Maribel Gonzalez Interview Part 2

Summarized by Alan C. Ventura Maribel Gonzalez is a small business owner in the Bronx and serves as sole operator of The South of France restaurant. As part of the Bronx COVID-19 Oral History Project, she sits with Fordham University senior Bethany Fernandez to share her experience of running a business during the pandemic. Gonzalez reflects on how her business has progressed along with COVID-19 protocols since her first interview in June 2020. She discusses the ongoing challenges of running a business during the pandemic, with uncertainty and financial struggles continuing to persist with the passage of time. The flow of income brought in by The South of France remains inconsistent due to COVID-19 restrictions, despite new allowances like 25% indoor seating. Gonzalez reiterates the challenges of operating a restaurant during the pandemic, including the need to buy ingredients in smaller quantities more frequently, leading to higher costs. Furthermore, she explains that, because of the pandemic, it has become harder to find essential items like hand sanitizer and masks due to increased demand and limited availability. Much of Gonzalez’ consternation stems from a lack of support in providing these supplies from the city—the very entity enforcing these requirements. Other factors like the plastic bag ban and the necessity to invest in heating supplies due to changing weather conditions have proved to apply more of a strain on small businesses. A general lack of clear communication and consistent guidelines from the city is causing frustration and challenges for small businesses. Expanding outdoor seating, as an example, has also been a problem for Gonzalez due not only to high costs and logistical issues in finding quality furniture but also to the need to comply with city barricading guidelines. Small business owners are feeling overwhelmed and uncertain due to frequent changes in guidelines and requirements, leading to investment in other resources for information and support. These twists and turns have taken an immense financial and emotional toll on Gonzalez as she struggles to keep herself and her employees financially stable. Gonzalez stresses the importance of enforcing mask-wearing and social distancing rules within her place of business. She opines on the challenges of enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols in her restaurant, including dealing with customers who don\u27t follow the rules and the threat of large fines for non-compliance. In spite of this, she maintains a positive attitude and hope during the trying times—even when facing issues with frustrated customers not adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. In the midst of all of the challenges, Gonzalez continues to operate The South of France in the hopes that things will get better. She encourages everyone to support their local businesses and to uplift one another as we all collectively navigate through these difficult times

Patricia Payne Interview

Disciplines African American Studies Abstract Summary by Jocelyn Defex. This interview for the Bronx African American History Project was with Patricia Payne, a professor at Monroe College. She and Dr. Mark Naison discuss her family history and experiences growing up in the Patterson houses in the South Bronx. Payne’s family moved to the Bronx from Harlem in 1949 and settled in the Patterson houses. Payne’s parents were from South Carolina; Her father worked as a taxman and auxiliary policeman, while her mother had limited formal education and worked occasionally as a domestic helper. Patricia\u27s memories of the Paterson houses began when she attended kindergarten at PS 18, in building 291 on East 143rd Street. Her parents strongly emphasized the importance of academics in her household, and Patricia felt a responsibility to finish school and attend college due to her family\u27s background and expectations. She also noted that some girls her age had children and remained in the Paterson houses on welfare. Still, her family\u27s determination kept her focused on her education and goals. Then, Dr. Mark Naison and Patricia Payne discuss the tracking of students at PS 18 and Junior High School in the Patterson houses during the 1950s and early 1960s. They mention that Payne and her peers were on an academic track and were part of the Gifted and Talented class. The interview reveals that the tracking system influenced the students\u27 perceptions of their intelligence. The discussion also touches on the community in the Patterson houses during that era. Payne recalls that everyone knew everyone, and people from various ethnic backgrounds got along well. The projects were a clean and safe place to live, and many residents were optimistic about living there. Moreover, the interview delves into teenage recreational activities, hobbies, and the emerging music culture of the time. Yet, they also talk about the emerging issue of teenage pregnancies and the increasing presence of heroin in the neighborhood during the late 1950s. Patricia explains that she noticed the drug problem earlier but did not negatively impact the community\u27s safety. However, as she became an adult, she saw changes in the community. Later, in the early 1960s, single-parent families started moving in from outside the neighborhood, changing the community’s character. Afterward, the conversation switches to the changing role of the teacher; Payne describes how teachers in the past had more autonomy and respect from students and the educational system. The interview also introduces the numbers culture, with residents playing numbers games. Yet, by the late 1960s, the community had undergone significant changes, with the atmosphere being very different. Finally, Payne discusses the declining conditions in the housing projects. More specifically, she mentions how the deterioration of the project\u27s environment and increased disregard for rules contributed to a sense of wanting to leave. The conversation also touches upon the impact of external events, like the Vietnam War, on the community and the return of individuals who struggled with addiction. The speaker reflects on her growing-up journey and describes the importance of helping students find better opportunities and being exposed to different perspectives

