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August, 2009

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Oral History Interview with Radical Priest Frank Morales

Written by Sady on August 12th, 2009

Today’s post is by oral historian Amy Starecheski.  Amy was Lead Interviewer for the 550-hour Atlantic Philanthropies Oral History Project at the Columbia University Oral History Research Office from 2005-2008.   She was a lead interviewer on the September 11, 2001 Narrative and Memory Project, for which she interviewed Afghans, Muslims, Sikhs, activists, low-income people, and the unemployed.  Amy is co-author of the Telling Lives Oral History Curriculum Guide and she is currently pursuing a doctorate in anthropology at the City University of New York.

Oral History Interview with Squatter and Radical Priest Frank Morales

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This two-hour oral history interview with Frank Morales was conducted on July 17, 2009.  Frank Morales, a radical Episcopalian priest who has been squatting in the South Bronx and on the Lower East Side since 1978, discusses his childhood on the Lower East Side, his squatting experiences, and their relevance to the current housing crisis, in Brooklyn and beyond.

University of Trash; Image courtesy of Sculture Center

This interview was conducted live over the radio (low-power FM and streaming online) at the University of Trash.  The University of Trash was an art installation at the Sculpture Center in Queens which functioned as a collaborative, “temporary, makeshift university,” offering classes and discussions on topics from concrete boat construction to building a radio station to situationism.

Frank Morales, a radical Episcopalian priest who has been squatting in the South Bronx and on the Lower East Side since 1978, has recently been hired as the housing organizer for Picture the Homeless, a homeless-led grassroots group which has been developing a multi-pronged program of direct action to secure housing for homeless people, alongside groups like Miami’s Take Back the Land.  Through this connection and others, the knowledge of long-term squatters is being passed on to the people who need it in multiple ways.  Oral history can be one small part of that, and this interview was done with the intent to contribute to that process, while reflecting on what the past means in the rapidly changing present.

In it, Frank talks about growing up on the Lower East Side in the 1950s and 60s; his decision to become a priest, and liberation theology; opening his first abandoned building in the South Bronx; the politics and logistics of squat defense; the internal dynamics of squatted buildings; squatting and art; squatting as a long-term strategy to create “zones of resistance” in the city; and his ideas for the many newly abandoned condos in Brooklyn today.  Frank is a gifted storyteller with insightful political analyses.

The interview will be archived at the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University, as part of the Squatters Rights Collection of artifacts and oral histories.

Posted in Brooklyn Past & Present, Oral History | No Responses »
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Up for Debate: Thinking about the Supreme Court and Civil Rights with NYC Public School Teachers

Written by Emily Potter-Ndiaye on August 5th, 2009

I am working as an intern at Brooklyn Historical Society this summer as part of my Masters Program in Museum Studies at NYU.  Last week I attended a four-day summer institute for New York City Public School Middle and High School teachers. Brooklyn Historical Society is one of the partner cultural institutions for Leadership in American History (professional development sponsored by a federal Teaching American History Grant [TAHG]). I was there representing BHS with our head of school programs, Todd Florio.

Teachers and Partners pose for a group shot in our matching t-shirts!

Teachers and partners pose for a group shot in our matching t-shirts!

The theme of this year’s summer institute was the Supreme Court. The cohort of teachers attending the institute enriched their understanding of the topic through daily scholar lectures, group discussion, and workshop activities facilitated by the cultural institutions. Todd and I teamed up with Mia and Adrienne at the New-York Historical Society to facilitate a workshop about staging a classroom debate, using the themes of the Supreme Court and Civil Rights. Helping plan for this day was a major part of my internship.

“PD.” “In service.” “P-Credit.” Prior to working on this project I was only faintly aware of these terms. Growing up in California we called it a day-off, while our teachers came to school to take part in “teacher in-service days.” Here in New York, there are a variety of ways teachers can continue to develop and grow as professionals, and collaborate with colleagues.

Most of the teachers who applied for this particular professional development have been part of a cohort for over two years. Although they come from different schools and districts, they share a motivation to teach social studies to adolescents—not an easy task! In addition to the continuing education component for themselves, this summer institute was designed to promote teacher leaders who will pass on or “turnkey” the wisdom to their colleagues around the city.

