and fins. The guts were removed prior to the smoking process, as viewed through an abdominal slit. Also, occupying space behind the counter sat bulk cream cheese, something called pot cheese, butter, and farmer cheese. Except for the caviar, all others were out of package lying in pans or on clean white pieces of packaging paper. I remember the store, stinking of a pungent fishy, pickley, garlicy odor. No other store on the avenue could claim that distinct stink. The Jewish deli odor was far different from the scent of stinky feet imported from Italy. Spit Puss would yell over the counter, “Vot you vant?” Behind the counter display cases, Spit Puss marched back and forth with his belly polishing the steel molding of the counter as he fulfilled the orders shot at him from the opposite side. The orders were to Spit Puss like a starting gun to a runner. He would run from one section of the counter to the other with a “clop! clop!” sound emanating from the soles of his feet as they struck the wooden floor boards behind the counter. The sharp eyes of Spit Puss’s customers could Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 33 clearly see what they were ordering. In heavy accents, you could hear, “Dalink, you should slice me quarter pound lox, a nice piece of carp, not the end, the middle, and I vant a small vite fish.” “Dalink, the lox you should give me: Belly, not Novi. It’s too expensive.” “Don’t give me any bleck pieces and the vite fish, not dat vun, da fet vun.” The orders were put on the scale and a price was determined. The items were then wrapped in yellowish white wrapping paper and secured with cellophane tape. They were handed across the counter or placed on top of the display case. “So how moch I owe you?” the customer would yell out. A tally was made by using a pencil, pulled from Spit Puss’s ear. The numbers were scribbled and summed up on the brown paper bag, into which the filled order was to be placed. A monetary exchange, and “Next!” Spit Puss yelled out. Sometimes, this started an all-out war. Mostly, the women would start bellowing phrases such as, “Vot are you doink, it is my toin.” “No it’s not your toin.” “I’m next!” a voice somewhere in the crowd would spring forth from the crowd. “I was here foist,” someone else would yell. A brief skirmish might ensue. In the name of fairness and to break up the log-jam, a small jury would form, providing patrons the opportunity to invest their two cents. “I tink she vus here foist,” an arbitrator would announce. The offended customer would respond with a, “I neva hoid soch a thing!” “Next!” Spit Puss would once again yell out to his audience. He was protected by this no man’s land of counter space and display cases. Spit Puss never got involved in the store wars. Everyone knew where Spit Puss’s appetizing store was located. The whole front of the store and somewhat extending outside was a stink that no other avenue store possessed. On the sidewalk, in front of the store, were these four-foot-high, brown, grungy-looking wooden barrels. One barrel contained very sour pickles, another barrel contained not-so-sour pickles, and the third barrel contained a 34 ROBERT WEISS powerfully strong, fishy-smelling stuff. Floating in this barrel were what appeared to be rotten fish in an equally putrid looking liquid. This was the schmaltz herring barrel. The last barrel contained madjes herring. The contents of this barrel contained what looked like reddish-colored schmaltz herrings. It had the “fency” name: “Herring in wine sauce.” Eventually, the health department deemed that the outside uncovered barrels were a health hazard. It did make some sense. The fact that they were open to the public made the barrels a target for all kinds of foreign stuff. Should anything be thrown or dropped in, like bird shit, no one would have been the wiser. Spit Puss was now required, by law, to store all barreled products inside closed plastic containers inside the store. The familiar and odd aroma that diffused from the appetizing store and into the neighborhood declined significantly. This was a small price to pay for the fact that the people of our neighborhood, both consumers and just plain “sniffers,” were, once again, saved from some horrific disease. Allerton Avenue was getting safer and safer as a result of these various health regulations. Everything in the Jewish appetizing store took on its unique garlicky odor, including the people who worked there. A good friend, Dave Leher, may he rest in peace, worked all day in an appetizing store. After work, he would drop by our clubroom, of which he was a member. This was usually a pre-shower visit. He wore the same stained apron from work into our subterranean clubroom. The air was unusually close, in that the basement room had no windows. Needless to say, when Dave paid us a visit, he brought with him every possible garlicky, fishy stink that pervaded his workplace. Upon his entrance, the appetizing molecules would release themselves from Dave and diffuse into the surrounding clubroom atmosphere. This would create a great uproar punctuated by a barrage of curses such as, “Dave, get the f—k out of here.” Dave Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 35 would stand his ground with a self-satisfied toothy grin on his face. We couldn’t decide whether to kick him above ground, rip his clothes off, or put him on a bagel with cream cheese and eat him. IV. Our Bronx Park Oasis We lived close to a New York oasis rivaled only by the forests, fields, streams, and lakes of Central Park in Manhattan. What Central Park was to Manhattan, Bronx Park was, and still is, to The Bronx. All we had to do was walk six blocks west from my apartment house to the Bronx Park perimeter. The park stretches approximately two-thirds the length of The Bronx. The northern part sits close to the borders of suburban Westchester. Southern Bronx Park dipped into what might presently be described as the more congested and industrial area of The Bronx. Most of the buildings consisted of old, pre-war apartment houses interspersed with private homes. Going back in time, the inhabitants were made up of Black, Puerto Rican, Jewish, Italian, and Irish immigrants. Many were poor, lower-middle-, and working-class people. It could be said that Bronx Park was an emerald-green oasis that was divided into three main sections. The northernmost part is Bronx Park proper. Traveling southward, the park included the Botanical Garden, which merged with the Bronx Zoo. The Bronx Zoo had fences that defined its borders. Bronx Park proper and the Botanical Garden had no such barriers of demarcation. Each melded into the other. I could ride my bike and enter without paying a penny through Bronx Park proper and continue “freely” into the Botanical Gardens and finally into the Bronx Zoo. Within park sections, one could find small lakes, large rock outcroppings, caves, streams, a river, swamps, fields, waterfalls, forests, ball fields, playgrounds, bicycle paths, hiking paths and handball courts. Bicycle paths en- abled us to gain access to everywhere. 36 ROBERT WEISS The lakes and the surrounding parkland contained various forms of animal life. Varieties of fish included perch, eels, bass, sunfish, carp, and minnows. Amphibians included frogs and salamanders. Reptiles included varieties of snakes and turtles. Many of these beasts were caught and kept as pets. We frequently saw mammals rushing the leaves such as water rats, musk rats, plain-old rat rats, mice, moles, rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks, and finally birds, the listing of which would be too numerous. V. The Grand Finale As time moved on, values and behaviors changed frequently. These changes occurred subconsciously. It was after Buzz’s and my high school graduation, when he turned to me and said, “We are getting to be too old to do some of the things we use to do.” After all the sloppy kisses and well wishes finished, we ran home, pulled off our suit, tie, and fancy shirt and replaced them with old jeans, sneakers, and tee shirts. RoRo, the family dog, was leashed, and off to the park we went. We ended up at the bank of the Bronx River. Sitting on the shore, we spotted a muddy and rusted cement bin, the kind construction workers mix cement in. After a moment of planning, we slipped it into the river and each of us, including RoRo, gingerly climbed in. With a stick, we pushed off from shore. Slowly we drif- ted downstream, for the first time seeing the park from a different vantage point. Here we were, the three of us together, “Rub a dub, dub, three schmucks in a tub.” Suddenly, for some reason, only the golfball-sized brain of the dog understood. RoRo decided to ab- andon ship. In his enthusiasm to leap, he flipped the cement bin. While on board, a careful balance was maintained. Once the dog left, there was no more careful balance. Buzz and I became a part of the floating wood, leaves, and other debris in the river. It was easy enough to get to shore. The river was never very wide. Climbing onto shore was another matter. The bank was slippery with muddy, grey silt. By the time we reached a solid grassy area, we were soaked, Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s 37 but even worse, we were covered from head to toe with caked mud. Outfitted in our muddy attire, we walked right down the center of Allerton Avenue. It was a spectacle that captured a lot of attention: muddy me, Buzzy, and RoRo. Here we were, high school graduates, looking more like smelly rock people that appeared in an old Flash Gordon movie. It would be impossible for me to describe the expression on Lena and Mom’s face when they confronted the three of us in the street. Lena laughed. Mom, with a serious, straight face asked, “When are you kids going to grow up? You’re too old to be doing this nonsense. Look how filthy you are, and you stink!” 38 ROBERT WEISS A TRIBUTE TO BOB GUMBS AND HARRIET MCFEETERS BY MARK NAISON I. Bob Gumbs (1939–2022) Bob Gumbs was a brilliant graphic designer and publisher who played a pioneering role in the Black Arts movement in the 1950s and early 1960s, and then 40 years later, played a central role in the creation of The Bronx African American History Project. Brought up on Lymon Place, a small street in the Morrisania section of The Bronx that played an important part in American jazz history because jazz pianists Elmo and Bertha Hope resided there and Thelonious Monk visited regularly, Bob was part of a small group of young Bronxites who sponsored jazz concerts in the borough in the middle of the 1950s to call attention to jazz as an art form of African origin. Even in later years when he moved to Harlem and became a graphic designer whose work highlighted Black history and culture, The Bronx held a special place in his heart, and when he read an article about a Fordham professor who started an oral history project with Black residents of the Patterson Houses, he contacted that professor to urge him to include Morrisania, which he called “The Harlem of The Bronx.” This began a 20-year collaboration that turned The Bronx African American History Project into one of the premier community-based oral history projects in the nation. Bob helped organize over a hun- dred oral history interviews, participated in scores of community tours, was responsible for landmarking several streets and parks in the Morrisania neighborhood, and collaborated on Before The Fires: An Oral History of African American Life in the Bronx from the 1930s to the 1960s (Fordham University Press, 2016), which transformed the dominant narrative of Bronx history to include Black experiences and perspectives. Bob also appeared on numerous radio and tele- A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters 39 vision shows highlighting Black contributions to Bronx history, and helped create an exhibit at The Bronx County Historical Society with that as its theme! Finally, at a time when the world honors The Bronx’s role in the creation of hip hop, Bob made sure, through his joyous but relentless activism, that the world also recognized The Bronx’s contribution to jazz from the mid ’40s through the late ’60s, not only as a place where the most important jazz artists of that era performed regularly but also where many of them lived. Bob Gumbs was one of those rare individuals who changed the way people defined themselves and interpreted their own histories. As a creative artist and community historian, he helped people see The Bronx as a site of unparalleled cultural creativity and a true melting pot for peoples of the African Diaspora. The Bronx African American History Project would not have had a fraction of its influence and historic reach without Bob Gumbs’s guidance. He will be sorely missed by family, friends, and all his collaborators in the Black Arts movement and The Bronx African American History Project. II. Harriet McFeeters (1926–2022) Harriet McFeeters was one of The Bronx’s greatest educators and a driving force behind the creation of The Bronx African American History Project. A graduate of Hunter College who lived her entire adult life in her family’s brownstone on 168th Street between Union and Prospect Avenues in the Morrisania section, Harriet was a fixture in Bronx schools for almost 50 years, serving as a teacher, principal, staff developer, and assistant district superintendent. 40 MARK NAISON Harriet, who was as passionate about learning as she was about teaching and who was deeply committed to the children of The Bronx, left an indelible mark on everyone who encountered her. More than 300 people, most of them fellow educators, came to her 90th birthday celebration several years ago and spoke of her with reverence and affectionate humor, as Harriet was a person who commanded every room she was in. But though Harriet radiated intellect and power, she also was a kind, generous person who created a sense of community among those she worked with, and her friends represented every cultural group in The Bronx. My own connection with Harriet came in the spring of 2003 when we started The Bronx African American History Project. I was put in touch with Harriet by her brother, Jim Pruitt, former director of the Upward Bound Program, who told me that Harriet, who had recently retired, was passionately interested in Bronx African American history and would have a lot to contribute to our research. That proved to be a considerable understatement. Once she dis- covered what we were trying to do, Harriet literally took command of The Bronx African American History Project’s research on Morrisania, helping us recruit interview subjects, identifying important community institutions, and holding events at her home on 168th Street, where she took a particular interest in the brilliant young research assistants I hired, to whom Harriet became a surrogate grandmother. Along with Bob Gumbs, another brilliant product of the Black Morrisania community, Harriet helped recover the lost history of a Black community in The Bronx, which produced several generations of professionals in a wide number of fields and created as many varieties of popular music as any neighborhood in the United States. It was Harriet who introduced us to Valerie Capers, the great jazz pianist, educator, and composer, whose concerts and performances became a fixture for The Bronx African American History Project’s A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters 41 staff, and who alerted us to the significance of St. Augustine Presbyterian Church and its brilliant minister Rev. Edler Hawkins, who mentored so many of the great leaders who came out of Morrisania. Until her health began to falter a few years ago, Harriet was a fixture at The Bronx African American History Project’s conferences, concerts, and interviews at Fordham, where she was as commanding a presence as she was in Bronx public schools. She also made a huge contribution to the Project via our fundraising, both through her individual donations and by encouraging others to contribute. As I write this tribute, with tears in my eyes, I will close with this final comment. Although Harriet’s degrees were in education, not history, and although she spent her life working in public schools, Harriet was as much a historian as any professor working at our most distinguished universities. When I first learned that Morrisania was the community where The Bronx African American History Project should concentrate its research, it was Harriet who told us how the community evolved, who its most important leaders were, which schools and churches we should focus on, and who we should interview. Of the more than 100 interviews we did with Morrisania residents past and present, more than half came through Harriet. Without her guidance, the Project would not have had the fraction of the influence it ultimately attained. We can learn so much from the example Harriet McFeeters set. Harriet was passionately devoted to learning about and teaching Black history. She fought hard to have it included in public school curricula and made it an integral part of her pedagogy. But she did so in a way that drew everyone around her in, insisting that Black history was everyone’s history, that learning it would uplift all who possessed that knowledge and would help people from all back- grounds better understand their American journey. That is one of the reasons why so many teachers who were Jewish, Italian, Irish, 42 MARK NAISON and Puerto Rican joined their Black fellow educators in paying tribute to Harriet at her 90th birthday celebration. Harriet spread knowledge but she also spread love. She embodied the highest values of The Bronx and its people. She may have passed on, but her spirit lives in the tens of thousands of people she touched as an educator and in the publications and digital archive of The Bronx African American History Project, where Harriet McFeeters’s vision of community history has been brought to life. Above: Members of The Bronx African American History Project at Harriet McFeeters’s family home on East 168th Street in Morrisania, December 2003. Pictured in front row, left to right, are Michelle Tollinici, Harriet Pruit- McFeeters, Joyce Tolliver, and Kevin Ross. Pictured in back row, left to right, are Bess Pruitt, Mark Naison, Claude Mangum, Bob Gumbs, Patricia Wright, and Candace Lee. Courtesy of the author. A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters 43 ABOUT THE AUTHORS STEVEN PAYNE is Director of The Bronx County Historical Society and social historian whose interests in Bronx history span commu- nity activism; underground music and art cultures; organized labor; race, class, and gender; housing struggles, and more. He records oral histories for The Bronx African American History Project, The Bronx Latino History Project, and The Bronx Aerosol Arts Docu- mentary Project. RICHARD BAUM grew up in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx during the 1950s and 1960s and writes about his experiences growing up in the neighborhood. ROBERT WEISS, who came of age in the Allerton neighborhood of The Bronx during the 1940s and 1950s, has authored an unpublished manuscript about his childhood in Allerton, selections of which are printed here. MARK NAISON, Professor of African American Studies and History at Fordham University, is the c0-founder of The Bronx African American History Project, one of the largest community-based oral history projects in the nation. Dr. Naison has authored seven books and over 300 articles on African American politics, labor history, popular culture, and education policy. FROM THE ARCHIVES A HISTORY OF AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ IN THE BRONX FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ Editor’s Note: The below piece comes from an untitled, unpublished, and unatributed manuscript included in the David M. Carp papers on Latin Jazz in The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. Slight edits have been made for style and clarity throughout and are indicated by text in [brackets].1 I. Introduction New York City is among the most ethnically diverse places in the entire world. Since it was founded, New York has served as the chief center for immigration in the country, and its population continues to grow and diversify. Without a doubt, the largest percentage of immigrants in New York speaks Spanish. In the borough of The Bronx, Latinos make up half of the population, far more than any other demographic. Latino immigrants have always blessed New York City with their culture and traditions, music and art. The story of Afro-Cuban jazz in Manhattan and The Bronx illustrates the marriage of traditional Latino customs and the native music of New York City. During the early years of the twentieth century, music in Cuba was a 1 A note at the bottom of the manuscript reads: “All information used for this ar- ticle came from interviews from the David Carp Collection, courtesy Bronx County Historical Society. The following interviews were conducted by David Carp unless otherwise noted: Mario Bauzá, 2/8/89; Mario Bauzá, 4/18/91; Willie Colón (undated); José Curbelo, 10/3/93; Graciela Pérez (interviewed by Max Salazar), 5/10/85; Joe Orange, 2/6/99; José Mangual, Jr., 11/8/98; Eddie Palmieri, 8/13/98; Frank Rivera, 6/8/97; Mark Weinstein 11/24/96.” A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 45 way of life. Parents would teach their children the basics of Cuban music as a birthright. The people of Cuba would take up every street corner, playing congas, timbales, and bongos. Children would buy sheep skins from local markets and stretch them over drums made by hand. Cuba was music. By embracing their African roots, Cubans would distinguish their music from the rest of Latin America by making the terms “Cuban roots music” and “Afro-Cuban music” synonymous. Musicians from the most prestigious conservatories as well as working men and wo- men who relaxed on the street with a conga or djembe—all began to embrace the sounds of Cuban son and danzon. By the 1920s and ’30s, American musical influence would begin to find its way to Cuba. Radio stations from Miami and New Orleans would start to become popular on the island. Music fans would tune into American jazz stations on short-wave radio to try and absorb the latest musical trends. Musicians and music fans would begin to collect records from the United States and remind anyone who ven- tured north to bring the latest jazz albums back to Cuba. Shortly after, the finest musicians from the most prestigious conservatories and orchestras would slowly [immigrate] to America’s birthplace and home for jazz, New York City. Jazz would never be the same. Cubans, or Afro-Cubans, made a huge impact on American jazz. Jazz had a huge effect on Afro-Cuban musical traditions as well. Before long, a new type of music would emerge and take New York City by storm—Latin jazz. Not exclusively drawing from Cuban musical traditions, Latin jazz would incorporate traditions from all over Latin America and would inspire [traditional] jazz bands to expand their repertoires and include more global sounds. Eventually, the scene was huge. Ballrooms and dance halls like the Palladium and [the] Savoy in Manhattan and the Hunts Point Palace and Tritons Club in The Bronx would serve as key centers for jazz acts from 46 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ Charlie Parker to Tito Puente. Latinos in The Bronx would be