Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History collection
2010 (2010.020)
ABOUT THIS COLLECTION
This collection of forty-three oral history interviews with Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood residents was donated to the Brooklyn Historical Society by project director Alexandra Kelly. The interviews were conducted in 2010 with the help of the Crow Hill Community Association and five students from Paul Robeson High School who came to the project through the Brooklyn College Community Partnership (BCCP). Included are perspectives from community activists, artists, business owners, retirees and young people. Many are native to the New York metropolitan area. Several others have come from other states, as well as Caribbean nations and Central American countries. Narrators discuss the history of Crown Heights, their childhood and schooling, the changing landscape and ethnic makeup of the community over decades, their parenting and careers, volunteerism and activism, and mentoring or advising young people.
The oral histories were processed and described with funding from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and as part of the projects, ‘Voices of Generations: Investigating Brooklyn’s Cultural Identity,’ funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and ‘Voices of Crown Heights,’ funded by New York Community Trust.