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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.

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Lillian Pelham

Oral history interview conducted by Alex Kelly

May 05, 2010

Call number: 2010.020.033

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0:00 - Introductions and her memories of family and neighbors in Crown Heights

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4:34 - Security and stability on her block of Sterling Place; surrounding landmarks described

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7:24 - Her book and finding an illustrator for it

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9:48 - Occupations, including Health Resource Coordinator and group counseling at high schools

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13:24 - Retirement gave her time to research and write her book

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18:08 - Getting a cover illustration from a Medgar Evers professor and her inspiration for title

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24:33 - Advice and motivation to accomplish life goals

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Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Lillian Pelham

Lillian Pelham was born in Brooklyn in 1932. In 1963, her brother, mother and daughter moved to a house on Sterling Place in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Since 1978, she has lived alone and stays active in her neighborhood. In the mid-1970s, she received an associate's degree in nursing at a community college and a bachelor's degree in Community Health and Counseling from St. Francis College. Her occupations have included nurse, entrepreneur and in particular, she served as the Health Resource Coordinator at George Wingate High School and provided group counseling at Samuel J. Tilden High School. After retiring, she wrote a self-help book, "Wisdom in the Air, Wisdom Everywhere." Pelham has three grandchildren.

In the interview, Lillian Pelham is joined by her friend and neighbor Rosella La Fontaine, who is also a narrator in another oral history interview within this collection. Pelham talks about the experience of living on her block for almost five decades and seeing the demographics of residents change in that time. She shares a few details about her family and other homes on the block. The interview is largely about how she learned to be an author and how a book is published. She relates how she was inspired to write because of her work with at-risk youth in high schools. She concludes by giving advice to motivate and instill life goals for young people. Interview conducted by Alex Kelly.

Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History includes interview audio and summaries created and collected within the context of a community project undertaken by project director Alex Kelly and Paul J. Robeson High School interns Treverlyn Dehaarte, Ansie Montilus, Monica Parfait, Quanaisha Phillips and Floyya Richardson. These interviewers recorded conversations with forty-three narrators. In addition to the educational experience for the student interns, the oral histories were conducted as life history and community anthropology interviews. Topics of discussion include family and parenting, migration, cultural and racial relations, occupations and business, education and religion, housing and gentrification, civil unrest and reconciliation, and community activism.

Citation

Pelham, Lillian, Oral history interview conducted by Alex Kelly, May 05, 2010, Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History collection, 2010.020.033; Brooklyn Historical Society.

People

  • City University of New York. Medgar Evers College
  • George W. Wingate High School
  • Pelham, Lillian
  • Samuel J. Tilden High School (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)

Topics

  • African American neighborhoods
  • Education
  • Family life
  • Gentrification
  • Home ownership
  • Illustration of books
  • Mental health services
  • Older people
  • Youth

Places

  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
  • Crown Heights (New York, N.Y.)

Finding Aid

Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History collection