The Brooklyn and New-York Historical Societies presented our workshop on Wednesday, following a lively lecture by Yohuru Williams, historian and educator, entitled, “The Strange Career of the 14th Amendment.” We brought the broader Civil Rights content of his lecture into our debate activity by focusing on two local Brooklyn controversies that arose following the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. One controversy dealt with a recent court ruling that Mark Twain Middle School should no longer demand higher test scores from students of color than from white students. This ruling, in 2007, overturned a 1960s-era court-imposed quota system designed to desegregate the school and bring in more white students. The second controversy told the story of the Bibuld family, which fought the Board of Education for the right to transfer their children out of a school they considered inferior and racially segregated.

Teachers Debate

Teachers Debate

The teachers read primary sources that we had compiled—articles from the archives of the local newspapers and photographs from the BHS archives—about one of the controversies. In groups they decided upon a motion to debate and then were randomly assigned a side—pro or con—to argue. There were some tense moments as the teachers worked under time pressure to wrap their heads around the heart of each controversy and then come up with a fair motion and prepare for the debate. But it all paid off when we staged the two debates and the teachers put on a wonderful performance and made impassioned, well-reasoned arguments.

Professional Developments such as this one are a unique opportunity for institutions like BHS to make their collections accessible to new audiences. The photographs I found through the BHS database about the Bibuld family immediately grabbed me and made me want to know more about their story. I was excited to share them with the teachers at the Summer Institute.

Posted in Brooklyn Past & Present, Education | No Responses »

Chinese-American Oral Histories Translated by a Chinese-American

Written by Sady on August 4th, 2009

Today’s post is written by Qin Yong David Chen, our BHS summer intern from the Chinese-American Planning Council.  This fall, he will be a sophomore at Stony Brook University where he studies economics and political science.  He plans to attend business school after graduating.

Many people have proclaimed 8th Avenue in Sunset Park as New York City’s third Chinatown.  My name is Qin Yong David Chen and I am an intern here at the Brooklyn Historical Society.  My job includes many roles: I am a tour guide, a promoter, a receptionist, and an amateur historian. One task that was assigned to me was to digitize and summarize several interviews from BHS’s Sunset Park Oral History Project (1993 – 1994).  The four interviews I listened to were recorded in 1993, three years before I immigrated to Brooklyn from Fujian, China.  I had to digitize them and save them into a hard drive because cassette tapes can deteriorate.  These interviews were recorded in Cantonese and Mandarin, two major Chinese dialects, and I am the only person here at BHS proficient with both dialects.  The interviews were at times mundane, at times fascinating, and at times empathetic.

Like all of the narrators in the Sunset Park Oral History Project that I listened to, I grew up in Sunset Park.  I lived two blocks away from 8th Avenue.  I immigrated here to America when I was 6 years old with my family; my father came back from the States and brought us to Brooklyn.

The very first interview that I listened to was a success story of an immigrant mother’s lifetime job of juggling her video store and raising her children.  The narrator, Grace Chan, at the suggestion of her friend, opened the very first Chinese video store on 8th Avenue.  She talked of the risks that she had to deal with and the nervousness when opening a new business.  She works 364 days a year.  Her store opens early, so the grocery buyers can rent videos at the same time they are shopping, and closes late, so people who get off work can rent videos.  And before she opens the store, she sends her children to school, and after she closes, she goes home to cook for her family.  All of her children went through school, some private schools and some prominent public schools such as Stuyvesant High School.  Finally, as she reflected back on her past, she stated that not a lot of people in the world can do what she had done.

There were two notable narrators that I fondly remember: Michael Chow and Wayne Huang.  They were both 14 years old at that time of their interviews (they are around 30 years old by now).  Their words, to me, became a vicarious memory: they used to play basketball in the park that my brother played basketball in, and where I played freeze tag in; they were picked on because of their Asian features; they shared the same anxiety and solitary feeling when they stepped out of their first time riding on an airplane, and when they stepped into their first day of public school; and finally, embraced the subtle joy when they found a social niche that they belonged to.

I’ve heard these stories and problems before when I was growing up in Sunset Park.  After experiencing these individuals in the past, I wonder how the present turned out for them.  I personally find it fitting that a college student is documenting the history of his own community. It gives me this nostalgic feeling and empowers me with a wider perspective of not only how much Sunset Park has changed, but how much Brooklyn evolved.

Visitors to BHS can listen to interviews from the Sunset Park Oral History Project (1993 – 1994) in the Othmer Library by appointment.

Posted in Brooklyn Past & Present, Oral History | 3 Responses »
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