af- fected forever. Following the closing of the Palladium, the major Latin jazz scene would pick up in The Bronx. Kids on the streets would embrace Latin jazz and appreciate the African roots behind it. Bands and orchestras would spring up all over The Bronx, and the borough would soon produce some of the most prominent names of Latin jazz in all of New York City. From a couple of key figures moving from Cuba to New York in the ’30s, through the Palladium era, to Latinos setting up crude drum sets and playing along with the radio, Latin jazz remains a vital part of life for many Latin American immigrants today as well as New Yorkers and music fans. II. Afro‐Cuban Jazz Begins in Cuba: Mario Bauzá, José Curbelo, Graciela Pérez The story of Afro-Cuban jazz in New York begins in Havana. Music was everywhere in the ghettos and crowded streets of Cuba’s capital. Street vendors would line the markets with animal skins for drums, musicians would play on the street, and families would sit on their porch and jam with bongos, congas, and hand drums. Classical forms of Cuban music mixed European instruments with African drums, embracing traditions from both the African slaves and rich Europeans who inhabited the colony of Cuba since it was founded. As years developed, more variations, new instrumentation, and a finer-tuned orchestration would build on the rich foundation of Afro-Cuban traditions. Pioneers like Arsenio Rodríguez would add new elements to traditional Cuban son, like African percussion and A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 47 syncopation. Eventually, Afro-Cuban music became the music of the people and Cubans were introduced to this tradition at an early age. This is the setting in which Mario Bauzá was raised. Bauzá, who would later become the most important figure in the fusion of Afro-Cuban and American jazz, started in Havana as a child. I tell you how everything happen. I was about five years old. My godfather used to teach the kids in my neighborhood in Cuba solfeggio. And I used to hear the kid try to sing those lesson, good intonation. And they have so much problem. So, one day I said to my godfather, “How come those kids have so much trouble with that lesson.” He say, “How do you know?” I said, “Well I think I know all those lessons.” He said, “You know lessons now?” I said, “Yeah, I think I know.” . . . He said, “I don’t want you to be an ear musician, so I’m gonna get a teacher for you.” So, he got me a teacher, I was in solfeggio for two years. And then I went to the Conservatory and . . . the first instrument they give me was the oboe. I didn’t like it. I heard the man play the clarinet, and I fell in love with the sound he produced. I said, “I would like to play that instrument.” And that’s how I become . . . a clarinet player. With Bauzá learning more and more music, his special ability became more apparent. Bauzá would excel at the Havana Conservatory and began to gain esteem from his colleagues. Soon, his teachers and fellow musicians helped him cultivate his talent. When I was a graduate, the Havana Philharmonic, they need a bass clarinet. And they approach me, I say, “Well, I’m willing to play, but somebody have to buy the instrument.” So, they sent to France for a bass clarinet. So, they brought it, they give it to me and say, “You practice, when you think you ready, let us know.” So, I 48 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ took my bass clarinet home, I start fooling around, it was the same thing, embouchure a little different and sound was kind of peculiar. When I thought I was ready, I came to one of the rehearsals . . . that’s how I (became) a bass clarinet and a clarinet player. Mario Bauzá was not the only person at this time to truly embrace his musical talents. A few years down the line a woman singer would join Bauzá’s Machito Orchestra in New York. Graciela Pérez would sing along with her brother Machito over the unique Afro-Cuban jazz sound Bauzá perfected. Graciela Pérez also began her music ca- reer at a young age in Cuba. Her father, an avid musician, would constantly have musicians to his house, and one day Graciela stayed up past her bedtime to enjoy one of them. I was born in Cuba. In Havana, el barrio Jesús María. . . . There were six of us. When I was four years old . . . there was a lot of music and (my father) bring some cantadores en la casa like (vocalist) María Teresa Vera . . . and the other kids in my house are still in bed . . . and then María Teresa Vera sees my finger doing the clave and María Teresa Vera said to my father, “You see, Graciela is going to be a singer.” Pérez’s father was reluctant, at first, to allow Graciela to sing. However, he would continue to inspire his daughter by having more and more musical guests come in and out of the Pérez home. Graciela remembers Septeto Nacional, in particular. Septeto Nacional . . . was to play because my father, the only party (that) was at my house was my mother’s birthday, and at my house was Septeto Nacional. . . . They was in my house, in my neighborhood nobody came then, you know, in that time. In my house was Nacional. As they grew up, Pérez and her brother Machito began to nurture A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 49 her gift little by little, until she had completely been absorbed by the music. Pérez would sing everywhere she went and join several groups thanks [to] Machito’s familiarity with the local music scene. Still, her father didn’t want her to sing professionally, and Graciela would have to sneak out at nights. One night while working as a delivery man, Pérez’s father recognized the voice coming from a club across the street from where he was working. He was staying over there, and he sees me singing and everybody applauds me. “Ohh, Graciela!” And then (at the house) he don’t say nothing to my mother, to nobody. Then he was waiting when I go hiding, when I go to working and (he said), “I know Chela, she’s singing in Alai de Libre in El Prado because I heard her last night. It’s alright, she sings beautiful.” Graciela Pérez had her father’s blessing and began to truly excel as a singer free from any restrictions. She would travel to South America with Al Anacaona and eventually move to Harlem in the 1930s, where she would meet up with Bauzá and Machito to start the Afro- Cuban Orchestra. A third key figure in the fusion of Afro-Cuban and American jazz is José Curbelo. Curbelo, who would manage and book Afro-Cuban jazz bands, was among the top performers in New York City during the Palladium Era. Curbelo’s uniquely vibrant sounds would place him in the highest echelon of Latin jazz performers along with Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez. Curbelo, the son of a musician, started as a classically trained pianist and musician in Cuba. I (was) born in Havana, Cuba (on) February 18, 1917. Pedro Menéndez was my teacher, piano teacher in Cuba. He used to be the piano player in my father’s orchestra, at one time. So, he was my private teacher in piano. . . . I went to the school of music in Cuba, to the Academy of 50 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ Music to study. And I had different teachers like in voice and harmony and whatever, you know, different types of technique, et cetera. . . . My father was a fine violinist, he played for the Philharmonic Orchestra in Cuba, first violin. And . . . he was a bandleader, he had his own or- chestra where he played all the famous nightclub and supper club and casino in Cuba. . . . I’m talking (about) the late ’20s and the early ’30s. And then he play the most typical Cuban music, with the charanga music that used to be played, what they call in Cuba the “Academias.” . . . The real Cuban music at that time was charanga bands. It’s not with saxophones and trump- ets. . . . Cuban music is the charanga sound—violins and flute and rhythm. That is what the real nitty-gritty of the Cuban music is. . . . And it’s really Afro-Cuban music. Because the Negro slaves that came to Cuba from Africa, they brought the rhythm. And in Cuba they put the voicings out, the melody and harmony. . . . But that was, still is, the real Cuban music should be called not salsa [but] Afro-Cuban music. Curbelo would develop into a finely trained musical genius. He began to master the curriculum of the Academy of Music and decided to enter Cuba’s prestigious Molinas Conservatory. Like his contemporary Mario Bauzá, Curbelo became fascinated with new forms of music, in particular American jazz. His understanding and love for music fueled his passion for exploration, and American jazz was exciting and fresh. Curbelo and Bauzá both became obsessed with jazz. In the ’20s I was a very young kid. But I always was a fan, and my favorite music always has been jazz. . . . I find that jazz is the most interesting music that is, as far as popular music is concerned, I love it . . . in Cuba I used to have records from Chick Webb where Mario Bauzá, A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 51 when he came to United States, he was the first trumpet. Bauzá remembers listening to his favorite American jazz musicians on the radio in Cuba. Duke Ellington used to (broadcast) almost every night from the Cotton Club. And I used to catch that in Havana through short-wave radio. And that music was so fascinating, was so different. All different jazz— completely different. And I always said, “That’s African- American music, that’s Africa.” The sound of the music, the way he uses harmony, he give you that color. And I was dying to get into New York. Bauzá would get a taste of the New York jazz scene shortly after, by happenstance. He got his break after going into his favorite music store in Havana and meeting bandleader Antonio Romeu. I used to go practically almost every day. I go to the music store to see what new records came and what piece come. So, when I got there, the head man said, “Mario, I want to try this clarinet that just came out from France, a Buffet Crampon, I want you (to) try.” So, I was prac- ticing clarinet over there, you know, testing the clarinet, and Romeu was there. . . . He said, “You don’t mind play this one with me?” I said, “No.” He said, “But do you know how to transpose from clarinet to—?” I said, “Oh, yeah.” So, I played the danzon with him and he was (amazed). . . . About two weeks later he found my tele- phone number and called my father. He said, “I would like to take Mario to New York to record with me, my orchestra.” Bauzá went to record with Romeu and his orchestra in New York and was blown away by the live jazz musicianship he encountered. Upon seeing saxophonist Frankie Tumbaur, Bauzá’s attention shifted to a new instrument. He fell in love with the saxophone and 52 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ would take it up immediately upon returning to Cuba. The sax- ophone would provide an outlet for Bauzá to grow musically, and it provided more opportunities to gain exposure in the Havana music scene. Though it was hard for a dark-skinned musician to find work, Bauzá still managed to make a name for himself. He recalls the racial inequities in Havana at the time. When they heard me play . . . that’s when I got the op- portunity to get a first-class job in Havana. Up to then, no, because the average musician on the big-time job ov- er there was white. . . . That country is no different than Mississippi was . . . not much different. We had that prob- lem, still have that problem, and gonna have that prob- lem. . . . So, we are still fighting those problems . . . the only discrimination there in those days when I was a young kid, like you go in the interior of Havana and the colored people walk on . . . one side of the park. Don’t allowed to go on the other side with the white people. That’s the way, you know. You go in the barber shop, you had to go to the Black barber shop. But the trouble with my country is so much mixture. Because after all, how the Cuban race was produced? By Spaniard and African womans. After finally gaining acceptance in the Havana music scene, both Curbelo and Bauzá would look to the future. Each of them saw himself as a jazz musician waiting to break out and creatively explore his musicianship. Both Curbelo and Bauzá decided the only way to truly embrace their passion for music was by going to [the] hottest music spot in the world, the home of jazz, New York City. Everybody talk about Mario, Mario, Mario, clarinet player and saxophone player. So, I said, “Well the next stop gotta be the United States,” come to the Mecca of jazz . . . nothing else I can learn in Cuba. A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 53 III. Cuba Comes to New York: The Palladium Era Once in the United States, Mario Bauzá’s first order of business was to learn yet another instrument. It was rough because when I got here it was in the heart of the Depression. And I’m lucky that I was, I met Benny Carter and he gave me advice . . . (and) there was another fella that came here on the boat with me with the Don Azpiazu Orchestra by the name of Antonio Machin. . . . So, I used to go into his house every day, to listen to rehearsals, (one day) I say, “I have no problem to play the music the way you want to. . . . I don’t play trumpet, but I think if you buy me a trumpet, I think I can do the job.” So, we went to the pawnshop and bought a cheap trumpet for fifteen bucks or something like that. So, I took it home and I start, I knew the positions and all I had to do was to get some em- bouchure, and that was that. Said, “Mario, I only got . . . fifteen days to recording.” I said, “Well, you ain’t got nobody. If you give me the opportunity, I think I can do it, otherwise I wouldn’t even talk about it.” So, I start practicing, practicing, practicing, practicing. So finally, we go into the recording. . . . Then I fell in love with the trumpet. And then I figured I had a better chance with the trumpet than I did with the saxophone to join one of those jazz bands. Bauzá quickly became known around jazz circles, and his rise to prominence was fast. First, Bauzá joined the Chick Webb Band, where under the wing of bandleader Chick Webb he would gain a vast knowledge of jazz. Webb opened up doors for Bauzá and introduced him to some of the biggest names in the New York jazz scene. Bauzá played with countless musicians from Webb to Cab Calloway to Ella Fitzgerald. All over New York from the Apollo to 54 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ the Savoy Ballroom, Bauzá spread his love for jazz as he collaborated with a myriad of jazz legends. In addition to the various collaborations that were taking place, another tradition of the era was the Battle of the Bands. Two bands would play the same hall or ballroom and try to show one another up. This is when Afro-Cuban rhythms really stood out, earning Afro-Cubans a reputation for their showmanship. Mario Bauzá re- members battling Benny Goodman in the late 1930s with the Chick Webb Band. The Savoy Ballroom was pack(ed) around five o’clock in the afternoon, they had to close the door. . . . Benny Goodman playe(ed) the first set . . . they close with “Big John Special.” So, Chick say, “What’choo gonna play?” I say, “How about the same number, gonna play ‘Big John Special’ . . . and close with ‘Harlem Conga?’” . . . The battle of music was through in the first set. The band was too powerful for Benny. Benny’s band was too light for that, that and especially with that crowd. When that band hit, it was something else. This period of the 1930s was essential to the birth of Latin jazz music. Pioneers like Bauzá were becoming big names and starting to influence the music scene. By adding elements from their [strong] background in Cuban music, people like Bauzá, Curbelo, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez would usher in a new form of music —Afro-Cuban jazz. In 1940, Bauzá hooked up with his brother-in- law, Machito, and together they created Machito’s Afro-Cuban Orchestra, along with Graciela Pérez. Despite initial skepticism about the use of the name “Afro-Cuban,” Latinos, Blacks, and even whites would enjoy the music. When I started Machito Orchestra, whole lot of Puerto Rican people reject my music. They say I use bongo and that was a disgrace, that was “nanigo” music, “Negroes A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 55 from Africa” music. They didn’t go for that. But in the new generation, Puerto Rican born in New York begin to like what I was doin’. Soon there was a huge following for the acts and the premiere venue was Manhattan’s Palladium Ballroom. The Palladium was an important institution that would operate from 1949 to 1966, delighting fans of mambo and jazz alike. Celebrities like Marlon Brando and Bob Hope as well as everyday working-class immigrants would crowd the Palladium. With unparalleled integration, it be- came the single most important place for Latin jazz music in New York City. The rise of the Palladium marked a turning point in New York’s music scene. Tastes were beginning to change and people were be- coming more and more intrigued with the new Afro-Cuban jazz sound. Afro-Cubans were gaining acceptance and earning respect. Along with Afro-Cuban jazz, many of the Latino musicians involved collaborated with American jazz artists. Bauzá himself broke in legend Dizzy Gillespie, with whom he teamed up Machito percussionist Chano Pozo. And then I brought Dizzy into the band. . . . I went and got a hold of Dizzy: “Dizzy, bring your trumpet with a mute. I want you to play anything you want on top of that.” . . . Rhythm crazy. And he can dance. I got a videotape they made in Havana. . . . And when he came out there and dancing, dance a rumba. It’s amazin’! And Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy’s, Dizzy all right! Helluva fellow. . . . I love the guy, my son. The language barrier illustrates the connection Afro-Cubans made with American jazz musicians. Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo made terrific music and rose to the top of the jazz world in New York City, but Pozo didn’t speak a word of English. 56 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ You know the only word that Chano (could speak) to Dizzy? “Hundred dollar.” That’s all. Despite the cultural differences and language barrier, Gillespie found a niche in Latin jazz. In 1947, the two were set to perform a number called the “Afro-Cuban Drums Suite” at Carnegie Hall. The show was instrumental in bringing Latin jazz into mainstream awareness. Additionally, Gillespie’s improvisation added a whole new dimension to jazz. Gillespie’s musicianship became the groundwork for later improvisation such as bee bop and the music of greats like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. By 1950, Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodríguez were among the biggest names in all of New York. Collaborations would continue, and Charlie Parker would get into the act, teaming up with pianist Norman Granz and Bauzá on one of the best examples of Latin jazz, “The Peanut Vendor.” Charlie Parker made a very big impression on Bauzá, and that would lead to partnership on the song “Mango Mangue.” People might think that Charlie Parker play because he was high, or—no, no, no, no. He knew everything he would do in the music, and nobody told him how to do it. That was his own creation, his own mentality, his own approach about music. . . . He says, “Oh man, play any- thing, let me hear the arrangement.” . . . When we play the arrangement, he say, “I like that.” I said, “But it’s a vocal.” He say, “All you gotta do, when the vocal sup- posed to be sing, tell ’em ‘don’t sing’ and gimme the cue, I’ll play.” . . . He went through that number like nothing, back to the montuno, and . . . “Oh my goodness!” I say, “this man is a genius!” As Afro-Cuban jazz’s popularity grew, more and more great bandleaders would emerge, and great musicians would flourish in the new form. José Curbelo’s orchestra was one of the bands that A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 57 benefited the most from the success of the other Afro-Cuban performers. Curbelo’s success came at a time when the music that was originally confined to Harlem began to spread downtown to places like the Palladium and uptown to The Bronx, again thanks to the success of Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez, but mainly because of Bauzá’s Machito Orchestra. Curbelo explains the phenomenon. That was Machito and his Afro-Cubans . . . because when you hit Broadway you did the biggest, the Broadway show, the Strand Theater, the Capitol Theater, the Paramount Theater. All the big theaters, the big ball- rooms, the Roseland, the Arcadia, everything was on Broadway between 42nd, the Astor Roof, and 54th, where the Palladium was. And the first band, Black, to come from El Barrio . . . was a great accomplishment. After Machito broke through to the mainstream, Afro-Cuban jazz exploded. The 1950s saw more and more Afro-Cuban jazz bands sprouting up, and the phenomenon became insanely popular. The Palladium was at its peak as a venue, consistently packing the house to see Tito Puente or Machito. At the height of the Palladium era, people of all races, backgrounds, and ethnicities came together to enjoy the music. IV. The Late Palladium Era: Afro‐Cubans in The Bronx The exposure Afro-Cuban jazz was experiencing affected all of New York, but no borough embraced the tradition like The Bronx. Just over the river from the “Mecca of Jazz,” Harlem, The Bronx served as the next major center for music in New York. At that time, clubs and dance halls in The Bronx would attract the biggest names in Afro-Cuban jazz, mambo, and American jazz. Venues like the Hunts Point Palace, the Tritons Club, and the Rockland Palace would put The Bronx on the map as the place to see Afro-Cuban music. While the main forum was still the Palladium, many people would look no 58 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ further than The Bronx for a quality Afro-Cuban jazz experience. Bronxites would go to have a good time, get down, and listen to some amazing music from the greats. Machito, Tito Puente, José Curbelo (before becoming a manager), Tito Rodríguez, and even Charlie Parker would play at Bronx clubs during the late 1950s. New bands started to come out of the borough as a result of the developing Afro-Cuban jazz scene in The Bronx. Young Bronxites would pack the clubs to get a glimpse of their favorite bands, go home, and try to imitate their sound. Afro-Cuban records were played from every window in every Latino neighborhood in The Bronx, and a new generation of Afro-Cuban jazz lovers would emerge. This new wave of Afro-Cuban jazz buffs would see music any chance they had. Joe Orange, Bronx native and jazz trombonist who played with Herbie Mann and Eddie Palmieri, recalls students at his high school going all the way downtown to see Afro-Cuban music. When I was going to Morris (High School) there was a whole group of kids that used to go to the Palladium and they used to come to school talkin’ about, “Man, last Saturday night at the Palladium. Tito Puente did this and Tito Rodríguez—.” And I (was) kind of like, “Give me a break!” But there was a real strong interest in Latin music. Even the non-musicians, Latin dance was like a craze that was going on you know, ’57, ’58, when I was in high school. The Bronx would serve as a breeding ground for some of the freshest talent