Mangum, Claude

Summary by Eliza Anderson. Dr. Claude Mangum is an integral member of the Fordham community, arriving first as the director of the Upward Bound program in 1969 before joining the faculty of the Institute of Afro-American Studies, which would later become the Department of African and African-American Studies. Dr. Mangum was an assistant professor, associate professor, and chair of the department before his retirement in 2011. Dr. Mangum began his educational career as a high school teacher, attending Queen’s College before starting to teach at John Bowne High School in Flushing, Queens. He completed a Masters and PHD at Columbia Teachers College, but saw his vocation as continuing to work in the public school system to help disadvantaged students attend university. His journey at Fordham began when he took on a part-time position with the Upward Bound program, allowing him to work closely with students of color to prepare them for success in college. Dr. Mangum’s office was on the second floor of Dealy Hall, across the hall from Dr. Mark Naison, Dr. Quentin Bernard Wilkes, and the newly formed Institute of Afro-American Studies. He described this space as a “refuge” for students who felt unwelcome at the university. It was here that Dr. Naison and the other Institute faculty convinced Dr. Mangum to join the university as a professor. As a professor in the Institute of Afro-American Studies, Dr. Mangum was able to teach a diverse set of students in African and African-American history courses that were then part of the Fordham core curriculum. The popularity of these classes within the Institute would later lead to organized pushback from other departments against their inclusion in the core. It wouldn’t be until six years into the Institute that a woman faculty member joined the ranks, and Dr. Mangum witnessed the changes in the university as it became co-educational in 1974. After the Institute was transformed into the Department of African and African-American Studies, he and Dr. Naison threatened to leave Fordham after the university refused to hire Dr. Mark Chapman, a scholar in Black religion. Their efforts resulted in Dr. Chapman’s appointment to the AFAM Department. In his years as a Fordham professor, Dr. Mangum witnessed many racial barriers that existed for students of color at the university, including barriers to medical school entrance and discriminatory treatment resulting from the walls that separated the university from the Bronx. He reflects on his teaching style as interactive and supportive, drawing from his experience as a high school teacher and placing significant emphasis on students developing their own research interests

Tanner, Marietta J.

Interviewee: Marietta J. Tanner Interviewers: Mark Naison, Donna Joseph, Saudah Muhammad Date: July 2020 Summarized by Sophia Maier Marietta J. Tanner was born in 1928 in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Influenced by the activism of her father and the wartime experiences of her uncle, Marietta is a life-long political activist. Her parents explained to her from a young age their experiences in Jim Crow era Pennsylvania and by the age of six she was passing out political pamphlets and registering people to vote with the rest of her family. After attending a segregated school in her youth and a brief period at Temple University, she went to what is now West Virginia State University, where she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority. There she was a part of their activism affiliated with the NAACP and their efforts to integrate schools. After college, she moved to Harlem in 1949, before moving to the Bronx after getting married in 1960. Originally living on Hone Avenue in the majority-Italian neighborhood surrounding Arthur Avenue and Belmont where she faced a lot of prejudice, she would eventually settle down in the Tremont section until the 90’s. Her activism continued strong through the 50’s and 60’s in New York. As soon as she moved to the city, she registered to vote and began going door to door to encourage people to register and sign petitions. She worked closely with the Urban League and the HARYOU Act Program in Harlem, while also writing a column in the Amsterdam News called “The Community’s Conscience” for close to ten years about the black experience in the Bronx. Marietta’s work in the Bronx also focused on Parents for Leadership and Action Now (PLAN), a group of Bronx parents that fought primarily for school integration and more black teachers under the Lindsay administration, and involvement in St. Augustine’s Presbyterian Church, which was known for its Civil Rights activism. It was through these experiences that she helped found the Etta Omega Omega chapter of AKA. Working with Olga Garrett and inspired by the work of HARYOU Act where Drs. Clark and Seifert encouraged a knowledge of black history going back to Africa, not merely enslavement, Marietta and others founded this chapter. Etta Omega Omega was involved in efforts to decrease segregation in Bronx high schools like Taft and increase the amount of black teachers in these schools. Their work in encouraging the hiring of people of color expanded to helping Representative Adam Clayton Powell with his mission for “maximum participation of the poor.” Today, Marietta hopes that the sisters in Eta Omega Omega do not forget about their commitment for service in addition to the sisterhood and community building that comes with being part of a sorority. She encourages them to “go where the people are, ” to register them to vote or to get children in the Headstart programs. At the very least, she encourages going directly to teenagers to teach them the comradery and drive for change that comes about as being part of a black sorority. Key Words: Politics, activism, race, Bronx Slave Market, Eta Omega Omega, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), Philadelphia, Tremont, Arthur Avenue, Civil Rights Movement, Child Welfare League of America, NAACP, Urban League, HARYOU Act, Adam Clayton Powell, Amsterdam News, Parents for Leadership and Action Now (PLAN), Taft High School, Malcom X, Ossie Davis, Jews, Maxine Sullivan, district 12, St. Augustine’s, segregation, integration, John Henrik Clarke, Puerto Rica

