Daniel, Lydia: Sarita Daftary-Steel collection of East New York oral histories: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids

Scope and Contents

In the interview, Lydia Daniel discusses moving to the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, owning her own business and the difficulties she faced securing loans, White flight and the decline of services in the area, integration, gentrification and affordable housing, moving from the US Virgin Islands to New York, and positive aspects of East New York. She also compares her experiences living in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, the Bronx, and East New York. The interview was conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel at Cas Cuts, which is a barbershop owned by her son in East New York.

Biographical note

Lydia Daniel was born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1954. She moved to the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in the late 1950s and later relocated to the Bronx. Her mother moved from the Bronx to the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn in the early 1960s, and Daniel followed in the early 1970s. She attended PS 184, James Fenimore Cooper Junior High School, Julia Richman High School, and the Wilfred Academy of Hair and Beauty Culture. She owned and operated a beauty salon in East New York for many years, and her son owns a barber shop (Cas Cuts) in neighborhood. As of 2015, Daniel lives with her daughter in upstate New York.

Subjects

People

Daniel, Lydia

Topics

Places

Bronx (New York, N.Y.); Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); East New York (New York, N.Y.) |x Social conditions; Harlem (New York, N.Y.)

Daniel, Lydia, 2014 July 21, inclusive