in Latin jazz and this was, in part, due to the emergence of Afro-Cuban jazz’s popularity in the latter half of the 1950s. Willie Colón, one of the foremost innovators of Latin music in the late 1960s, remembers going to the Hunts Point Palace when he was thirteen. In those days you had to have a cabaret license, so I had a A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 59 friend who was older and he had one, (gave) me his and we kind of doctored it up and put my picture in it. . . . I grew a mustache as soon as possible, and I used to smoke cigars to try to look older, you know. I even used to put frosting on my hair sometimes, it must have been pretty pathetic but I got away with it most of the time. And yeah, we used to go to the Hunts Point Palace, which is now like an office building. . . . They would have like fourteen bands and the poster, you know, just looked like a checkerboard, it had so many faces and stuff on it. . . . And you would go in and I think you’d pay something like five dollars, and you’d be able to see twenty some- thing orchestras. . . . There was a big boom at one time. The popularity of the local venues was apparent by the amount of talent that came onto the Afro-Cuban scene in the late 1950s and early ’60s. One of the premiere acts that came from The Bronx at the time was Eddie Palmieri and his conjunto La Perfecta. My mother arrived in New York in 1925, that’s how it all starts. . . . She came here with an uncle and an aunt, and there was another uncle and aunt here. . . . And then my father followed a year later on a boat. . . . In 1926, they married, my brother was born in ’27, and I was born in ’36 . . . on 112th Street . . . between Madison and Park. We moved from there when I was five years old, and then we went right to Kelly Street between Longwood and Intervale, known now and later as the South Bronx. Palmieri’s extended family had also immigrated to The Bronx and would introduce Eddie to music as a child. His uncle had his own traditional band and encouraged Eddie and his older brother Charlie to take up the piano but emphasized the importance of traditional Latin percussion instruments. But Eddie Palmieri was a piano player. A prodigy, Palmieri played Carnegie Hall at the age of eleven. By 60 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ thirteen he had joined up with his uncle, as a percussionist. By the time I was fifteen I sold my timbales back to my uncle, (and) went back on the piano, which I’m still playing to this day. Like Willie Colon, Palmieri also gained a lot of musical knowledge by going to shows in The Bronx. Palmieri attributes his start as a serious pianist to seeing bands and orchestras at Bronx clubs and dance halls in the 1950s. I saw Charlie Parker, and that was at the Rockland Palace. He would get gigs like that because he used to work for a promoter, that was a Black promoter called Cecil Bowen. At the Hunts Point Palace I know I saw Charlie Parker and I didn’t know who he was but I saw rubber bands and band-aids on the saxophone, alto. I saw different groups but my main interest was to try to play the piano. ’Cause I hadn’t been reading music, I was playing timbales with my uncle, folkloric band, and then it was very difficult to get back to reading. Palmieri would get his break in 1955 playing with Eddie Forrestier’s Orchestra and would even play with the legendary Tito Rodríguez for a year before starting La Perfecta in 1961. Palmieri’s orchestra was fresh and new, replacing trumpets with trombones. The innovative La Perfecta became the key attraction in Latin music during the 1960s. By assembling some of the greatest musicians in all of New York, the Bronx-based conjunto was wildly popular and virtually unrivaled for the better part of the decade. To a large degree, the success of La Perfecta was truly a group effort, and the band incorporated one of the most influential musicians in the history of New York, trombonist Barry Rogers. Described as a true “renaissance man,” Rogers came out of a Jewish community in The Bronx and was an avid car mechanic, musician, writer, and most A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 61 prominently, a lover of all music. Mark Weinstein recalls Barry’s knack at instrumentation well beyond the trombone, including the folkloric double string guitar from Cuba known as the tres. “Barry was a great tres player. Barry was one of the better tres players in the city of New York.” Peers remember the late Barry Rogers spending hours upon hours listening to records and playing music. Rogers’s distinct trombone sound was of paramount importance in the development of Latin music from Afro-Cuban revivalist jazz to salsa. Known for his incessant writing, and re-writing, of charts, almost obsessive personality, and perfectionism, Rogers put all he had into Latin music. When asked about the influence Barry Rogers had on him, Eddie Palmieri remembers Rogers’s uniqueness. Those trombones, when they used to get into a riff behind the flute they don’t stop, and then Barry just takes off and keeps going and we just kept pushing and pushing, and that instrument is not an instrument to be able to do that with and they did it. . . . (I remember) his preparation, his musical knowledge, of all different kinds of music. With Rogers’s innovation and virtuosity with the trombone and Eddie Palmieri leading the band behind the piano, La Perfecta soon found themselves playing with the greats. Eddie Palmieri remembers the circumstances in which he played alongside legends at the Palladium. Oh, Machito, Tito Rodríguez, Tito Puente, La Perfecta dealt with each and every one one-on-one. No quarter taken. There was four sets, you did sixteen sets a week at the Palladium for 72 dollars, before taxes. . . . They had lost their liquor license and now they gave me 90 en- gagements, so once they give you the 90 engagements, then anybody that wants to book you out would have to 62 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ pay more and that was the deal, you know, and José Curbelo handled that pretty well. La Perfecta continued to thrive during the 1960s and played all over New York City, from the ritziest hotels to the local clubs of The Bronx. La Perfecta illustrates a rich history of music in The Bronx. While the music scene had always been big in places like Morrisania and Hunts Point, La Perfecta was one of the first real successful jazz bands to come out of The Bronx during the era. Mark Weinstein, second trombonist (with Barry Rogers) remembers playing in different clubs all over New York City. You couldn’t buy a second microphone, man! I mean the Hunts Point Palace, I don’t think they owned two microphones . . . and the trombone players would sweat, sweat blood. . . . Barry would catch the edge of the microphone by pointin’ his trombone towards (it). But because we were always playing during the montunos, the singer was in the way. . . . The Hunts Point was one of the bigger rooms, there were a couple other places. . . . The Palladium was a great room—Palladium was the best room to play, I loved the Palladium. . . . We played Birdland a couple of times, I mean then we’d have microphones. La Perfecta’s popularity soared in the ’60s. New Yorkers identified with both the jazz sound and the Latin roots. La Perfecta would draw from many musical traditions to form their unique sound. Mark Weinstein remembers The Bronx as one of the hottest spots for Afro-Cuban music. It was Cuban revivalist. I mean the amazing thing about playing with Eddie’s band was playing Latin music for people of Latino heritage, and this was basically the A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 63 cultural revival that occurred at the Triton Club, I mean the Triton Club was the center of it . . . in The Bronx, Southern Boulevard, right next door to the Hunts Point Palace. . . . And the model of the trombone improvisation came from the way . . . the soloist would play against the trumpets. But then Barry extended that. That was the model. In 1966, La Perfecta played the Palladium for its final show. The Palladium Era had officially ended, but Latin music would continue to gain steam up in The Bronx. V. The Bronx and Latin Jazz: The 1950s, 1960s, and Beyond With the Palladium closed and other Manhattan dance halls following suit, Latin music still thrived in one place. The Bronx was now the center for Latin jazz in New York and would become a hotbed for talent. The biggest names in Latin music were coming from The Bronx because communities were raising their kids on music. The Bronx in the ’50s and ’60s was rich in musical traditions from all over Latin America, and residents would expose different types of music to one another. Vibrant neighborhoods like Hunts Point, Morrisania, and Longwood became a breeding ground for musical talent. The public schools provided instruments for students, neighbors sat on their stoops and jammed, and Latin and jazz music blared from every street corner. Frank Rivera was a resident of the Longwood community in the ’50s and ’60s and remembers the neighborhood as well as developing a love for dancing. It was real nice and everybody knew everybody in the neighborhood. . . . Some of ’em became teachers and musicians like Joe Loco, he lived in the corner by the drugstore . . . when we went to (PS) 42, that’s when they started to open the school at night and that’s when we 64 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ started to have parties and dancing. . . . At that time it was more like they call “mambo”—mambo, not salsa like they call it now. Joe Orange, a longtime resident of Morrisania, remembers hearing music all over The Bronx when he was growing up. I was always hearing it. . . . I was always around it. My brother played conga. And there were all these bands, over at PS 99 they used talent shows. . . . You know, bands in junior high and high school, there were Latin bands all around me. . . . They used to have a place up in The Bronx on Boston Road that was really a great place for jam sessions when I was a kid. I was in high school and I would go in and listen . . . right where Boston and Pros- pect Avenue meet, and it was down in this little basement and I would sneak in there . . . it wasn’t open for very long but it was very popular. Orange contributes the large number of musicians who came out of The Bronx to a surrounding culture that nourished young musicians and helped to develop the talents of the community residents. I think the programs in the public schools had a lot to do with it. I started in (PS) 40, most of us started in 40 or one of those junior high schools. . . . PS 99 had that after- school community center. We used to have talent shows once a week, some great things came through those talent shows! Because of the rich cultural environment, young kids on the street would aspire for musical greatness. Latinos and African Americans would all embrace the various sounds of Latin music, thanks to the diversity of The Bronx, and lively musicians would surface all over the borough. Willie Colón was one such musician. A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 65 The South Bronx in the ’50s . . . was exactly like a town in Puerto Rico or any other Latin American country. . . . There were domino games on the sidewalks and there were bembes, which is a group of guys playing congas . . . and we’d sing choruses and maybe some of the hit songs of the day. From that upbringing, Colón embraced both Puerto Rican and Cuban son, and became a trombonist in his own band. Mark Weinstein attributes youth interest in Latin music to the popularity of Barry Rogers. There was LeBron Brothers and there was Willie Colón, I mean both Barry and I were very, very arrogant about what was happening with the trombone. ’Cause both of us had come to Latin music from very rich trombone traditions whereas all the kids who were comin’ up had learned to play trombone by listening to Barry essentially. Regardless of who influenced him, Willie Colón was a young upstart trombonist and he teamed up with a beautiful voice, [a] soñero named Héctor Lavoe. The two delighted fans with songs like trombone anthem with a Panamanian sound “La Murga,” or with the album El Malo, named after the persona Colón would embrace as a rough kid from The Bronx. Ushering the newly dubbed “boo- galoo” style, El Malo and Lavoe would travel all over the world with their exciting, trombone-driven sound until Lavoe unfortunately fell victim to heroin and began showing up late for gigs and acting out. In 1973, Colón was forced to fire Lavoe, ending their six-year partnership. Colón would continue to write and record music, and his name became synonymous with salsa music. Colón has written socially conscious songs like “El General” and “Si La Ves,” has sold over 30 66 FROM THE DAVID M. CARP PAPERS ON LATIN JAZZ million records worldwide, and has amassed fifteen gold and five platinum records since his humble beginning in The Bronx. VI. One Last Word From the start in Cuba, through the coalescence with jazz in Man- hattan, to the popularization in The Bronx, Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz has become one of the most important cultural phenomena in the history of New York. The various musical forms from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and other Caribbean nations illustrate the diversity of the city. The story of Afro-Cuban music’s popularity in New York is a microcosm of all the wonderful things that make the city uniquely diverse. The way this music was embraced by native New Yorkers as well as [more recent] immigrants is an amazing tribute to the capital of the world, New York. Musical geniuses brought their incredibly well-trained and knowledgeable background to New York, where they mixed with the native population of jazz musicians, and history was made. The importance of The Bronx in all of this cannot be emphasized enough. It’s because of the borough’s love for Latin music that other musical forms could thrive and be introduced. The music served as a familiar reminder that The Bronx was a place for all people from all over the world. Though many, like Mario Bauzá, detest the term “Latin jazz,” the music itself tells the important story of two cultures merging to form great art. A History of Afro‐Cuban Jazz in The Bronx 67 BRONX BUSINESS LEADERS OF THE YEAR AWARD Presented to Bronx business leaders who support the humanities and the arts. 2021 Ram Gupta, Chatam 2000 Management Co., Inc. 2020 Michael Max Knobbe, BronxNet 1999 2019 Richard Legnini, Bronx Ad Group 1998 2018 John Calvelli, Bronx Zoo 2017 James H. Alston, McCalls 1997 Bronxwood Funeral Home 2016 Steve Baktidy, S&T Auto Body 1996 Shop 1995 2015 Matthew Engel, Langsam Property Services 1994 2014 Greg Gonzalez, Manhattan Parking Group 1993 2013 Steve Tisso, Teddy Nissan 2012 Joseph Kelleher, Hutchinson 1992 Metro Center 1991 2011 Adam Green, Rocking the Boat 2010 Anthony Mormile, Hudson 1990 Valley Bank 2009 Lenny Caro, Bronx Chamber of 1989 Commerce 2008 Katherine Gleeson, Goldman Sachs 2007 Sandra Erickson, Erickson Real 1988 Estate 2006 Cecil P. Joseph, McDonald’s 2005 Frank Cassano, New Bronx Chamber of Commerce 1987 2004 Dart Westphal, Norwood News 2003 James J. Houlihan, Houlihan- Parnes 2002 David Greco, Mike’s Deli & Caterers 2001 Peter Madonia, Madonia Brothers Bakery John Reilly, Fordham-Bedford Housing Corp. Mario Procida, Procida Construction Corp. Veronica M. White, NYC Housing Partnership Dr. Spencer Foreman, Montefiore Medical Center Monroe Lovinger, CPA Gil and Jerry Beautus, Walton Press William O’Meara, Greentree Restaurant Larry Barazzoto, Soundview Discount Muffler Gail McMillan, Con Edison Susan E. Goldy, ERA Susan Goldy & Co. Mike Nuñez, Bronx Venture Group Mark Engel, Langsam Property Services Carlos Nazario, Metro Beer & Soda Joel Fishman, Nehring Brother Realty Co. Michael Durso, Dollar Dry Dock Savings Bank Elias Karmon, EMK Enterprises REVIEWS Cope, Suzanne. Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2022. 304 pp. ISBN: 9781641604529. $27.99. Suzanne Cope’s expertly written, extensively researched book chron- icles the Civil Rights Movement in the United States through the lived experiences of two unacknowledged Black women champions of the movement, Aylene Quin and Cleo Silvers. Cope is a writer, professor, narrative journalist, and scholar. She earned a PhD in Adult Learning from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts and is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University, where she is a “food studies scholar with a focus on food as a tool for social and political change.” Cope’s work illuminates the stories of “unsung leaders . . . mainly women of color who are left out of history,” individuals who “elevate women’s work” through their uses of food as a “political tool.” Cope does a magnificent job at presenting this historical survey of the Civil Rights Movement in an easy-to-read manner that meta- phorically transplants the reader to a stool at Aylene Quin’s food counter. In 22 short and detailed chapters, Power Hungry recounts the dual narratives of Aylene Quin’s community organizing and voter rights’ activism out of her McComb, Mississippi restaurant and tavern South of the Border during the Freedom Summer of 1964, on the one hand, and Cleo Silvers’s organizing in the South Bronx, first through VISTA1 and then with the Black Panther Party shortly after the start of the New York Chapter’s Children’s Free Breakfast Program in 1969, on the other. Cope argues that the two womens’ significance to the Civil Rights Movement is not reflected accurate- 1 VISTA: Volunteers in Service to America, part of President Johnson’s Anti- Poverty program and predecesser to today’s AmeriCorps. Cope, Power Hungry 69 ly in the historical record, in which such activity as cooking, if included at all, occurs as footnotes. As a tribute to the scholars whose research has inspired and informed her own work, Cope pro- vides the bibliographical citations preceding her prologue. Aylene Quin, or “Mama Quin” as she was affectionately known in her community of McComb, Mississippi, was a pivotal figure in the local and state-wide civil rights and voter registration efforts. Power Hungry vividly recounts Mama Quin’s story through the events of 1961 leading up to the Freedom Summer of 1964 and beyond. The book captures Mama Quin’s personal sacrifices in preparing and delivering meals to activists jailed, in one case for attempting to stage a sit-in at the McComb Woolworth’s food counter and in another for participating in a high school walk-out and march to the County Hall. Although a visible staple of the community, Mama Quin even took part in the latter as a show of support, alongside her daughter Jacqueline. Cope details the many other civil rights actions su- pported by Mama Quin, like holding secret meetings of the local Black middle-class and business people at her restaurant (who would arrive in the back of delivery trucks) and feeding civil rights wor- kers, such as the SNCC Freedom Riders, and the community at large. 2 Cope describes Mama Quin’s efforts at feeding civil rights activists and the wider community as “community building, done around the kitchen tables rather than on the front lines.” As Cope emphasizes, Mama Quin’s independent “financial means,” as a self-employed business owner, gave her the ability to support the movement with- out direct consequence to her employment status (which was not the case with many others). Cope introduces Cleo Silvers in chapter 4. She affably details Cleo’s beginnings in her hometown of Philadelphia while growing up enjoying Sunday meals at her grandmother’s house. The experience of social gatherings around meals influenced Cleo’s love for what 2 SNCC: The Student Non-Violenct Coordinating Committee, one of the leading student groups of the Civil Rights Movement. 70 PASTOR CRESPO, JR. Cope describes as “culinary diplomacy.” Cope expounds on the myriad ways that Cleo hosted and prepared gatherings around food at her apartment in the South Bronx (and elsewhere over the years), not only to garner financial support for the Black Panther Party but as a mentoring tool for what Cleo called her “Black and Brown cadre.” Cope cogently presents the lessons that Aylene Quin and Cleo Silvers provide as the “power of community organizing” and “the power of food to help create community among activists and local people.” At the same time, Cope takes care to ensure that the reader understands Cleo’s accomplishments in the contexts of navigating patriarchy within the Black Panther Party, on the one hand, and enduring extensive FBI efforts to “neutralize and destroy” the Party’s leaders and the brutality of local law enforcement, on the other. As Cope eloquently posits, “This is the insidious nature of white supremacy, particularly when it infiltrates every nook and cranny of governmental power.” Drawing attention to Mama Quin’s context in Mississippi, Cope warns also of the terroristic lengths white supre- macy is willing to go to maintain a racist system—drive-by shootings, drive-by bombings, firebombs, and economic sanctions. Power Hun‐ gry is a testament to the strength and perseverance of countless unknown, unrecognized, and uncredited African American women leaders and their use of varied foodways to build and feed the community. This is an absolutely captivating book that is a must read. Pastor Crespo, Jr. The Bronx, New York Cope, Power Hungry 71 Sammartino, Annemarie. Freedomland: Co‐Op City and The Story of New York. Ithaca/London: Three Hills/Cornell University Press, 2022. 