Speller, Kathryn

Interviewer: Brian Purnell, Princess Okieme Interviewee: Kathryn Speller Date of Interview: September 23, 2006 Summarized by Leigh Waterbury, January 31, 2006 Kathryn Speller grew up in what was referred to as welfare island, and then moved to the Bronx in the 1950’s. While growing up in the city, she experienced the racial segregation that limited what areas she was allowed in. She described the racism she experienced in not being allowed in certain places or having to enter buildings through the servants entrances. While looking to move into the Bronx, Kathryn experienced a lot of difficulty in finding apartments available to her as an African- American. She moved into the Mott Haven neighborhood at 346 139th street between Alexander and Willis. She described this area as being predominantly black and not the nicest apartments, but it was what she was able to move into. While living in the Bronx and raising 5 children, she moved from various jobs while still relying on public assistance. After a string of smaller jobs she began working for the Health Department as a Union rep until she was laid off around 1970 when the city had its first major city layoff. In the 1970’s when school integration came about, she pushed for her children to attend the integrated schools because they could receive a better education. She recalls the white picketers outside of the schools protesting the enrollment of the black students. She describes her feelings towards whites at the time as not loving them, although she has no resentment towards them today. Kathryn and her children moved from their apartment on 139th when areas of the Bronx began burning in the 1970’s. Her apartment was not burned, but she witnessed first hand friends and neighbors having to move due to burnouts. She then moved to 92 West 174th into the Morris Heights area of the Bronx which at the time was a predominantly Jewish community. She commented on how once the Jews and whites moved out of the area, the buildings began to deteriorate and burn out. This was a common trend she noticed and still questions why this occurs. After moving to Morris Heights, Kathryn became involved in the Morris Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association in the 80’s, and later Community Board Five, which both worked towards community development and revitalizing the economic development of the Bronx, especially in areas that had deteriorated because of the burnouts, the blackout in 1977 which resulted in widespread city looting and rioting, and the drug epidemic that deteriorated many areas as well. She began her involvement in the city and civic services as a way of fighting for the rights of her children and these associations were a way of revitalizing the Bronx for all

Foster, Wendell

BRONX AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEWER: Mark Naison INTERVIEWEE: Wendell Foster SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell Keywords: Segregation in the Deep South, racism in the South and North, Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Bermuda, AME church, blacks in World War II, civil rights movement, Malcolm X, Mt. Zion Church, race relations in Harlem The Rev. Wendell Foster (b. 1924) is the pastor of Christ Church, and was the first African-American from the Bronx to be elected to the City Council. He was born in extreme poverty in Elba, Alabama. He never knew his father, who died shortly after he was born. At the time, Alabama was extremely segregated and was a very racist place. Foster recalls a number of indignities he suffered in his childhood, as well as a number of traumatic episodes in which he witnessed blacks being mistreated at the hands of whites. When he was still a young boy, he went to live with his older brother and his wife in Birmingham. He held a number of jobs in the black community in Birmingham, but the mistreatment of blacks was just as entrenched as it had been in Elba. After a brief stint in a reform school, Foster decided that he wanted to get out of Birmingham. With no plans or contacts up north, he took a bus to New York. A kind stranger invited the young Foster to stay at the YMCA in Harlem. In New York, Foster lied about his age and began taking classes at Miles College while simultaneously trying to complete a high school degree at Industrial High. After this, Foster realized that his mother’s brother was living in Jersey City. He decided to contact them, and they immediately took him in as one of their own. When Foster was about 14 (although if the dates are to remain consistent, he must have been 17 or 18), he was required to enlist in the navy, as he had signed up for the draft at the age of 13, when he had no other plans. Since he had lied about his age, the government officials thought that he was almost 20 years old—because of the fact that doctors in the south usually refused to deliver black infants, Foster has no official birth certificate. He thus spent the next few years at various naval training facilities throughout the US, including Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, and Hawaii. He left the navy when the war ended in 1945. He then returned to Jersey City, where he worked nights at Western Electric and attended classes at Columbia University and Union College. In the early 50’s he started a career as an American Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister. He began doing missionary work overseas, and got involved politically in several interest groups (including Poles, Indians, and Israelis) lobbying for everything from independence to equal treatment in the workplace. He became president of the New Jersey NAACP, and met many of the major civil rights luminaries of the day, including Paul Robeson, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Malcolm X. Eventually the bishop which he answered to sent him to preach in Bermuda, which at the time had 11 AME churches. Foster ended up marrying the bishop’s daughter in 1956, and at the time of interview, the couple had recently celebrated their 48th anniversary. After the wedding, the bishop dispatched Foster back to New Jersey, and then to Springfield, MA. After two years in Springfield, Foster went to Harlem, where he formed a relationship with Malcolm X, who frequently spoke at the Mt. Zion AME. After a few other moves to locations such as Niagara Falls, Foster settled in the Bronx in about 1967, where he remains today. While Foster does not mention anything about his political career in the transcript, the interview provides rich and fascinating background information that displays Foster’s tremendous commitments to religion, family, learning, and civil rights for all people seeking liberation