Pamela Green

Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Pamela Green

Pamela Green was born in Gulfport, Mississippi in 1948. Green has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and began her career in 1968. She has worked for International Business Machines (IBM) and First National Bank of Chicago. She was a commissioner with city government in New York until becoming an executive with the Children's Television Workshop, the production company of Sesame Street. After being laid off in 2001, she became Executive Director of what was then the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. Green oversaw the restoration of historic homes on the site and a name change to the Weeksville Heritage Center in 2005. Three years later, plans for a new Education and Cultural Arts Building were implemented and building began. She retired from the center in summer of 2013. Green was a resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn for decades, and also has a master's degree in finance from the University of Chicago.

In this interview, Pamela Green, executive director of the Weeksville Heritage Center, provides a history of Weeksville, a post-enslavement community of free, land-owning African Americans founded circa 1838 in Brooklyn, New York. She tells of the discovery of Weeksville, the campaign for its conservation and preservation, and the establishment of the Heritage Center. She outlines Weeksville Heritage Center's plans for the development and expansion of public programming to provide a contemporary learning experience that emphasizes early post-enslavement African American culture and achievements. She names connections between the WHC and Restoration, outlays her idea of the proper role of community development corporations, and discusses the matriarchy of female Black community leaders in Brooklyn's recent history. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan with Bahati Williams.

Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration) partnered on the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral history project in 2007-2008 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Restoration's founding as the first community development corporation (CDC) in the United States. Nearly sixty interviews were conducted with founding Board members, supporters, activists, artists, tenants, and other community members. Audio clips from these oral history interviews were included in the exhibit "Reflections on Community Development: Stories from Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation" (BHS 2008, Restoration 2009).

Citation

Green, Pamela E., Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan with Bahati Williams, February 05, 2008, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation oral histories, 2008.030.17; Brooklyn Historical Society.