320 pp. ISBN: 9781501716430. $32.95. As its title suggests, Freedomland: Co‐Op City and the Story of New York frames the history of Co-op City, the largest cooperative hou- sing development in the U.S., as a microcosm of wider twentieth- century New York City history. Co-Op City was constructed at the end of the 1960s in the far reaches of the northeast Bronx, carved out of swampland along the Hutch- inson River. The title derives from the ill-fated amusement park, Freedomland, which during the first half of the 1960s occupied a portion of the land on which Co-Op City was built. At the same time, the title evokes the promise of Co-Op City: a place where affordable housing and a cohesive community life would be avail- able to residents without necessitating a move to the suburbs. Here was a place where working- and middle-class New Yorkers could flourish and share in the American dream of home-own-ership. The cooperative housing movement in New York City, of which Co- op City was a part, emerged in the early twentieth century among progressive Jewish and other trade unionists. Tenants, or “co- operators,” would purchase equity shares in an apartment upon move-in and would receive the amount back, plus interest, when vacating the apartment. Early cooperative housing in New Yorkwith pronounced leftwing influence such as the Allerton Coops in The Bronx had some of the first racially integrated housing in New York City. Other cooperatives had a less than stellar record in this regard, and this is a part of the story of Co-op City as well. Co-Op City was built by the United Housing Foundation (UHF), a nonmarket housing corporation known for cooperative projects like 72 ROGER MCCORMACK the Amalgamated Housing Co-operative in The Bronx, opened in 1927, and Rochdale Village in Queens, opened in 1963. Co-op City, whose first apartments opened in 1968, provided middle-income housing at a time when many middle-class New Yorkers had decamped for the suburbs. All of these UHF developments served as crucibles for the inexorable demographic and economic changes buffeting New York City in the second half of the twentieth century —not least because in the late 1960s the UHF was mandated by the state to conform to non-discriminatory housing policies. Racial integration was not without tension in these developments, particularly as the original goals of the cooperative movement lost their luster amid rising crime and the racialized perception among many that an influx of Blacks and Puerto Ricans to Co-Op City heralded the demise of the neighborhood in the late 1970s and 1980s. According to Sammartino, however, Co-Op City never succumbed to New York’s vituperative racial politics to the same extent as Rochdale Village did, with the latter coming apart over busing and integration in the 1970s. UHF initially stressed a homogenously middle-class community at Co-op City and refused to jettison the middle-income requirement to appeal to more Blacks and Latinos, who were on average employed in jobs that paid them less for comparable work done by whites and experienced higher rates of unemployment. The approach of UHF created tension with prominent city agencies and Mayor Lindsay’s administration, which advocated—at least on paper—various policies to uplift Black and Latino populations in the 1960s. According to Sammartino, the common socio-economic level of Co-Op City nourished racial integration, subduing racial tension and rancor at a time when such tensions were high elsewhere in New York. Sammartino argues for Co-Op City’s unusual role within New York City: problems found in the rest of the city, though perceptible in Co-Op City, were diminished by the middle-class character of the development and the ideology of the “cooperators” or residents of Co-Op City, stressing, Sammartino, Freedomland 73 as it did, shared ownership and the diminution of the profit motive in real estate. Other critics of Co-Op City at the time drew attention to its “Tow- ers in the park” model. Towering residential skyscrapers, these critics argued, contributed to urban alienation and malaise. In this telling, Co-Op City would never be able to achieve a spontaneous community. Architectural and urban planners—chief among them Jane Jacobs—celebrated the community life of old, smaller-scale neighborhoods and were quick to denounce massive urban development projects like Co-Op City. Sammartino argues that this portrayal of Co-Op City was false, citing a number of anecdotes from her own life and from other residents highlighting the robustness of community in Co-Op City. Community life was, in fact, celebrated by people of varying ethnicities and backgrounds, most notably Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who moved to Co-Op City as a young girl. Here, Sammartino probably overstates her thesis. While her anecdotes of vibrant community life in Co-Op City are nonetheless true, the development to this day remains isolated from the rest of The Bronx and New York City (many plans for a subway line to Co-Op City have proved abortive), making the development convenient primarily for automobile drivers. Sammartino masterfully describes the ethos of the cooperative’s founders, the United Housing Foundation, and their utopian aims for cooperative housing, desiring nothing less than a wholesale reevaluation of how New Yorkers envisioned housing. She is also unsparing in detailing the corruption of the Mitchell-Lama program (and probably the UHF) and the enormous cost overruns during the construction of Co-Op City, overruns eventually paid for by increases in “carrying charges,” or rents, by the development’s res- idents. The increase in carrying charges and resentment towards the UHF’s 74 ROGER MCCORMACK perceived corruption culminated in the rent strike of 1975–1976, the longest and largest so far in U.S. history. Led by the bombastic labor organizer Charles Rosen—dubbed by the Village Voice “the Lenin of the North Bronx”—Co-Op City cooperators eventually gained board control of Co-Op City but remained bedeviled by the same financial problems the UHF faced. The strike destroyed the UHF: it would never build another cooperative housing complex after the imbroglios involved in the construction and maintenance of Co-Op City. Here, Sammartino uses the example of Co-Op City to chart the history of New York’s social welfare apparatus, where robust funding was provided for education, housing, and a variety of other urban programs in the 1930s and 1940s. By the 1970s, this model was in desuetude. Instead, the ruling governing philosophy became “neoliberalism,” which Sammartino defines as market-based solutions to urban problems, and austerity, encapsulated by the federal government’s refusal to bail out New York City during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s (and symbolized by the New York Post’s famous headline, “Ford to New York—Drop Dead!”). Co-Op City, though, founded just prior to the high-water point of these policies in New York City, offered a rival conception of housing, with its roots in the social welfare model of the 1930s and ’40s and the tenant activism of the Lower East Side and The Bronx of this same era. Initially a safe-haven for Jews leaving once prosperous ethnic neighborhoods in the West Bronx, Co-Op City was widely seen as part of The Bronx and yet distinct from older neighborhoods not only because of its far-flung location and towering skyscrapers but also because of the absence of crime and urban blight. Complicating narratives of white flight and twentieth-century urban histories, Sammartino argues against Co-Op City as having a decisive destructive impact on the west Bronx. According to a standard narrative, Co-Op City exacerbated white flight from west Bronx neighborhoods and was one of the main contributors to urban decay in the borough. But, Professor Sammartino notes, many Jewish Sammartino, Freedomland 75 residents of the Grand Concourse had already left for the suburbs of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut before the construction of Co-Op City was finished in 1968. In her view, Co-Op City simply reinforced a social trend already underway. The book also benefits from Sammartino’s measured appraisal of the reasons for the Jewish exodus from the west Bronx. Many previously storied west Bronx neighborhoods had begun to experience decreases in city services and overall building maintenance, and new arrivals to Co-Op City cited actual crimes and a perceived decline in their old neighborhoods. For a time, Co-Op City was seen as an escape from such blight. Unlike many other scholars of this period, however, Sammartino is similarly careful to weigh the largely manufactured fears of white residents of an increase in crime in Co-Op City in the 1980s and 1990s. Sammartino concludes her commendable volume with a paean to Co-Op City’s multicultural identity, even as demographics in the development have shifted, and to its continued existence as a middle-class neighborhood for newer populations of Bronxites. Roger McCormack The Bronx, New York 76 ROGER MCCORMACK SELECT PUBLICATIONS AND GIFTS OF THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY The below items, and additional publications and gifts, are available for purchase in-person at any of our locations; by mail, through writing to The Bronx County Historical Society at 3309 Bainbridge Avenue, The Bronx, NY 10467; or online, at www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/store. Life in The Bronx Series Lloyd Ultan and G. Hermalyn, The Birth of The Bronx: 1609–1900 Lloyd Ultan and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx in the Innocent Years: 1890–1925 Lloyd Ultan and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx: It Was Only Yesterday, 1935–1965 Lloyd Ultan, The Beautiful Bronx: 1920–1950 Life in The Bronx, four-volume set History of The Bronx Nicholas DiBrino, History of Morris Park Racecourse Allan S. Gilbert (ed.), Digging The Bronx G. Hermalyn et al., A Historical Sketch of The Bronx, 2nd edition G. Hermalyn and Thomas X. Casey, Bronx Views G. Hermalyn and Anthony Greene, Yankee Stadium: 1923–2008 G. Hermalyn and Robert Kornfeld, Landmarks of The Bronx Kathleen A. McAuley, Westchester Town: Bronx Beginnings Kathleen A. McAuley and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx: Then and Now John McNamara, History in Asphalt: The Origin of Bronx Street and Place Names (encyclopedia), 3rd edition John McNamara, McNamara’s Old Bronx Rubio P. Mendez, A History of the Riverdale Yacht Club Michael Miller, Theatres of The Bronx $30.00 $25.00 $25.00 $25.00 $90.00 $10.00 $25.00 $15.00 $12.00 $22.00 $15.00 $15.00 $22.00 $30.00 $20.00 $20.00 $5.00 Lloyd Ultan, Blacks in the Colonial Bronx: A Documentary History Lloyd Ultan, The Bronx in the Frontier Era Lloyd Ultan, Legacy of the Revolution Lloyd Ultan, The Northern Borough: A History of The Bronx George Zoebelein, The Bronx: A Struggle for County Government History of New York City Elizabeth Beirne, The Greater New York Centennial Peter Derrick, Tunneling to the Future G. Hermalyn, Morris High School and the Creation of the New York City Public High School System George Lankevich, New York City: A Short History Lawrence Stelter, By the El: Third Avenue and Its El at Mid‐Century History of New York State G. Hermalyn and Sidney Horenstein, Hudson’s River Elizabeth Beirne, The Hudson River Douglas Lazars et al., Re‐inspired: The Erie Canal Roots of the Republic Series George Lankevich, Chief Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court George Lankevich, The First House of Representatives and the Bill of Rights Edward Quinn, The Signers of the Constitution of the United States Edward Quinn, The Signers of the Declaration of Independence Richard Streb, The First Senate of the United States Lloyd Ultan, Presidents of the United States Roots of the Republic Series, six-volume set Educational Material Anthony Greene, Annotated Primary Source Documents, vol. 1 Roger McCormack, Annotated Primary Source Documents, vol. 2 Dan Eisenstein, Local History Classroom Resource Guide $18.00 $20.00 $15.00 $28.00 $15.00 $20.00 $20.00 $34.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $99.00 $20.00 $22.00 $15.00 Lisa Garrison, The South Bronx and the Founding of America G. Hermalyn, The Study and Writing of History Samuel Hopkins, West Farms Local History Curriculum Guide Alonso Serrano, Latin Bicentennial, comic book The Bronx County Historical Society Journal $15.00 $20.00 $15.00 $5.00 Back issues of The Bronx County Historical Society Journal, 1963–2021, are available for purchase for $15.00 an issue, excepting special issues like the Centennial of The Bronx issue, available for purchase for $20.00. Research Center Dominick Caldiero et al., Newspaper Titles of The Bronx G. Hermalyn, Publications and Other Media of The Bronx County Historical Society Since 1955 G. Hermalyn et al., The Bronx in Print G. Hermalyn et al., Education and Culture in The Bronx G. Hermalyn and Laura Tosi, Genealogy of The Bronx Kathleen A. McAuley, A Guide to the Collections of The Bronx County Archives Laura Tosi et al., Ethnic Groups in The Bronx Laura Tosi et al., Index to The Sheet Map Collection of The Bronx County Historical Society Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Elected Public Officials of The Bronx Since 1898 Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Atlas Collection of The Bronx County Historical Society Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Microfilm/Microfiche Collection of The Bronx County Historical Society Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Bronx County Historical Society Media Collection Laura Tosi and G. Hermalyn, Guide to The Bronx County Historical Society Video Collection $15.00 $5.00 $10.00 $20.00 $10.00 $20.00 $20.00 $20.00 $15.00 $10.00 $10.00 $10.00 $10.00 Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, a documentary on DVD Elizabeth Beirne, Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe at Fordham Kathleen A. McAuley, Edgar Allan Poe at Fordham Special Interest Peter Derrick and G. Hermalyn, The Bronx Cookbook Remember The Bronx, Bronx history calendar for 2023 Gifts The Beautiful Bronx coffee mug The Bronx Afghan, washable cotton blanket, 50" x 65" The Bronx River Parkway, c. 1915, poster, 20.5" x 29.5" Edgar Allan Poe coffee mug The Grand Concourse, 1892, poster, 25" x 12" The Bronx Comfort gift set, includes The Bronx Cookbook, the Bronx Afghan, and The Beautiful Bronx coffee mug $20.00 $20.00 $15.00 $15.00 $12.00 $7.95 $50.00 $20.00 $7.95 $20.00 $60.00 THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESIDENTS Jacqueline Kutner, 1993– Robert R. Hall, 1986–1993 Raymond F. Crapo, 1976–1986 Robert Farkas, 1976 Lloyd Ultan, 1971–1976 Ronald Schliessman, 1969–1971 Roger Arcara 1967–1969 Thomas J. Mullins, 1964–1967 George J. Fluhr, 1963–1964 Ray D. Kelly, 1963 Fred E. J. Kracke, 1960–1963 Joseph Duffy, 1958–1960 Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff, 1955–1958 LIFE MEMBERS Dr. Elizabeth Beirne Louis H. Blumegarten Adolfo Carrión Sam Chermin James Conroy Dorothy Curran John Dillon Dan Eisenstein Mark Engel Natalie and Robert Esnard Ken Fisher Fordham Hill Owner’s Co. Katherine Gleeson Robert Abrams Jorge L. Batista Michael Benedetto Lorraine Cortez-Vazquez Gloria Davis Hector Diaz Ruben Díaz, Jr. Jeffrey Dinowitz Eliot Engel Carmen Fariña Dr. Joseph A. Fernandez Fernando Ferrer George Friedman Carl E. Heastie Lee Holtzman Greg Gonzalez David Greco Robert Hall Daniel Hauben Dr. Gary Hermalyn James Houlihan Marsha Horenstein Dr. Reintraut E. Jonsson Cecil P. Joseph Joseph Kelleher Mark Lampell Douglas Lazarus Maralyn May HONORARY MEMBERS Robert T. Johnson Stephen Kaufman Jeff Klein Joel I. Klein G. Oliver Koppell Jeffrey Korman Lawrence Levine Harold O. Levy Michael M. Lippman James J. Periconi Ricardo Oquendo Nathan Quinoñes Roberto Ramírez Gustavo Rivera Joel Rivera Kathleen A. McAuley Steven A. Ostrow Alan Parisse Jane Mead Peter Joel Podgor Steve Baktidy Marilyn and Morris Sopher Elizabeth Stone Henry G. Stroobants Susan Tane Lloyd Ultan Van Courtlandt Village CC Jac Zadrima José Rivera Ninfa Segarra José E. Serrano Stanley Simon Thomas Sobol THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 3309 Bainbridge Avenue The Bronx, New York 10467 718-881-8900 www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org The publication of this volume was made possible, in part, through the generous support of The National Realty Club Foundation. The Bronx County Historical Society is supported through funds and services provided by: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Historic House Trust of New York City New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation The Bronx Delegation of the New York City Council The Office of the President of the Borough of The Bronx The Bronx Delegation of the New York State Assembly The Bronx Delegation of the New York State Senate The H. W. Wilson Foundation The Astor Fund The Isabelle Fund The Elbaum Fund The Ultan Fund The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation The S. Hermalyn Institute The New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, Inc. The Susan Tane Foundation The New York Public Library The New York Community Trust The National Realty Club Foundation Volume/Issue Volume and Issue of a periodical. 59/1–2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Bronx County Historical Society Journal, vol. 59, nos. 1–2, 2022 Subject The topic of the resource Antonetty, Evelina, 1922-1984 Kingsbridge (The Bronx, N.Y.) Allerton (The Bronx, N.Y.) Gumbs, Bob McFeeters, Harriet Bauzá, Mario, 1911-1993 Colón, Willie, 1950- Afro-Cuban Jazz Description An account of the resource Vol. 59, nos. 1–2 of The Bronx County Historical Society Journal, published 2022. Contents: — Steven Payne, "An Oral History of Dr. Evelina Antonetty," p. 1 — Richard Baum, "Kingsbridge Vignettes," p. 19 — Robert Weiss, "Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s," p. 29 — Mark Naison, "A Tribute to Bob Gumbs and Harriet McFeeters," p. 39 — From the Archives, "Afro-Cuban Jazz in The Bronx," p. 45 — Pastor Crespo, Jr., Review of Cope, Power Hungry (2022), p. 69 — Roger McCormack, Review of Sammartino, Freedomland (2022), p. 72 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Bronx County Historical Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource ©2022, The Bronx County Historical Society Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Periodical Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Payne, Steven Baum, Richard Weiss, Robert Naison, Mark Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context BCHSJOUR.2022 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Suzanne Ross Video Memoirs Description An account of the resource Pending Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930s–2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:43:43 Media Embedded media file for non-oral history recorded sound and moving images. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BYqVhAYdrCA?si=vkJfTkL3wTvh4w7Y" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2-04. Family History and Childhood: Escaping Belgium during the Holocaust Description An account of the resource In this recording, part of a larger video memoir project, lifetime activist and educator Suzanne Ross narrates her immediate family's escape from the Holocaust. Much of her family did not make it out of Europe alive. Suzanne reflects on the relationship between her direct experience of this genocidal history and her white skin and educational privileges. Suzanne narrates her family's travels from Germany to Belgium to France, Spain, North Africa, Portugal, Mozambique, Palestine and ultimately the United States, where she and her family arrived on December 25, 1945. From Suzanne: "Born in 1937 living with an extended family on maternal and paternal sides in Antwerp Belgium. By 1940 the Nazis invade and most of the family tried and even succeeded in leaving. My parents, brother, and I along with different aunts, uncles, and cousins parted ways with some headed for Portugal, some for Palestine, and other remaining in France or Belgium. Traveling for about a year from France to Spain to North Africa, to Portugal and eventually Mozambique, we found a haven in Mozambique for three years, until the colonial power (Portugal) gave us a deadline by which we had to leave. This was now 1944 and we were able to go to Palestine where we remained for a year before we were able to get the visa we needed to go to the US, my parents’ dream. We arrived in the US on December 25, 1945 and soon became part of an orthodox Jewish community in Queens, Far Rockaway. My brother and I attended the Yeshiva, I loved the chaos of this school, with the students able to challenge the adults, and impose a certain student power. In addition to the students ability to disrupt regular routines, the Hebrew education was excellent, especially the training in Talmudic logic and debate which served me in good stead for many subsequent decades of schooling. By the time I went to public high school I was increasingly losing interest in religion and focused more and more on intellectual interests and wanting to go to an elite college." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ross, Suzanne Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Wood, Nat Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the Item, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions with the organization that has made the Item available. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Video memoir Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV-ROSS.008 genocide Holocaust Suzanne Ross Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Description An account of the resource The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a collaboration between Kurt Boone, veteran documentarian of urban culture in New York City, and Dr. Steven Payne, librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. The project aims to document the early years of the graffiti arts movement in The Bronx through recording oral histories and collecting tags from surviving Bronx pioneers of the art form. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boone, Kurt BUTCH 2 Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Payne, Steven Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 02:50:02 Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview BUTCH 2 Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed BOM 5 Location The location of the interview The Bronx, NY OHMS Object Embedded OHMS XML file https://oralhistory.