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

Smith,Yvonne Marie

Interviewees: Yvonne Smith, Member and Donna Joseph, President, Eta Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated © Interviewers: Dr. Mark Naison Date: April 12, 2023 Summarized by Amy Rini July 15, 2023 Yvonne Marie Smith was born and spent her entire 72 years of life to date in the Bronx, and decades as a leading member of ETA Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated ©. Smith is a retired educator and impactful community leader. Her parents were both born in New York City: her father was born in Harlem and her mother in Yonkers. Her mother\u27s father was from Montserrat. Her father\u27s mother came to the United States in her teens from Jamaica. So Smith identifies as having an “American heritage.” She moved to the Bronx when she was three months old, and lived in the Bronx through her adult life - with a 12 year stay in Manhattan because of the fires. She returned to the Bronx because “I\u27ve worked in the Bronx, lived in the Bronx, have a heart for the Bronx. I\u27ve attended elementary, junior high and high school here in the Bronx.” Smith attended James Monroe High School, which is now several academies. Leo Weiss was the principal. His determination encouraged most of her peers to finish high school. Prior to the fires and Bronx burning and the drug epidemic, it was a close knit community. You couldn\u27t do anything that another adult stepping in to remind children that they were children. They reminded Smith to be careful. That was the kind of community it was. People looked out for each other. Her family attended Trinity Episcopal. The 1970s Bronx fires destroyed her building, and the city took a long time to place displaced people, so her family had to disperse. Her brother slept in the park, and her younger brother went to the military, because they had nowhere to go. Her sister slept with her aunt in Queens and another aunt took her and her parents in. She was a file clerk, and assorted roles in the government, health and human services, social security, IRS, Department of Labor, etc. until going to City College, then winning a teaching fellowship to Virginia Poly Tech and becoming a high school economist and math teacher. She served the Board of Ed for 23 years. There was no music in the high school, so she taught her math students to read music because she had played the viola in the all-city orchestra as a child. Smith has served as treasurer and economist for ETA Omega Omega and a number of local organizations, where she helped them write and revise bylaws and parliamentary procedures. In ETA, she has held most leadership positions, helped people learn about the political process, and is proud that ETA was able to support the current Vice President Kamala Harris. She saw the Bronx as a place you could enjoy living in and working in, where it was easy to get around by public transportation and walking. Because she struggled as a child, she chose to serve the community she lived and worked in, to help people sustain themselves in a challenging world. The ETA Omega Omega sisterhood is one that supports and connects women all over the country. Key Words: bronx, sorority, chapter, people, support, mentoring, organizations, high school, remember, bylaws, serving, church, grew, community, leadership, members, trinity episcopal, alpha kappa, omega, committee, ETA Omega Omega, Vice President Kamala Harri