2007 marked the 40th anniversary of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration, the oldest community development corporation (CDC) in the United States, founded in 1967 through the efforts of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob Javits.
Robert F. Kennedy, image courtesy of Restoration
To celebrate this anniversary, BHS and Restoration partnered on an oral history project interviewing founding Board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members, over 50 narrators total, to document Restoration’s pioneering work.
Elsie Richardson and Shirley Chisholm, image courtesy of Restoration
Audio from these oral history interviews was included in the exhibit Reflections on Community Development: Stories from Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (BHS Feb 28 – Aug 31, 2008, Restoration’s Skylight Gallery, March 5 – June 30, 2009) and the full interviews will soon be available for listening in the Othmer Library.
Coming Up in Bed Stuy
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We Made Sure Everybody Had a Voice
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The Word Blight
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Kennedy Really Did Listen
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We Have to Show It Can Be Done
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From Milk Factory to Restoration Plaza
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To hear more stories from Bedford Stuyvesant visit the Brooklyn Historical Society on iTunes!