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/viewer.php?cachefile=OH-BAADP.20230413.xml Interview Format Audio or Video Video OHMS Content Content of OHMS Index/Transcript for searching (Hidden) 5.4 Interview with BOM5 OH-BAADP.20230413 2:50:02 OH-BAADP Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Bronx Oral History Center This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. bxoralhistory BOM5 Butch2 and Pastor Crespo, Jr. MP4 bom5-oral-history-baadp-2023-04-13.mp4 Undefined 1 https://youtu.be/dFNow4M61Po YouTube video English 0 Introduction PC: Welcome to the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project. My name is Pastor Crespo, Jr., Research Librarian and Archivist here at the Bronx County Historical Society. And I am joined by pioneering graffiti artist Butch II for this oral history. Today is Thursday, April 15, 2023 and we have the distinct honor of documenting this oral history with BOM5. Welcome BOM5, please introduce yourself. BOM: Thank you. This is BOM5 from the boogie-down Bronx, which we used to call the burnt down Bronx. Interviewers Butch 2 and Pastor Crespo introduce themselves and give a chance for BOM5, the narrator of this oral history and pioneering graffiti writer to introduce himself. Bom 5 (Graffiti artist);Butch 2 (Graffiti artist);Oral history Bronx;Bronx (New York, N.Y.);Bronx County (N.Y.);Graffiti;Graffiti artists 0 57 Family History and Background B2: Ok, BOM5, talk to us about your family history, background, where your parents are from? BOM: I was born in Puerto Rico. My father is African, My mother's Puerto Rican. My grandfather came to Puerto Rico for work. He found work in Puerto Rico and brought his kids over there. His kids met my mother and started having kids in Puerto Rico. Then we moved to New York and my brother and sister were born there. There's 10 of us all from the same mother and father. When we came to this place called New York, they just had to change their paperwork and stuff because New York when you came from Puerto Rico you could get help from the government. BOM discusses his family background and early life. He was part of a large family, on of 10 siblings. His father moved to Puerto Rico for work and settled there, meeting BOM's mother. The family moved again to New York, where again his father found work until he was murdered in a racially motivated attack. This left only BOM's mother to take care of all 10 kids. He also describes his daily life, including music listened to in his house and meals cooked, as well as loading all the kids up into the family station wagon to go to Orchard Beach. Arts, Puerto Rican;Cooking, Puerto Rican;Murder victims' families;Puerto Rican young men;Puerto Rico Bronx;Children and violence;Hate crimes;Hate crimes--United States;Violence--Sociological aspects 0 916 Schooling PC: Take us through the schools you attended and take us through each of them from public school on up. BOM: Yeah I went to school at 174, I had got––I went to the school for a while and then got kicked out and had to go to P.S. 105 at Pelham Parkway. I was getting into too much trouble and my mom got me into that school with an address with my cousin... so then my brothers and sisters younger than me started going there too. BOM gives a history of his schooling, from Public School, one of which he got kicked out of, to eventually dropping out then finally getting his GED, which he passed immediately. GED tests Public education series;Schooling 0 1174 Getting into Gang and Graffiti PC: Do you remember when you first saw graffiti? Was it in the staircase, at school, the train? What was it, and how did it influence you at the time? BOM: First of all I didn't even know it was graffiti. I was in a gang. My cousin SEE 2 S-E-E 2 and uh, he's the one that got me into the gang. I used to look up to my cousin, he was almost five years older than me but my cousin was my cousin he was like my brother. He is my first cousin and he was a badass. I mean I'm telling you when I'm 9 years old and joining this gang, and this guy is already 13 but he was like stocked. I'm like yo! He said "Pushup! Pushup! Pushup! Chinup! Pushup!" I was like yo show me! Show me! I remember him having muscles like we was 10 years apart! This dude was always built like that! ... I found another family in the street. You know in Tiffany Street, and they gave me the name Spider. I had to go through the whole thing to join the gang. The main thing I remember when I was proud when Hollywood said, we're gonna pass you a name, you're fast, your hands they can see it you're a fighter" there's a lot of things they test you. I had to rack up in the summer some quarts of beer for them. They said, "Go in the store and bring us something!" And like what am I gonna bring? They said to bring something me like to drink. I went in there and racked up two quarts. So what I did was I went in the back, looked around, make sure no one is watching, and I ran out. The first experiences BOM5 had with graffiti was within his outlaw gang, the Savage Skulls. He would put up his gang moniker, 174SPIDER, as well as SAVAGE SKULLS, and the block name with paint stolen from the superintendent of his building on the rocks outside. Soon, he was introduced to other writers who opened his eyes to the wider writing culture, which BOM quickly took to. Savage Nomads (Street gang);Savage Skulls (Street gang) Gangs--New York (State);Outlaw Gang 0 2024 Technique and Development PC: I wanna take you back to when you first started writing. What did you use? What markers? Did you do homemade markers? What did you do about that? BOM: That's where the next part comes in. As a gang member I was doing good, but as a human, I was not doing good. So my cousin said, "look, you got too much skill. You dance good, you draw good, you got like opportunities. You're getting too bad, you're gonna end up hurting someone bad and you're gonna wind up going to jail and I don't want that for you. You know that's not in your life." And I was angry with him because it took me almost 4 years and now I'm in the gang, and I'm with the gang. It's going into my fifth year and I'm strong, I'm better, and you know I just love my life in that gang. Never brought the colors to my mother's house, never wore it around my mother, out of respect for my mother. Every time I got home I would fold it up and put it under the staircase or on the roof. So now he forced me, you gotta get out or I'm gonna beat the shit outta you. I didn't have to fight to get out of the gang because my cousin said, "let him go." ... I see my cousin Chino at a birthday party, at a family birthday party, and he's got a shirt like painted. And that's like with a shirt like painted? I'm like oh, yo, what's that? I could do that! BOM's cousin kicks him out of the gang in order to protect him from getting into serious trouble and encourages him to find opportunities with his many talents. Chance encounters lead him to focus seriously on graffiti where he learns from established names the tools of the trade and where to find the Writers' Benches. One mentor BOM was introduced to at this time was BILLY 167, an Irish writer who took BOM under in wing in a number of ways, including having BOM over for dinner. It surprised BOM the degree to which racial animus lessened (but by no means disappeared) among writers, and his friendship with Billy helped heal the wound of his father's death. Education in art Graffiti;Graffiti artists;Mural painting and decoration--Technique 0 3890 Names B2: What other tags have you written, and do you still write any of them? BOM: My tag started from my gang name, 174SPIDER, and then my first graffiti name was from a movie I saw at the time, it was called SPARTACUS, with Kirk Douglas. I loved how he was strong in that movie, and I wanted to be that strong guy. Not in a gang way anymore but in a writing world way. So I got SPARTACUS. The name was too long! So I cut it down to SPART 174. After I got that name it felt good. I had the name. But then I started noticing at the time a lot of writers was replacing letters for characters. So I was like, oh! I need a name with an O! So I started looking. And I said oh, BOMB. I told BILLY and he said oh, ok that's good! But when I went to see my cousin CHINO, he said wait, I go to school with BOMB1! My cousin went to art and design and I went to music and art.I'm like what, ah man. He said no no no! I would go there after school and meet him after school over there After briefly using the name SPARTACUS, BOM wanted a shorter name and something with an O so that he could draw a character in place of the vowel. BOM settled on the graffiti name BOMB, but was discouraged when BOMB1 (Al Diaz) continued writing the name after agreeing to retire. In order to differentiate himself, BOM omitted the final B and added 005 to the name, becoming forever more BOM005. Anonyms and pseudonyms;Anonyms and pseudonyms, American Graffiti 0 4361 Layups/Yards B2: Which stations did you get into for layups? BOM: Oh, boy. Wow, so many. They had underground layups. The 6 layup, you know. St. Lawrence, 223rd-225th. Sometimes they'd lay it up in Bronx Park East on the Pelham Parkway. For the Bronx. Then we had 183rd, we had Kingsbridge, we went to Kingsbridge many times the G boys I got down with them. But I even went to like, layups on the 7 Line, Junction Blvd (Jackson Heights). My story don't stay in the Bronx. Early on I was traveling. I started going to the different writes bench in Queens, in Brooklyn. I befriended one guy, my brother who passed away STIM 1. BOM lists the layups underground and elevated, and yards he liked to paint in. A favorite was Esplanade where the elevated section of the 5 train heads underground between Morris Park station and just before Gun Hill Rd. Station. He would travel to other boroughs to find new lines to paint on, including Junction Blvd and different layups in Brooklyn. He went as far as Long Island and Staten Island. This travel, enabled often by relatives such as a cousin in Jamaica Queens who introduced him to Grandmaster Flowers and Pete DJ Jones. He also speaks about difficulties in getting in and out. Early on it was just walk-in but later as policing became heavier there was a lot of difficulties and chasing. Sunnyside Yard (New York, N.Y. : Railroad yard) Graffiti;Law enforcement 0 4951 Crews B2: Alright can you talk to us about the Mad Writers, how did that begin and what were they most known for? BOM: That was a crew I made in 1978. But before that in 1976 I made my other crew. ... I saw a movie called 5 Fingers of Death. So I made a crew called 5 Death Writers. And Death was a big word back in the day. People say "Oh, Def you don't know nothing" Oh? how do you spell it? "D-E-F" No it was D-E-A-T-H back in the day. To be Death you wrote the whole word out. So sometimes I would write SPIDER174 is DEATH. So after I saw that movie it influenced me to make a crew but it was just me. I was like alright I gotta get five friends into graffiti! So I finally got five friends together and we had a crew called 5 Death Writers. BOM speaks about his experience creating crews, first the 5 Death Writers and then the Mad Writers. He goes into the history of the word Death as a positive adjective (later shifted to Def). 5 Death Writers;Mad Writers Graffiti artists;Graffiti crews 0 5132 Piecing B2: Walk us through your process of doing a piece. Do you plan it out in detail? Do it in the blackbook? Do you wind it? do you get help from other people in your crew? BOM: Goes like this: When you become a writer, most of the time you go with one other person. Unless you go by yourself. Then, the whole thing doesn't matter if you're with a crew or not. It depends on what you're gonna do with that crew, if you're gonna do a production together... Sometimes not all the colors work out to do the exact production you want to do.So you just go racking. The main thing: you get your paint. Because you already know your sketch if you're already writing. You've practiced you past sketches your outline you got stuff. Even Pathmark had spray paint at one time. BOM lays out his process for completing a piece. For BOM, the piece starts when racking––what colors can you get? He details a lot of his routine for racking. For a big crew production they'd need an army duffel bag to hold all the paint. Then transporting the paint which is difficult itself. Then comes the outline which you already have from experience. Having a fat cap was also a necessity. Mural painting and decoration, American;Mural painting and decoration--Technique 0 6796 Zulu Nation PC: We're gonna switch gears on you. How did you become involved in Zulu Nation? Tell us that backstory. BOM: It was all the influence of being around Sisko King and all them guys. The first time I ever met Bam was I was in the Savage Skulls and they tell me about Bronx [inaudible] and I'm from 174th they have a Bridge that goes over to Bronx River Projects. So I knew about Bam through graffiti first he used to write BAM117. So I met him on the Bridge. I didn't have colors, he didn't have color and we met. He's taking a tag, I take a tag, we meet on the bridge and we become friends. The funny thing about that. Two days or three days later I'm riding my bike through Bronx River and I see him with a group of dudes. They got the Black Spades colors and I'm walking around with my vest on my bike Savage Skulls. And I'm like, that's that same guy that motherfucker! So I start throwing bottles at them, and they start throwing shit at me and they started coming at me. So I had to get back on my bike and ride my bike away. They were throwing like rocks at us and stuff, so I had to get away. But I threw bottles at them first because I was like, I thought you was my friend, but you know he was someone I just met. I just wrote my gang name on the bridge but I didn't put no SS. BOM speaks about meeting Afrika Bambaataa and how he was present for some of the early conversations involved in the founding of Zulu Nation, despite some initial friction due to Bam's Black Spades affiliation. BOM was involved in Zulu Kings, the B-Boy group of Disco King Mario, the Black Spade DJ, which also became affiliated with Zulu Nation when that spun up. Afrika Bambaataa, 1960-;Zulu Nation B-boy;Hip-hop 0 7172 DJing & B-Boying PC: Now DJing: What drew you to become a DJ and do you still spin? BOM: Yeah yeah. Still spinning still doing my thing. I slowed down for a little bit because I got the tinnin–tinnining? PC: Right Tendonitis? [note: Tinnitus meant] BOM: Yeah that's from years of having the headphone on and being in clubs. You know we'd have these jams rocking with loudspeakers in these small community center rooms blasting the music. Going deaf but you're not feeling it! When you get older all of a sudden you got a ringing in your ear. BOM speaks about how he got into DJing. He met some mentors and was able to prove himself. Some of his biggest mentors mentioned were Disco King Mario, Junebug, and DJ Hollywood. Later on, BOM would have something of a falling out with Hollywood due to Hollywood not wanting to be associated with the juvenile Bronx hip-hop culture, insisting on a mature harlem disco audience. BOM gives a lot of credit to the disco DJs and makes sure to give them their due credit in contributing to hip-hop, but he insists that what Kool Herc and other early hip-hop DJs were playing the music differently, even though the line between disco and hip-hop was very blurry early on, with many hip-hop crews (including BOM's own) incorporating "disco" into their names. D. J. Hollywood;DJ Kool Herc Disco dancing;Disco music;Hip-hop;Hip-hop--Influence 0 9058 Hip Hop Culture Courses PC: Now tell us about the hip hop culture courses that you give at area charter schools. Are you allowed to talk about that? BOM: I could talk about just what I've been doing my whole life! Ever since the 80's I've been going to centers teaching about graff, about the culture of writing. My culture when I talk is first about the Bronx, and then about how I spread it in New York. And my spread went from New York to all around America, and then when I got tired of America then I went overseas. BOM speaks briefly about the classes he gives to student-aged community members in schools and community centers about hip-hop culture and graffiti. He emphasizes how the culture mirrors himself in ever more expanding opportunities. It is rooted in the Bronx but took him all over the city, then the country, then the world. Culturally relevant pedagogy;Education in art 0 9579 What does the Bronx mean? PC: We like to end the interviews with this one question: What does the Bronx mean to you? BOM: My family. My family, my community, the place that made me who I am to this day. And that's a good person. 'Cause I had been a bad person in another way. So it made me a good person and gave me knowledge. All the education and things I learned from the Bronx I can spread through the world. The Bronx holds a personal meaning for BOM as the community which made him a good person, which educated him and put him in a place to educate others. He attaches this fact to his Afro-Puerto Rican identity, but says that his experience with members of all ethnic communities in the Bronx also convinced him of the unity of the human race. Bronx 0 9655 Tag BOM5 does a couple of passes at writing his tag for the Bronx County Archives 0 Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on April 13, 2023 with BOM5, a graffiti writer and artist. BOM5 was born in Puerto Rico and migrated to the Bronx with his parents as a young child. In his oral history, BOM5 speaks about his family's migration to New York City in search of work and a better life. He discusses growing up on 175th Street and Hoe Ave in the east Bronx and his families adjustment to their new home. He speaks of his first experiences, as a 9-year old, writing gang graffiti as a young Savage Skull member, interactions with other gangs, both good and bad, and learning how to tattoo. BOM5 recalls racking not just spray paint but also food items and clothes to help support his family of 10 siblings. The interviewers Butch2, a pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP) and Pastor Crespo, Jr., research librarian and archivist for The Bronx County Historical Society. The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) video Content may be utilized only for non-commercial purposes so long as equal sharing privileges are preserved and the following attribution is included: "Courtesy of The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library." 0 https://viewer.mybcpl.org/viewer.php?cachefile=/render.php?cachefile= Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with BOM 5 Description An account of the resource Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on April 13, 2023 with BOM5, a graffiti writer and artist. BOM5 was born in Puerto Rico and migrated to The Bronx with his parents as a young child. In his oral history, BOM 5 speaks about his family's migration to New York City in search of work and a better life. He discusses growing up on 175th Street and Hoe Ave in the east Bronx and his family's adjustment to their new home. He speaks of his first experiences as a 9-year old writing gang graffiti as a young Savage Skull member, interactions with other gangs, both good and bad, and learning how to tattoo. BOM 5 recalls racking not just spray paint but also food items and clothes to help support his family of ten siblings. The interviewers are BUTCH 2, pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP), a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library, and Pastor Crespo, Jr., research librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023.04.13 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP.20230413 BOM 5 graffiti Savage Skulls Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Description An account of the resource The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a collaboration between Kurt Boone, veteran documentarian of urban culture in New York City, and Dr. Steven Payne, librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. The project aims to document the early years of the graffiti arts movement in The Bronx through recording oral histories and collecting tags from surviving Bronx pioneers of the art form. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boone, Kurt BUTCH 2 Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Payne, Steven Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:58:06 Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview BUTCH 2 Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed REE Location The location of the interview The Bronx, NY OHMS Object Embedded OHMS XML file https://oralhistory.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/viewer.php?cachefile=OH-BAADP.20230406.xml Interview Format Audio or Video Video OHMS Content Content of OHMS Index/Transcript for searching (Hidden) 5.4 Interview with REE OH-BAADP.20230406 0:58:06 OH-BAADP Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Bronx Oral History Center This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. bxoralhistory REE (Fred Vilomar) Butch2 MP4 ree-vilomar-oral-history-baadp-2023-04-06.mp4 Undefined 1 https://youtu.be/aWdjHDz59hc YouTube video English 0 Introduction B: Welcome to the Bronx aerosol arts documentary project. My name's Butch 2, and I am joined by REE. Welcome Ree. R: Thank You, welcome to be here. B: Please introduce yourself! R: Hi, my name is Ree, A.K.A. OPAL, PRAD 174, PULL 174, UNIT 2, I did so many different names that I'll go more or less giving you the history on their stories. Narrator REE, a graffiti pioneer and founding member of the MTA (Mad Transit Artists) Crew and Interviewer Butch 2, another graffiti pioneer and liaison for the Bronx County Historical Society, introduce themselves. Butch 2 (Graffiti artist);Ree (Graffiti artist) Graffiti 0 31 Family History B: Tell us a little bit about your parents: family history, background. R: Family history, um, I came to the Bronx in 1967 of November. And I came to my mom's house. My father stood back in Dominican Republic. I was raised by my moms, my uncles, and cousins, and aunts: family members on my mothers side. B: Give us a little breakdown, like tell us about your aunts and uncles. Was it a big family? R: It was a big family! As a matter of fact one of my oldest brothers he wrote RAY 179. Ree describes his early life in the Dominican Republic. He was raised by his great grandparents until the age of 5 when he was sent to live with his mother in the Bronx. He discusses playing a game with an explosive ball, as well as and the circumstances around his being sent to live in the US. migration Dominican Americans;Dominican Republic 0 268 Growing Up in the Bronx B: Tell us about growing up on Daly, I know Daly. R: Growing up on Daly Avenue, I don't know if you noticed it or pictured it this way; Daly Avenue runs from 180th at the edge of the Bronx Zoo all the way to the Cross Bronx Expressway, which is still a One Way Street. I lived at 1891 Daly Avenue at the very edge of the Cross Bronx Expressway. B: That like 174th R: No, No, 174th is further down, it's 176th. Right where the Cross Bronx is done. And by growing up in that particular building it was to me, early 70th and late 60s all I have is good memories of being out there. Playing Ringolevio, Pony on the.... Anything that was meant to be played before 7:00 we was out there playing it. B: Right. Skelsies, R: Skelsies, Crack Top, Spin the Bottle, anything that was a game. Ree discusses his early childhood in the Bronx on Daly Avenue. He would often play Ringolevio and Skelzies with the other neighborhood children. The only radio station he can remember listening to was the Soft Rock on WABC. He attended P.S. 6 and P.S. 118 Lorraine Hansberry. He listened to a lot of R&B and Salsa. Ree first saw graffiti on a wall, and then could not stop seeing it everywhere. He was from then on compelled to tag. He began writing in 1973 but the height of his writing career was 1975-1977. He credits the relative affordability of graffiti compared to other outlets of artistic expression to graffiti's popularity in the Bronx. When graffiti became a felony offense in 1977 Ree stopped painting to avoid a much more severe penalty than he had been risking. Children--New York (State);Cross Bronx Expressway Bronx (New York, N.Y.);Children's Games 0 733 Early Writing B: Alright well tell us about your early years of graff. What were the first times in the yard, anything. R: I started off on Broadway, and coming in from the 1 yard which is very difficult. You had to jump in and out. That 1 yard was located on Van Cortlandt Park. And it was elevated and the rest was flat. So for me to get to that 1 yard I had to go through an obstacle course. Meaning I had to get past certain individuals to make it up that hill. To come down that hill to go across. So, it wasn't easy! And I still have tags inside the 1 yard. And then I learned about the 1 tunnel, that was a piece of cake! That was, going there for lunch, come out, go back in there again, spend the weekend in there if you had to! That's how wonderful and skillful that area was. Some of Ree's earliest writing was at the 1 train yard, which was a very difficult yard to enter. He soon began to prefer the 1 tunnel, which was comparatively easier to enter. He also speaks about his relationship with Chino Malo, the president of MTA, who was Ree's writing partner through the height of Ree's writing career. MTA––Mad Transit Artists (Graffiti group) Graffiti 0 1176 Train Accident B: There was a story about a friend that you had that was struck by a train in the 70s. R: It was me! B: MEAN? R: Me! Me! B: Right. You were struck by the train? R: I was struck. B: I never knew that R: See that scar that I have on my head? B: I see it. R: That scar was, I think, I could be wrong, 75-76. It was me, POW, TED, LIZ, Z28, POLE. The thing was we all worked together. [inaudible] MOOSE 106... We all worked for the Youth Corps and yeah so we never took care of the kids the kids took care of us. All we did was give them lunch so haha. That particular day we were supposed to meet up by my house and catch the train going into the city so we could all meet up. The rest, the kids and everything were going to Bear Mountain. So I get on at Tremont Ave and before I hit 174 I had this scar across my head. While he was being medicated, he slowed down, but picked right back up. Ree discusses his experience with a train accident as well as the dangers of painting in the tunnels in general. He was struck between Tremont Avenue and 174th Street while riding the train. He was sticking his head out the window trying to get a good look of the tunnel graffiti and was hit by a signal. He didn't lose consciousness and made it home on his own power. He was mostly worried about his mother being mad, which she was and he got an earful, but got to Lebanon hospital where he received over 40 stitches. Subway accident;Subway stations--New York (State) Accident victims;Subway line;Subway stations;Subway tunnels 0 1509 Crews –– MTA B: What about some of your crews, man? Mad Transit Artists? Stuff like that they go way back. R: Well me and Chino came out with Master Taggers Association. And it was just local until it got to the point where I told Chino, yo, we gotta take it up––take it to the next level. We'd been going to Broadway, we'd been tagging it up, but let's make statements. And Chino says, "well, you know, we can do it it's just that we don't have enough guys." I said just you and I doing it! We don't need no more everyone else will just follow suit. And that's exactly what took place. And he listened to me from that point, he was very happy with it. ... B: Any other crews? R: Yeah yeah yeah, at that point when I started moving on up like they say I ran into different crews, crew members, and they gave me their blessings of taking place with their crews. I met a lot of guys along the way such as yourself. Ree discusses the formation of MTA, as well as his role in the leadership of it. According to REE, CHINO MALO did not believe they could go from a local to an all-city crew without recruiting, but REE convinced him to just start, and the recruits would follow. This did occur, and REE had a much bigger role in MTA from then on. He remained vice-president, however with CHINO being the president. He also mentions some other crews. MTA––Mad Transit Artists (Graffiti group) Graffiti;Graffiti artist groups;Graffiti artists 0 1601 Piecing Technique B: Alright well, you know what, walk us through the process of doing a piece, like if I wanna be a writer. R: The process of doing a piece. You want it in the yard? In the Layup? In the tunnel? Because it's different heights. People don't realize the wheels play a big factor in the game. If I'm in the 1 yard the wheels were up to my chin, so I had to either step on the third rail to get a good height from window-down to make it work. If I'm in the 2 layup, I worked the 2 layup and you've worked the 2 layup as well. I worked station to station. I found the bad way that painting in between stations you constantly have to be alert. Meaning the uptown train is gonna be coming every half hour. So from the corner of your eye you gotta constantly keep an eye out for that light. It's not like painting in the station because once that train pulls up into that particular station, I'm here. I have to find a safe place to be, meaning under the car or in between cars just to let that train go by so I can continue painting. It was a process. Now painting on the station was cutting the process down in half. Meaning I don't have to hide under the car no more I can come back and stand on the platform and be on the platform. And on top of that in the middle of the station there's two bars on each side on the uptown side and the downtown side. Stand on top of the bar, which you pulled off a lot of top-to-bottoms from there, I said to myself this is great! I don't have to be short no more I'm the same height or maybe a little smaller depending on the height that we are. And I felt that more exciting because yes you're paying attention but you're also paying attention to the people on the platform. Ree speaks about all sorts of issues of technique, including getting into yards, finding ways to get up to the height of the trains, transporting paint, and so on. We get a lot of detail about actually navigating in the tunnels. For instance, working through the different tubes and internal elevation changes. He preferred painting on trains pulled into a station because it offered an ease of access to the deceptively tall trains that is not available deeper in the tunnels. It also offered excitement in the form of an audience on the platform. New York (N.Y.). Transit Police Department;Racking;Subway line;Subway stations;Subway tunnels Art--Technique;Electric railroads--Rolling stock;Graffiti;Railroads--Rolling stock 0 2339 Documentation: Photos and Blackbooks B: I have a couple of categories: taking photos and blackbooks. Did you ever get into photos, the little yellow instamatics? R: I got into photos late in the game, but I wasn't good at it because I'm not a photographer. I wasn't skilled to be a photographer. It was just, you know, oh hey [makes shutter sound]. Whatever came out came out because it wasn't digitized like it is today. Again, that was another racking day. I went to Alfred E. Smith High School. Korvettes was on 3rd Avenue. So I used to go there to get my film. And on that film, 35 to 110 to 126. On the back came an envelope to mail it out. So that was just another tool of the trade to know as you went through the racking business. B: All right, blackbooks. Tell me about blackbooks when did you first save them, give them to someone to hit, when did that hit? R: Blackbooks, with me, I wasn't a blackbook person because of what I experienced, what took place at the bench. At the bench you, B: They might've took your book. R: Well to me it didn't matter because I wasn't a blackbook person, but I have seen guys, "Yo take my book" and two months later, "yo what happened to my blackbook?" "Oh that was yours, man? I passed it to Moe and Moe passed it to Curly and what do you know you're not getting it back." Butch asks Ree if he had any experience with the graffiti photography and blackbook aspect of writing culture. Ree says he did do a little photography but found he had little talents in it. His blackbooks kept getting stolen so he stopped getting them and getting other writers to hit them. 80's sketchbook;Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.;Sketchbooks & albums Instant photography;Instant photography--Films;Racking 0 2531 Preferred Brands B: Any particular colors or brands of spray paint or markers that you preferred? R: Well when it came to spray paint, to me, Red Devil was the ultimate paint for me. The reason why I felt: I made mistakes, plenty of mistakes. But the Red Devil always seemed to cover my mistakes. There were some yellows, some oranges, and some pineapple looking colors from Wet Look that you put it on and if it doesn't have a good outline on it that's gonna look like garbage. I trusted a lot the Red Devil can to give me a good outline. But, I also love Rust-Oleum. Rust-Oleum to me, the marlin blue, the cascade greens, all federal safety colors, we to me the ultimate crime weapon. Meaning every time you go to rack them they're not there no more! It was search and destroy! Ree preferred Red Devil spray paint above all other brands due to its supreme opacity. It was able to cover up mistakes that other brands would still leave visible. Ree also appreciated Rustoleum, however for their range of colors, which became rare because of how desirable they were. Jifoam oven cleaner;Niagara spray starch;Red-Devil spray enamel Rust-Oleum (Firm);Spray paint;Spray painting 0 2622 Graffiti Then and Now B: Whatcha working on now? What have you been up to lately? R: Lately I have been working on canvases and also, you know, keeping myself occupied. Painting within legal walls and stuff like that. B: You have any paint partners today? R: Paint partners? I have a few that keep me up and going. CLYDE, and Frankie FTD 56. They're still with me and doing our things/ Ree talks about what he has been doing lately, and the people he has been doing it with. He speaks about the differences in his graffiti experience from the outlaw day to the legal art scene he is a participant in nowadays. He also discusses the role of gallery art in the wider graffiti movement, and how he sees himself fitting in that scene. He keeps busy painting legal walls and the occasional canvas, but he's slowed down on gallery shows. Graffiti;Graffiti artists 0 3275 The Bronx B: One question: What is the Bronx? R: The Bronx is home. The Bronx has been in my life ever since it came into my life. Like, I live in Jersey, yes but my heart still stays in the Bronx. B: A lot of guys are going to Jersey. How, if you don't mind, how did you have the privilege or luck to get to Jersey? R: The privilege or luck of how I found my way to Jersey was 9/11. When those two planes hit the towers, I was living in Flatbush, Brooklyn. At the scene what I saw with my own eyes and I couldn't move from where I was to that place. Meaning I was working on 14th St. but I couldn't get to work because all the trains were being shut down. So once my wife's brother explained to me, listen, you could live in Jersey but it doesn't have to be deep into Jersey. B: Right on the other side of the Bridge, beautiful. R: Right across the Bridge. The Bronx, for Ree, is home more than anything else. It's a place of culture and of origination, but as Ree moves around the word he associates with the Bronx without a second's hesitation is "home." He also tells the story of how 9/11 precipitated his move to New Jersey on the suggestion of his brother-in-law. Bronx County (N.Y.) Bronx;Bronx (New York, N.Y.) 0 3417 Tag Ree writes his tag for the Bronx County Archives. Graffiti;Graffiti artists 0 Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on April 6, 2023 with Ree, a pioneering graffiti writer and artist. REE is a Dominican-born immigrant raised in the South Bronx. In his oral history, Ree talks about immigrating from the Dominican Republic with his mother and four siblings in 1967 and growing up on Daley Ave. He speaks about his introduction to graffiti, his development as a writer, and his personal "golden years" of graffiti writing from 1975 to 1977, and his decision to stop racking when he turned 18 years old to avoid the felony charges as an adult. He speaks of "Chino Malo" as a major influence to his graffiti writing and his ventures getting in and out of train yards and tunnels. Ree details an incident where he was struck by a train while he was still in junior high school. He also speaks about his future exhibits with other pioneering graffiti artists and his continued work on canvas today. The interviewer Butch2, a pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP) is a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) video Content may be utilized only for non-commercial purposes so long as equal sharing privileges are preserved and the following attribution is included: "Courtesy of The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library." 0 https://viewer.mybcpl.org/viewer.php?cachefile=/render.php?cachefile= Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with REE Description An account of the resource Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on April 6, 2023 with Ree (Fred Vilomar), a pioneering graffiti writer and artist. REE is a Dominican immigrant raised in the South Bronx. In his oral history, Ree talks about immigrating from the Dominican Republic with his mother and four siblings in 1967 and growing up on Daley Ave. He speaks about his introduction to graffiti, his development as a writer, his personal "golden years" of graffiti writing from 1975 to 1977, and his decision to stop racking when he turned 18 to avoid felony charges as an adult. He speaks of "Chino Malo" as a major influence to his graffiti writing and his ventures getting in and out of train yards and tunnels. Ree details an incident where he was struck by a train while he was still in junior high school. He also speaks about his future exhibits with other pioneering graffiti artists and his continued work on canvas today. The interviewer is BUTCH 2, pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP), a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023.04.06 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP.20230406 graffiti REE Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Description An account of the resource The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a collaboration between Kurt Boone, veteran documentarian of urban culture in New York City, and Dr. Steven Payne, librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. The project aims to document the early years of the graffiti arts movement in The Bronx through recording oral histories and collecting tags from surviving Bronx pioneers of the art form. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boone, Kurt BUTCH 2 Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Payne, Steven Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:04:35 Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview BUTCH 2 Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed OLGA Location The location of the interview The Bronx, NY OHMS Object Embedded OHMS XML file https://oralhistory.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/viewer.php?cachefile=OH-BAADP.20230331.xml Interview Format Audio or Video Video OHMS Content Content of OHMS Index/Transcript for searching (Hidden) 5.4 Interview with OLGA OH-BAADP.20230331 01:04:35 OH-BAADP Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Bronx Oral History Center This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. bxoralhistory Olga Correa Butch2 MP4 olga-correa-baadp-oral-history-2023-03-31.mp4 Undefined 1 https://youtu.be/aD9ZTXRFTzU YouTube video English 0 Introduction B2: Welcome to the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary, my name is Butch II (Two), on my right we have Pastor Crespo, and I believe in the house we also have Steve, Steve Payne and we got a couple friends sitting and watching. And I'd like you to introduce yourself to everyone. O: Hi my name is Olga Correa, I'm a native of the Bronx, and I'm excited to be here. B2: Thank you Interviewer Butch II introduces himself and the project, the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project, as well as the oral history narrator, OLGA. Art;Bronx (New York, N.Y.);Correa, Olga;Graffiti 0 30 Coming to the Bronx, Family Background B2: When you say native of the Bronx, you were born here in the Bronx? O: I was born in Puerto Rico but I came here when I was less than two years old. B2: How did that happen? O: Looking for work, you know, the Bronx... A lot of Puerto Ricans migrated to the Bronx. And it was factories. My grandmother and my mother were seamstresses so it was a big industry in the Bronx when it came to the factories where there were women who were seamstresses. B2: What year was that was this the 50s? O: It was sixty- B2: Oh early sixties O: 'Sixty-Five Olga discusses her birth in Puerto Rico, her parents coming over to New York for work, and settling in the Lower East Side and then eventually the Bronx. Her mother and grandmother worked in the textile industry which had many factories in the Bronx in the mid-60s when they came over. Her father had a mechanics shop in the lower east side. Puerto Rico Art, Puerto Rican;Bronx;Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.);Puerto Rican children;Puerto Rican women 0 238 Education B2: What about your Junior High School, Public School? O: Across the Street! Still there. B2: What school is that? O: I started at PS 60. That's between Prospect and Rogers Place. And then I went to I.S. 116 which is right on Tiffany so I was literally right across the street. And then when we moved to Simpson my mother made sure that I applied to schools in Manhattan. She wanted me to be a little bit more cultured and have that opportunity. B2: That must've been an early influence for you. O: Oh absolutely. She made it a point. There was no if, ands, or buts about it. B2: And you wound up at what High School? O: High School of Art and Design. Olga surveys her educational history beginning with the schools she attended in her neighborhood. When she was old enough to be applying for High Schools, her mother insisted that she attend school in Manhattan to "be closer to culture." A teacher recommended that she do something with her interest in drawing, and collect a portfolio to apply to High School of Art and Design, which she eventually attended and set her on the path to the world of commercial art and design. High School for Art and Design (New York, N.Y.) Education;New York City Schools;Public Education 0 673 Introduction to Hip Hop and Graffiti O: The first jam that I went to was Grandmaster Flash and it was Theodore. They used to jam at Casita Maria. So that was my introduction. B2: Where is that at? O: On 163rd Street in the East Side of the Bronx. While they plugged in at the block party and then we brought it inside to the community center, I was there! That was my first job at that community center. Olga speaks about her introduction to Hip Hop at a jam at Casita Maria Center, a community center, where Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizzard Theodore were spinning. Incidentally, Casita Maria was also her first job. Olga grew up alongside Hip Hop and speaks about what a strange experience it was to have Hip Hop evolve along with her life. Grand Wizzard Theodore;Grandmaster Flash;Livingston, Theodore Community centers;Hip-hop 0 891 Joy and Life in the "Burning Bronx" B2: You were there for the burnt-down Bronx! O: Yeah, absolutely. B2: Yeah, I was too, but it wasn't a bad thing, just what we had! Played in the vacant lots... O: Yeah, I got scars in my knees to prove it! You know, that was our background. The dirty mattress, that was our trampoline. The fire escape, we used to sleep there and all our friends would come up and put pillows, put the little TV there in the window. The whole summer we could chill! Olga discusses her experience of the so-called "burning Bronx," and how while everyone else seemed so horrified by the condition of the South Bronx at the time, her childhood memories remain quite joyful. She reminisces about the mattress-trampolines, and summers hanging out on the fire escape and swimming in the mobile pool truck, known as Swimmobiles. swimmobile Bronx;Bronx (New York, N.Y.);Summer Activities 0 1034 Later Education B2: How did you move from Art and Design to Fashion? Well first you made it through Art and Design! O: I am a graduate, thank you! A lot of people, you know... B2: A lot of stuff is going around. That's a plus O: I had to. It was the only way I was able to elevate to where I was. I had to. My mother sacrificed, my family sacrificed. B2: Did you ever sit down with her and discuss the mission? What we doing here and what we gotta do or what we need to do to get where we going? Did you ever have that conversation? O: No, back then we just listened to your parents. Listen to what you're supposed to do. B2: No reason, just O: You don't talk back! Olga discusses graduating from Art and Design and attending the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). She also speaks about how her experience being raised by her community as a whole in the neighborhood shaped her own goals in achieving at school and her career. Her mother's profession as a seamstress also brought her into the fashion world. Garment Industry;Seamstress;Sewing Bronx;Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.);neighborhood 0 1320 Professional Career in Fashion O: So I graduated in June, I got my first fashion design job in August. B2: Where at? O: Elco Imports. So we was an importer. So we would get––I did a lot of men and boys, so Bugle Boy, French Toast, all those designs were mine. We did a lot of department stores: Sears, back then Woolworth's had clothing so I would do all the baby lines and whatever. So we had import from just different factories. And then one of my bosses, Eliot [unk.], his wife worked at J. Crew so I got to do a women's line at J.Crew! After graduating from FIT, Olga gets a fashion design job with an importer. She had a number of prolific designs with clothes sold at Sears and Woolworths but because the designs were owned by the company and officially corporately authored, she was never credited. Some of her high-profile work included a women's line at J. Crew and the Ocean Pacific silkscreens, including a life is a beach design based on california, a place she had never been. Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.);J.Crew Advertising--Clothing and dress;Children's clothing industry;Clothing factories;garment industry 0 1490 Picking Up Graffiti B2: So when did you first get the graff bug? When did you wanna pick up some spray paint? O: Funny enough, 2019. B2: Recently! Well that's not recent but it's recent. O: Yeah! Because after the 15 years working as a fashion designer, I had my first child. And in art, in fashion, in practically every part of art there's no health benefits. And living in the Bronx there's a high percentage of asthma. So she was born with asthma and here goes all of my funding trying to pay for medical expenses. So a college friend of mine said, "why don't you come work for the city?" You know she had not wanted to do anything with art so she went into the social service. And at that time the benefits were phenomenal. And there was a pension! So I said alright let me do it for two years. And that's how I landed in the department of social services. Olga speaks about how she got separated from her artistic outlet in her job when she came to work for the city. What was meant as a temporary job in order to reap the health benefits for her asthmatic child turned into a 25+ year career. Going to art shows again and introducing herself had her old friends wondering where she had gone off too. Her lunchtime drawing notebooks became a portfolio shopped to galleries had Olga in a solo show in no time at all. Support from Wallworks assured she sold all of her pieces. New York (City). Department of Social Services. Department of Services Art Gallery (New York, N.Y.);Graffiti;Mural painting and decoration;Painting--Technique 0 2024 Show and Tell B2: What you got––the little goodies you brought? O: Oh yeah, so this is my diary! B2: And in there is all drawings yeah! O: It's all drawings for every night or... B2: And that's consistent. That's what keeps you up that consistency. O: Well you know a woman I work with at social services she says I need a release. If I'm not dining in a fancy restaurant having my dinner, I sit home. So sometimes I'll do colors of it where I express myself at all that. Olga shows off some objects from her personal collection, including her sketchbook diary and keychain-sized blackbook she helped popularize. 0 2286 Reflection On Art and Mentorship O: I'm doing workshops at libraries I have two coming up. B2: Where? O: Morrison and I can't remember the other one. I usually put it on my instagram because they give me the fliers. So I love doing workshops with kids because I make sure that the kids understand that big brother is watching. Do not tag up. Like I'm prideful that I graduated from college, I graduated from high school, I wasn't a teenage mom, I don't do drugs, I never went to jail. All of the above still living in the south bronx. Olga speaks about the importance of mentorship in general as well as in art specifically. She speaks as both a mentee and mentor. Having that support is, for her, incredibly important for children to actualize themselves, for instance to turn their tag into a logo and sell t-shirts. This is a lesson she already applied to her own daughters. She, for instance, enabled both of them to start tattooing on the side. Surveillance in art Business and education;Early childhood education;Mentor 0 2566 Family and Puerto Rican identity B2: OK so what do you consider yourself? You already said you were born in Puerto Rico and you came to America at 2 years old, moved to Tiffany Street, junior high school, and public school. What do you identify as? Are you Puerto Rican, Nuyorican? O: Yeah I'm Puerto Rican. I'm Puerto Rican. Both parents were Puerto Rican. Um, if you see my parents they're dark-skinned. It's funny because I relate more with black, but back in the 60s and 70s Puerto Ricans and Blacks didn't divide. So I don't understand this culture where we divide. Like I don't understand because Puerto Ricans are black, but, you know that's a whole other––So when people ask me what are you, both my parents are from Puerto Rico, I was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York but I don't call myself a Nuyorican. If you wanna classify me––In Puerto Rico they classify me as Nuyorican because I speak really bad Spanish hahaha! Olga discusses her ethnic and racial identity. She describes herself as Puerto Rican, but she also identifies with Black because in her upbringing there was no divide made between Puerto Rican and Black. She does not consider herself Nuyorican, but Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico do, due to her poor Spanish skills, which she only picked up when starting her social service job. Puerto Rico Ethnic identity;New York (N.Y.)--Race relations;Nuyorican;Puerto Rican experience;Puerto Rican women 0 2862 Skeme B2: I got one more topic that I was gonna probably bring up. You talked about mentoring but from what you say mentors come in disguise all through life. O: I would say that yes. B2: Someone that sticks by you and really wanna guide and put you under the wing. You had brought up a mentor in graff is that your graffiti mentor? O: Skeme is, absolutely. B2: What did you learn? O: Oh my god, so when I had my solo show Skeme hit me up on DM and he said––and I had met him at his solo show when he had–– B2: Was that that little spot on Twelfth Street... 212 Gallery? O: Yes. And then I think maybe two years later I had my solo show and he follows me on instagram and I didn't even though and he said, "I really wanna put you under my wing," because me and him have similar styles. We have our name and then a character that represents us. That's us. And he's like, "I think it's phenomenal and I need to support women. We never take them under our wing like we should. I going to Chicago you wanna go?" I'm like are you serious? Olga discusses the role of Skeme in mentoring her career in graffiti art. He saw that they worked with similar styles and wanted to support more women in the scene, whom he felt had been neglected by the veteran men up to that point. He brings her to Chicago and immediately asks for 30 canvases for a show and guided her through the process. He instructed Olga on how to take her art to the next level with huge canvases and found street objects, which she excels at. Art galleries, Commercial Graffiti;Mentoring;Skeme (Graffiti artist) 0 3193 The Bronx B2: I got one more question: What do you think I say The Bronx; what do feel about the Bronx? What is the Bronx to you? O: Culture. Music, dance, graffiti, fashion. We started it all, stop playing! Everything: Food, community, everything. This is where it started. So this is to show that every country is teaching that in their schools as part of their curriculum because they are so fascinated by what is the reason for that. It's home! Olga speaks about the significance of the Bronx to her. It is primarily an impressive site of culture for Olga, the origin of so much important world fashion, music, and art. It also is, of course, her home and she is incredibly proud to live here. Graffiti Bronx;Bronx (New York, N.Y.);Bronx County (N.Y.) 0 3270 Tag and discussion of Upcoming, BG183, and Bronx Terminal B2: I wanted to ask you to tag my book! O: Let's go! B2: I'll give you a page. Closing up, as the culmination of this project we're gonna have a big block party. Have you seen the Bronx Historic––that little house across the street? O: Yes B2: They're gonna do the landscaping and clean up the yard. There's gonna be DJs, there's gonna be art. I think BG might be a part of it. O: I got a lot of love for BG. B2: I saw a picture of him going back and I was like, wow now I think I know this dude! O: Yeah we lived in adjoining buildings. Man, his work has improved 1000%. While presenting a tag for the BCHS archives, Olga discusses upcoming shows and projects. She is excited about her role as a judge for a competition marking the celebration of a street renaming after Black Benjie, whose death sparked the 1971 New York City gang truce. She also speaks about her close relationship with BG183 who opened up space for her in the Bronx Terminal space he is involved with. Tats Cru (Group) Bronx;Graffiti 0 Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on March 31, 2023 with OLGA, a Puerto Rican born graffiti writer raised in the South Bronx where she currently resides. In her oral history OLGA speaks about her experience applying to Art & Design high school, graduating from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and the influences that helped mold her into the artist she is today. OLGA talks about her career in the fashion industry working for high-end clothing lines and her 25-year career working for the City of New York while continuing to pursue her art career. The interviewer Butch2, a pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP) is a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) video Content may be utilized only for non-commercial purposes so long as equal sharing privileges are preserved and the following attribution is included: "Courtesy of The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library." 0 https://viewer.mybcpl.org/viewer.php?cachefile=/render.php?cachefile= Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with OLGA Description An account of the resource Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on March 31, 2023 with OLGA, a Puerto Rican graffiti writer raised in the South Bronx where she currently resides. In her oral history OLGA speaks about her experience applying to Art and Design high school, graduating from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and the influences that helped mold her into the artist she is today. OLGA talks about her career in the fashion industry working for high-end clothing lines and her 25-year career working for the City of New York while continuing to pursue her art career. The interviewer is Butch2, pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP), a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023.03.31 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP.20230331 graffiti OLGA Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Description An account of the resource The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a collaboration between Kurt Boone, veteran documentarian of urban culture in New York City, and Dr. Steven Payne, librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. The project aims to document the early years of the graffiti arts movement in The Bronx through recording oral histories and collecting tags from surviving Bronx pioneers of the art form. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boone, Kurt BUTCH 2 Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Payne, Steven Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:01:57 Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview BUTCH 2 Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed SCRATCH Location The location of the interview The Bronx, NY OHMS Object Embedded OHMS XML file https://oralhistory.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/viewer.php?cachefile=OH-BAADP.20230328.xml Interview Format Audio or Video Video OHMS Content Content of OHMS Index/Transcript for searching (Hidden) 5.4 Interview with SCRATCH OH-BAADP.20230328 01:01:57 OH-BAADP Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Bronx Oral History Center This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. bxoralhistory SCRATCH Butch2 MP4 scratch--oral-history-2023-03-28.mp4 Undefined 1 https://youtu.be/V48DzcKqYi8 YouTube video English 0 Introduction Butch II (B): Welcome to the Bronx Graffiti Arts Documentary Project. My name is Butch2 and I am joined by Jenny SCRATCH. Please introduce yourself! SCRATCH (JS): Hi I'm SCRATCH, I'm originally from Stockholm, Sweden and I started writing graffiti in 1989. Interviewer Butch2 introduces himself and the narrator SCRATCH, a graffiti writer and muralist from Stockholm. Oral history Graffiti;Graffiti artists;Scratch (Graffiti artist) 0 22 Family Background B: Can you tell us a bit about your parents? Family history? JS: Yes so my mom is Swedish, my dad is Italian. I was raised by my mom in Stockholm so I don't speak Italian. Scratch introduces her family and her early life in Sweden. She was raised in Stockholm by her Swedish mother. Her Italian father did not live with them and thus she does not speak Italian. She comes from a blended family which gave her 7 total siblings. Her mother worked nights as a Nurse Assistance, while her step-father, who she was living with, was a Computer Programmer. As a girl she went to horseback riding lessons and spend summers in the country where her grandmother lived. She was a very active student. Experiences in high school led her to do an intensive one year of university and got a certificate in advertising which brought her to New York with an internship. Education, Higher--Sweden;Stockholm (Sweden);Stockholm (Sweden)--Buildings, structures, etc. Education--Sweden;Girls--Books and reading--Sweden--History--20th century;Sweden 0 497 First Graffiti Experiences/Graffiti School B: Now I wanna backtrack for a minute and ask you about that "Infamous Graffiti School." Could you tell me about that? JS: So back in 1989 back in Stockholm, Sweden, around February they opened for the public. B: Who's they? The Infamous Graffiti School you're talking about? JS: Right, so what they did was, it was a few different organizations who went together and they somehow came up with this idea to do this school, I don't remember if it was a writer. Someone came up with the idea to do it. B: Was it something like what the Hall of Fame is like? They just had big walls for everybody? Nothing like that? JS: No, so what they had was they started it and they hired one artist that was kind of considered like a street artist. He started and he got like a bucket and brush and paint on the walls in Stockholm. His name was the Hulk, the Swedish name for the hulk, Hulken. The Hulk in English. And they hired some other artists to help, to teach, right? So they gave us a space it was an abandoned school, cause they figured, you know, there might be some destruction I guess. They have us like an old workshop school classroom that we were in and they gave us paint, you know. Scratch was working in advertising as an art director for a graphic design firm. In Sweden, a few different organizations created a graffiti school which hired artists to teach graffiti to youths in an abandoned school and sponsored by paint companies and the swedish transportation authority (which did not quite achieve its goal of keeping graffiti off the trains). Back then she painted solely panthers and when she went bombing she wrote PANTHER. At the time SCRATCH was a purely legal-wall name. When she came to New York she passed the Five Pointz building and was put on to the spot. Every day she would stop by and practice on a particle board. Five Pointz;Graffiti;Stockholm Graffiti School (1989-1990);Swedsh Graffiti 0 1030 Five Pointz Graffiti Classes B: Were you ever into racking paint? Did you ever rack paint? JS: Well, remember back then you used to have all those big bomber jackets and you know [mimes throwing cans inside jacket] and then you'd walk like this [waddles] So yeah I might have done that. Scratch talks about the free "graffiti classes" Meres would put on at the Five Pointz which is where she really learned how to do her letters. Shoplifting Cohen, Jonathan;Five Pointz;Meres (Graffiti artist) 0 1205 Being an Immigrant B: Let me ask you though, coming to the US through the school program, did you have any problems with immigration or trying to get your visas? J: I mean it's a process, I mean I had I don't know how many hoops to go through. People don't understand how expensive it is. Cause you need to get the lawyer. And then it's like first you need this form, then you need this one and then this one and you need that. And it's a lot of money. I spend probably 10s of Thousands of dollars to get my papers. Scratch speaks about the difficulties she encountered while immigrating into the United States. The primary difficulty she mentions is the financial cost: she paid over $10,000 in the 1990s to get all the necessary papers. Immigration consultants--Legal status, laws, etc.;Immigration issues for the 1990s;Immigration issues in the United States 0 1271 Hall of Fame JS: I met James first at Five Pointz. B: There's another Five Pointz now did you know that? JS: Yeah, well, you know Bushwick Collective also used to be called Five Pointz? ... For me there's only one five pointz, when I was there. Call it something different it's not Five Pointz. That Five Pointz doesn't exist anymore. To go back to the Hall of Fame, I had contacted James about something, and then he was like, "hey, we have this Hall of Fame meeting you should come." And I went to the meeting and I ended up getting a spot. Scratch speaks about her involvement with the graffiti hall of fame, where she painted multiple times. She met James Top (who ran the hall) at Five Pointz. She went to a meeting for the graffiti hall of fame and ended up getting invited to paint. Typical for graffiti, she mentions how hall of fame spots always caused drama. Top, James Graffiti;Graffiti Hall of Fame (Harlem, N.Y.) 0 1515 Connection back to Sweden B: I wanted to ask you about what did your family feel about you leaving Sweden? Did anyone come with you? Did you open the doors for anybody to come through? JS: No I'm the only one. I'm the only one. My dad did not like it, he tried to stop it. It did not work, because I'm more stubborn than he is. I was like, "nope, I'm going!" Scratch is the only one of her family to make the journey to the United States, and actually her family did not originally approve of the move. Swedish American artists;United States--Emigration and immigration 0 1561 Living in New York B: So when you got here where did you first land? I mean you came here to New York, your first apartment? JS: So when I first came here, because I was in school, we were in a dorm in Brooklyn Heights and I went to Pace University. We used to walk over the bridge to save tokens, it was still tokens back then. Scratch speaks about where in New York she has lived and what she remembers from the early days of her time in New York. She first lived in Brooklyn Heights and eventually moved to East Harlem, and been in the same apartment ever since. She recalls fondly the token days of public transport. Brooklyn Heights (New York, N.Y.);East Harlem (New York, N.Y.) International Student Exchange;Pace University 0 1715 Style Inspirations B: As you see new artists come on the scene you wanna know where they're from, what inspires them. When you paint just off the top of your head do you have any inspirations other than your panther? Any other things you like to draw like scenes, lettering? JS: Yeah so I always loved comic books and fantasy and I'm almost inspired especially way back by how creative the graffiti artists were. Because in Sweden we don't call it graffiti writer, we call it graffiti painter. That's how the translation [is]. And some of them they were so talented they had calendars, they had full production walls on buildings back then! So I always wanted to learn how to do production walls, the characters, the letters, everything. And now you see crews like Tats Cru, FX crew, and UW like all those production walls. Scratch speaks about her inspirations in style and in content. She speaks about how graffiti for her is art first, which comes from her experience in Sweden where graffiti writers are not known as writers but as painters [målare]. Large scale production walls which she saw from her childhood were what drew her to graffiti, and she wants to legitimize them as a major part of the practice of graffiti instead of a illegalist purism where tags and throws are king. Tats Cru (Group) Graffiti;Mural painting and decoration, Swedish 0 1887 Involvement in the Scene B: You've been involved with a lot of things. You're involved with a lot of crews, you've painted a lot of walls. JS: Only one crew! B: What crew is that? JS: TOP. That's it, probably. 'Cause James put me down with TOP because I used to help him with a lot of shows. I used to do the posters for him, like the flyers and stuff. So I used to help him with doing that. I used to help him with a lot of shows, I don't even know how many shows over the years. Scratch speaks about her connections in the graffiti world. She has only ever formally been down with one crew, TOP, which is headed by James Top, who runs the graffiti hall of fame. She used to do the posters for James and he repaid her in kind by featuring her in shows, in the HOF a number of years, and generally keeping her connected. She also used to have a close relationship with FEVER. Fever (Graffiti writer);Top, James Art -- Expertise;Art--Influence 0 2942 Becoming an Educator JS: And I also do, now what I've really started enjoying doing, is a lot of graffiti workshops and live painting at events. I do a lot of those and then you work with kids and they don't want you to post that stuff because parents don't want their kids on social media. I've done a lot of those. B: How'd you get plugged into that? JS: So it's also through my friend Angel. She used to do this for this company in Brooklyn. She moved to Florida so she recommended me so I ended up doing it too. So it's kind of cool actually yeah! Scratch speaks about her present engagements, the biggest of which is her educational work doing graffiti workshops and live painting, mostly with children. Art education in action;Art in education 0 2998 Favorite Walls B: So what's some of your most proud work that you've done? What have you done that impresses you? JS: One of my favorite walls that I've done is I did a Ninja Turtle wall at the Hall of Fame in 2014. Because usually when you get a spot and that's it. And for some reason this year I had this idea and I showed it to James and he gave me this little spot. And then suddenly it was a little more, and then a little more, and then a little more, and then I'm like alright! So I just went in and did a full production all by myself. So that was kinda cool because the character, the background, the piece. That was my favorite. I really like that. Scratch speaks about her favorite examples of her own work. The number one is the Ninja Turtle wall she painted in 2014 at the Graffiti Hall of Fame Graffiti;Mural painting and decoration--21st century 0 3157 Creative Firecracker B: I got a question for you. Could you tell me about that Creative Firecracker? JS: Yeah, so Creative Firecracker is my company I started in 2005 to do freelance work and contract work in art direction and graphic design. But then lately I've started getting more art projects, you know do murals, so I kinda just expanded on that. I think my experience as an art director and as a graphic designer in the advertising really helps when you do murals. Usually you get commissioned to do it and they want you to communicate a specific message. Scratch speaks about the company she founded, Creative Firecracker, which she uses to do graphic design, art direction, and murals. She also speaks about how her experience in the advertising industry has affected her artistry. Advertising;Advertising agencies Commercial art;Mural painting and decoration 0 3356 Importance of the Bronx B: OK let me ask you one more question. This is my last question to you. What does the Bronx mean to you? Bronx, New York. JS: Bronx is the birth of graffiti and hip hop! I mean come on that's where it started. For me it's actually one of my favorite places to paint. There's just a different feel when you paint in the Bronx than when you paint anywhere else. I've been fortunate to paint a few different spots in the Bronx. There's a different feel how people respond. Scratch speaks about her feelings on the Bronx. To her, there is a different feeling painting in the Bronx and it is one of her favorite places to paint. It is also of chief importance because of its role as the foundation of hip-hop. Scratch stood out from her peers in Sweden because she preferred hip-hop to the metal which was popular among her age-peers and is grateful to the Bronx for originating it. Graffiti Bronx;Bronx (New York, N.Y.);Hip-hop 0 3439 Tag Scratch writes her tag for the archive and briefly discusses the "Bastard was here" that she sometimes adds to her name. 0 Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on March 28, 2023 with SCRATCH, a Swedish graffiti writer from Stockholm who currently resides in Spanish Harlem. In her oral history SCRATCH speaks about her family background, life growing up in suburban Stockholm, and her introduction to graffiti in Sweden. She talks of her scholarship to Pace University, the U.S. immigration process, her transition to East Harlem and her career in the New York City Graffiti and Art scene. The interviewer are Butch2, pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP) is a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) video Content may be utilized only for non-commercial purposes so long as equal sharing privileges are preserved and the following attribution is included: "Courtesy of The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library." 0 https://viewer.mybcpl.org/viewer.php?cachefile=/render.php?cachefile= Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with SCRATCH Description An account of the resource Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on March 28, 2023 with SCRATCH, a Swedish graffiti writer from Stockholm who currently resides in Spanish Harlem. In her oral history SCRATCH speaks about her family background, life growing up in suburban Stockholm, and her introduction to graffiti in Sweden. She talks of her scholarship to Pace University, the U.S. immigration process, her transition to East Harlem and her career in the New York City Graffiti and Art scene. The interviewer is Butch2, pioneering graffiti writer and community historian for the The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project (BAADP), a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This oral history is brought to you through the support of The New York City Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023.03.28 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP.20230328 graffiti SCRATCH Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Description An account of the resource The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a collaboration between Kurt Boone, veteran documentarian of urban culture in New York City, and Dr. Steven Payne, librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. The project aims to document the early years of the graffiti arts movement in The Bronx through recording oral histories and collecting tags from surviving Bronx pioneers of the art form. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Boone, Kurt BUTCH 2 Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Payne, Steven Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data MP4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 2:01:55 Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Crespo, Pastor, Jr. Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed SEN 1 Location The location of the interview The Bronx, NY OHMS Object Embedded OHMS XML file https://oralhistory.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/viewer.php?cachefile=OH-BAADP.20230118.xml Interview Format Audio or Video Video OHMS Content Content of OHMS Index/Transcript for searching (Hidden) 5.4 Interview with SEN-1 (IBM), Part 2 OH-BAADP.20230118 2:01:55 OH-BAADP Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Bronx Oral History Center This interview made possible through the contribution of Columbia University's Oral History Archives at Columbia (OHAC) and will be dual-listed in a collection there. bxoralhistory SEN-1 (IBM) Crespo, Pastor Jr. MP4 sen-1-part2-oral-history-bgadp-2023-01-18.mp4 Undefined 1 https://youtu.be/d5lPgnlVIIY YouTube video English 0 Introduction Pastor Crespo (PC): Today is Wednesday January 18, 2023 and we are at the Bronx County Historical Society Research Center at 3313 Bainbridge Avenue, The Bronx. I am Pastor Crespo, Jr. the research librarian and archivist, and I am joined for Part 2 of an Oral History for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project with SEN-1 IBM also known as George Morillo a legend within the graffiti community and an original member of the Incredible Bombing Masters IBM. His art has transitioned from NYC subway tunnels and yards to sharing fine art gallery space alongside renowned international artists such as Pablo Picasso. Interviewer Pastor Crespo, Jr. introduces himself and the narrator, SEN-1. Artists--Anecdotes;Artists--United States;Artists--United States--Biography;Contemporary artists;Graffiti 0 91 Afro-Caribbean heritage SEN: The Afro-Caribbean thing is because if you know your culture and you know your history of the Caribbean, you know that the slave trade of America was the slave triangle, which the slaves that were brought in from Africa were transferred into the Caribbean prior to coming to the Americas, so you had the slave triangle and then back to Africa so the ship routes. So the Caribbean is highly influences by our original Arawak people, which people like to say Taino and different tribes, Ciboney and all these other tribes, but when it comes down to the bloodline, our bloodline runs through South America, Central America and so on, and Africa of course, and being that melanated people originate from where? Africa. So also in my blood trait I have the sickle cell anemia trait. Sen discusses his family and ethnic background, how the history of the Caribbean from its indigenous peoples and importance to the Atlantic slave trade has had an enormous impact on his personal consciousness. Arawak Arts, Dominican;Dominican Americans;Dominican Republic;Dominican Republic--Biography;Dominican Republic--History--1961-;Dominican Republic. Policía Nacional (1936- );Haiti;Haiti--Boundaries--Dominican Republic 0 251 Upper West Side/Harlem PC: So what neighborhood did you grow up in? SEN: I grew up in what's like the borderline of what the beginning of what Harlem is. Even though a lot of people consider 110th Street to be Harlem, but my area like 96th Street and Broadway was the Mecca for Afro-Latin Jazz growing up. So pretty much I was born on 95th/94th Street and Amsterdam, I was living in a tenement there, and I would move up to 93rd Street and Columbus. But that area was always under what they would call "Urban Development." So we went through the burnt-down stuff like the Bronx did obviously that was a way of clearing out areas and taking also---people also don't understand that when New York was burning down in the 70s it was part of a bigger plan of taking away property from people of color. Sen describes his neighborhood and its changing landscape over his lifetime. He speaks about how the Upper West Side above 90th Street was more connected to Harlem and the Bronx ("Uptown") than is commonly understood. He speaks about how urban renewal changed his life significantly while living in the neighborhood, as well as why he believes it took place. Its location makes it a unique neighborhood, being equally close to the Bronx as to Midtown. New York (N.Y.). Office of Development. Urban Renewal Unit;Urban renewal--United States Cosmopolitanism;Gentrification;Harlem (New York, N.Y.);Upper West Side (New York, N.Y.) 0 462 La West Side Familia PC: Can you talk about your association with La West Side Familia, how did that begin and your various roles and involvement with them? SEN: Absolutely, that's a major part of my life from youth to now, to this day. So La West Side Familia just to give a quick breakdown is an outlaw gang. It was an era in New York when every community had an outlaw gang. So up here you had everything from the Savage Skulls to the Ching-a-Lings and on and on. The entire city was carved out in sections. The reason this happened is originally, as people of color migrated in a lot of these communities they were not received properly. It was really hostile. Whether it was an Italian community, a Jewish community, whatever it was. They didn't want us there. Sen discusses his relationship with La West Side Familia, an outlaw gang he is a member of. Founded as an offshoot of the Brooklyn La Familia organization, it was part of an era of New York City where there were outlaw gangs in nearly every community. He credits part of its endurance to the fact it was a "mafia-type" organization where members were vetted over a very long period of time before being "made" as members. Its activities, however, extended far beyond the criminal, and included a radical political milieu including the legacy of the Young Lords. Young Lords Party Crime;Crime and race;Gang members;La West Side Familia (Street gang);Outlaw Gang 0 1726 Cyril Innis, Black Panther Party, Politicization PC: Now, an individual you know well. How did you meet Cyril Innis, and what was your involvement with the Black Panthers over the years? SEN: Oh, man Cyril Innis that's Bullwhip man. I got goosebumps. I have many teachers. I've been blessed in my life and cursed in a lot of ways because I've been put into situations, even with La Familia and different things and even with the Graffiti thing, and going further back. I've come across many souls that are amazing, and that's probably why I'm still here. Even when I was a kid and not having a father figure like I said and being on the streets young. I've met people that have been killers. You could consider them from the 70s hit men. You could probably consider them serial killers that are no longer with us. But they were the ones that would see me as a kid in the street and educated me. That taught me things that told me things. That knowledge is something that I carry with me forever and it's probably the reason why I'm alive through everything. Not probably, it's definitely the reason why I'm alive. Also knowledgeable about the stuff that's around me. So getting into that Cyril Innis is an original Black Panther member and Black Liberation Army member from the New York chapters. So he was in the front lines with Afeni Shakur and that whole generation... Sen speaks about his introduction to Cyril Innis, an original Black Panther, as well as their joint role in founding the Black Panther Collective, which SEN was a member of for nearly a decade. SEN also speaks broadly about the relevance of the 1960s and 1970s revolutionary movements to his own politics and the culture at large. Innis, Cyril;Shakur, Afeni;Shakur, Mutulu;Young Lords Party Black Panther Party;Zulu Nation 0 2412 Return to Art SEN: The universe is funny this way. I had hit a low in my life in which everything was falling apart. My mother had passed away, I was losing the job I was at, my marriage was falling apart. Basically everything was coming back to me, the dirt, the karma you could say, was coming back at once. I was at a really low spot. And what happens is my brother gets married for the third time and his wife is a top designer for Diane von Furstenburg whatever her name is and who built that whole campaign for her. And because her name was so hot as a designer, her name is Heather Harlan, she ended up getting this deal with Rachel Roy who was a big designer of color. I hate using black and all this stuff. Back then considered to be the biggest black designer, woman designer, at the time. I like to say melanated. But she was Damon Dash's ex-wife. She was also the one who was also like Michele Obama, Oprah, all them was wearing her dresses, outfits, they were really expensive high end. She got a deal it was bloomingdal---or Macy's deal she ended up getting a deal to make a low, what they would consider a lower end type of fashion which was more for the population that could be in their reach. And she got a complete deal from shoes all the way to bags, everything. It was a complete deal with everything in it. So Heather got hired and the brand was called Rachel Rachel Roy line. She got hired as the top designer because as you guys know these people's names are brands and not necessarily the designers they have people that actually design the stuff for them and they just get credit for. So Heather has this idea, this is back in about 2009, has this idea about graff. Graffiti wasn't hot the way it is right now. Especially not in fashion at all Sen talks about his reentry into the art world through a commission by his brother's wife to paint graffiti for a fashion line sold at Macy's which began anew his art career. Fashion and art;Macy's (Firm);Macy's, Inc. Graffiti;Graffiti artists;Harlan, Heather;Roy, Rachel 0 3104 Developing an Artistic Voice SEN: They were like, the subways of that era to give people an idea. Because I don't think people understand what we was dealing with. Like people nowadays look to a street, let's say graffiti piece, whether it's on a freight train or whatever. Even the ones that come from out of town and they do the New York City trains, these are all clean trains. These are all like, clean canvases. We didn't have that. I'm from the last generation with trains. We had a couple decades of trains being bombed out by the time we got it. Not only were they bombed out they were old they were falling apart, they were rusty. And they were being acid washed by Koch. Every week they were being acid washed so the trains were actually being eaten away by acid and then you had pieces under pieces underneath for decades and tags and all kinds of stuff. You had to actually, like, if it could be visible you couldn't go over it really. That would cause a conflict that was the rules of the street. And there was also a priority. Tags were at the bottom, throw-ups were basically, people didn't really do throw-ups. That was to us, especially out of IBM we skipped that part. That was considered a waste of paint and a waste of space, doing those bubble letters on trains. We went straight to burners and that's why IBM was so famous: characters and burners. Sen describes his development as an artist, and how developing his art into a number of series, including graffiti abstracts and his flag series allowed him to become a career artist. He also describes at length how his experience as a graffiti writer, especially the unspoken rules and conditions of painting trains affected his artistic style. Abstraction Art and style;Graffiti;Sen-1 (Graffiti artist) 0 4454 Galerie d'Orsay Boston SEN: I was out there on a trip, I was with the girl I was dating at the time. She was on a business trip. We was out to dinner with a coworker... I saw them strategizing. These two women strategizing some meetings the next day that had to do with million dollar deals. I'm sitting here at the table and I'm like damn, I'm feeling the pressure! And the hustling comes out of me like damn I'm sitting at this table with these women and they're talking about how they got three meetings lined up tomorrow... I'm sitting here like I gotta up my game! I gotta up my game! The story of how SEN cold-visited Galerie D'Orsay in Boston while visiting the city and was able to develop a relationship with them to the point that they are now the sole distributors of SEN-1 work. Boston (Mass.) Commercial art;Galerie d'Orsay 0 5060 Becoming President of a Mitchell-Lama SEN: I actually ride the ride of, at this age I go with the universe. If it's something bigger than me that I'm supposed to be doing, then at this stage of my life I just do it I show up for it. And it's also my mother's legacy this is what she did. So in a way I think she's also guiding a lot of this madness. In a good way! But I'm proud of it actually! I'm really proud. I've been told we've done more in this short amount of time there than almost anything in the past. And I credit that to my experience in the Panthers stuff. The organizational skills and everything came into play. How Sen-1 became the president of his Mitchell-Lama program rental building. He saw a number of misdeeds being committed by the management and by advocating for his fellow tenants found himself being nominated and ultimately elected. He has been proud of the quick change they have already been able to complete. Mitchell-Lama;New York (N.Y.). Community Planning Board No. 7 0 5317 Community/Charity Involvement PC: Could you just touch on your community work with charitable organizations? SEN: Absolutely that's been part of my beginnings, because that's been something, like My neighbor had Goddard Riverside which is a community center but I had a summer camp when we was kids. It also has legal housing, legal departments that deal with the community, so they have a lot of community outreach program stuff so I work with them and the beacon program. We created a program called arts on kick where we do the chucks [taylor]. Because of that curriculum I was able to open the center up for individual grants which now they use for individual artists. So they've backed me up a lot too even with the issues, and they're powerful! Sen outlines some of his recent work with charitable organizations in his community and beyond, volunteering his skills and time with the Goddard Riverside center to Tanzania. This has especially taken the form of art education to variously disadvantaged youths. SEN has been especially invigorated by his work in Africa, where he felt a "welcome home." Children's Village (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.);Children's Village (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.). Work Appreciation for Youth Program;Goddard-Riverside Community Center;Sierra Leone Art in education;Art therapy for youth;Arts and youth;Charitable giving;Charities;Charity;Poverty--Tanzania 0 5753 Thoughts on Hip-Hop and Street Art Going Global and Commercial SEN: I think when we talk about the graff I always see it as one big union with hip-hop. 'Cuz they all elements, well, what people know today, because it wasn't originally part of hip-hop. Hip hop obviously comes after these elements already pre-existing including b-boying b-girling. Like all these elements came together, right? But for what the world knows as the graff styles and even the breakdancing styles and dress styles that's all hip hop. Because the graff before hip-hop wasn't the same graff everyone fell in love with. The colors even the mentality. Sen gives his perspective on the significance of the globalization of graffiti, which he sees as a part of hip-hop as a global movement. Controversially among some of his peers, he's positive about the commercialization of hip-hop because of the opportunities and lessons it has given to youths often with so little. Break dancers;Break dancing Graffiti;Hip-hop;Hip-hop in art;Hip-hop--Influence;Street art 0 6442 Relationship With Brother SEN: My Brother, man, Ricky Mujica, we have different fathers, but we didn't know our fathers we was raised by our mother. So you will never ever hear us say half brother, ever. That doesn't even exist. He's seven years older than me. I'm happy he's still in my life always. My brother is my everything, man. He's been my father figure, he's been my big brother figure. He's been the one even when I went off the road a lot in my life, because I'm the black sheep, he's been the light of what I could me. And it was hard as a young kid because I was the one that couldn't learn things. Sen speaks about his brother, Ricky Mujica, whom he is very close with. Ricky's success was a guiding light for Sen even when Sen was struggling. Though, as kids, Sen found the comparison very hard because he could not keep up with his brother in school, athletics, or "coolness." Their mother would force Ricky to take Sen along to wherever Ricky was hanging out, which included the early days of New York Skateboarding with Zoo York. Sen also speaks about how their experiences differed, with Sen's generation being much more violent and pressured, whereas Ricky's generation were more mischievous at worst. Kessler, Andrew;Kessler, Andy;Zoo York Mujica, Ricardo Jose;Sibling attachment;Sibling rivalry 0 7167 The Bronx, Uptown PC: What does the Bronx mean to you? SEN: Ah man, the Bronx is everything because, like I said, for my neighborhood we only have a little bridge that separates us. I spent a lot of time in the Bronx as well. But the Bronx influenced our neighborhood tremendously especially when it came to culture. And because we had so much similarity from the burnt-down stuff. And again, like I said, Harlem, even when you listen to the Black Spades documentary they talk about their chapters with the South Bronx but also in Harlem. So it was never, we never had, when it comes to the other boroughs because Brooklyn and Queens and them were so far away, the Bronx and Manhattan was never, especially uptown, was never really divided like that. We would say "uptown." Uptown made---It was all in one. When you said uptown it meant north of 96th street up. Like, or the 90s up into the Bronx. Sen underscores the connectedness of his neighborhood on the upper west side to the Bronx, and how the creativity coming out of the Bronx influenced his life. Harlem River (N.Y.);Zulu Nation Boroughs;Bronx;Bronx River (N.Y.);Harlem (New York, N.Y.) 0 Part 2 of an oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on January 18, 2023 with SEN-1, who got his start as an original member of the IBM Crew (Incredible Bombing Masters) and has become a world-renowned artist commissioned by "Hip Hop U.S.A. and an umbrella of grassroots organization's including Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!""initiative. In this second part of his oral history SEN-1 speaks about growing up in Lower Harlem (now refashioned as the northern part of the Upper West Side) and his family's Afro-Caribbean roots from the island of Quisqueya (the Dominican Republic) and/or Ay-Ti (Haiti) as it was known by the indigenous Taino people. He shares his association and experiences with the outlaw gang "La West Side Familia", his rise to a leadership role within La West Side Familia, and other street organizations such as Natives-Chapter 50 of Zulu Nation and the trials and tribulations of "street-life". SEN-1 discusses his quest for knowledge and his 6-year association with The Black Panther Collective, an off-shoot organization stemming from the original Black Panther Party. He speaks of his reintroduction to graffiti and his crossover to fine art, the challenges of street art acceptance into the fine art world, his commissions from the Macy's Department Store, and the art expo circuit where he sold his first piece of fine art. Finally, SEN-1 discusses his entry into the world of fine art where his artwork, presently, shares gallery space alongside internationally renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso. CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons) video Content may be utilized only for non-commercial purposes so long as equal sharing privileges are preserved and the following attribution is included: "Courtesy of The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project, The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library." 0 https://viewer.mybcpl.org/viewer.php?cachefile=/render.php?cachefile= Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with SEN 1, Part 2 Description An account of the resource Part 2 of an oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on May 23, 2022 with SEN-1, who got his start as an original member of the IBM Crew (Incredible Bombing Masters) and has become a world-renowned artist commissioned by the likes of Michelle Obama, Fabolous, and Rita Ora. In this second part of his oral history SEN-1 speaks about growing up in Lower Harlem (now refashioned as the northern part of the Upper West Side) and his family's Afro-Caribbean roots from the island of Quisqueya (the Dominican Republic) and/or Ay-Ti (Haiti) as it was known by the indigenous Taino people. He shares his association and experiences with the outlaw gang "La West Side Familia", his rise to a leadership role within La West Side Familia, and other street organizations such as Natives-Chapter 50 of Zulu Nation and the trials and tribulations of "street-life". SEN-1 discusses his quest for knowledge and his 6-year association with The Black Panther Collective, an off-shoot organization stemming from the original Black Panther Party. He speaks of his reintroduction to graffiti and his crossover to fine art, the challenges of street art acceptance into the fine art world, his commissions from the Macy's Department Store, and the art expo circuit where he sold his first piece of fine art. Finally, SEN-1 discusses his entry into the world of fine art where his artwork, presently, shares gallery space alongside internationally renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso. The interviewer is Pastor Crespo, Jr., librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society. The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This interview made possible through the contribution of Columbia University's Oral History Archives at Columbia (OHAC) and will be dual-listed in a collection there. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023.01.18 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context OH-BAADP.20230118 graffiti IBM SEN 1 SEN-1