In the interview, Dorothy Bembry-Guet recalls her early experiences with moving and adjusting to New York City, and looking for housing in Brooklyn. She describes the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights, their amenities and cultural landmarks, and their gentrification over decades. Throughout, Bembry-Guet refers to her varied and evolving efforts at activism, including tenants' rights, public safety and healthcare. She remembers local community leader Arthur Miller and protests over his death at the hands of the New York Police Department. Pointing out her participation in local community organizations, she talks about the work of the Mediation Center and their Save Our Streets (SOS) initiative. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Karim Camara talks about growing up in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and his political and spiritual journeys to government service and church leadership respectively. He describes the disciplined but also nurturing and loving environment of the independent school that his parents founded. He recalls the time he spent helping his mother with the school, and the stories his father told him about working with Malcolm X. He talks about his and his family's interactions with their Jewish and West Indian neighbors, and he fondly recalls childhood games at Brower Park. He recounts his spiritual evolution, including his decision to attend seminary, his pastoral leadership at First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, and his name change. He relates how his experiences at First Baptist inspired him to enter electoral politics, and eventually work with faith based communities on behalf of New York State. Finally, he reflects on the changes in Crown Heights over the years, and the impact of gentrification. Karim Camara was also recorded for the Listen to this: Crown Heights Oral History collection in 2010 (2010.020). His mother, Ora Clark Razzaq, was also recorded for Voices of Crown Heights oral histories: Brooklyn Historical Society. Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.

In this interview, Ora Clark (also known as Ora Clark Razzaq) recounts moving to New York City as a child from Miami, Florida. Her family lived in the Lower East Side/Greenwich Village neighborhoods of Manhattan, which was predominantly Jewish at the time. The family eventually moved to the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens. She speaks about moving to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn as a young mother and being involved in actions in response to the teacher's strike in the nearby Ocean Hill-Brownsville neighborhood. She began Al-Karim School soon after, which was later renamed Cush Campus Schools once it began educating a larger amount of students. She first began teaching her children, then the children of others in the community. Clark speaks about the different approach that the school had from others, in valuing the children and taking them outside the classroom; students traveled abroad to places in Europe and Guyana. Throughout the interview, she speaks about neighbors who looked down on her and Al-Karim School; which began in her home on Park Place in Crown Heights, and later functioned out of 221 Kingston Avenue, the Historic First Church of God in Christ. She also speaks about organizer Arthur Miller, the 1977 blackout, and gentrification. Her son, Karim Camara, was also recorded for Voices of Crown Heights oral histories: Brooklyn Historical Society. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Rabbi Cohen talks about moving to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn at the onset of the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and the sense of celebration that existed in Crown Heights throughout the war. He describes relationships between the New York Police Department and the Hasidic community at different points over his forty year history in the neighborhood and reflects on crime in Crown Heights, and the relationship between Jewish and Black communities within that context. He briefly reflects on the blackout of 1977, the summer of 1991, crime, and Kingston Avenue's appearance over decades. He describes the Hasidic community as politically involved and narrates the emergence of Community Board Nine in South Crown Heights. Interview conducted by Matthew Birkhold.

In this interview, Donna Cuthbert talks about growing up in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in the fifties and sixties. Her father was the manager at the Unity Bar and Grill, and she describes characters and scenes from the place. Her mother was a registered nurse at Brooklyn Hospital, and Cuthbert cites the extreme racism her mother experienced there. She mentions the politics in her household and the political meetings she attended as an adolescent. Additionally she recalls her time at Wingate Prep, a satellite of Brooklyn's Wingate High that, along with a few other schools, sought to restructure secondary education in 1970s New York City. Cuthbert remembers sneaking into the Starlite Lounge when she a young teen. She relates how she started work at the Starlite much later as an adult. She describes the different nights at the bar, and the range of clientele it attracted. She gives an overview and shares specifics on the array of characters who frequented the Starlite. She also talks about personal relationships she made with customers. She describes losing William "Butchie" King, the disc jockey who ran the Starlite for years. Finally, Cuthbert reflects on the bar's closing; how it happened, how the nightlife there had changed, the final hours, the fallout for patrons and the community, and the signaling of greater gentrification. Interview conducted by Svetlana Kitto.

In this interview, Michael de Zayas begins with growing up in Miami and his journey to New York. He relates that he first moved to New York to attend graduate school at Sarah Lawrence College, where he received a master's degree in poetry. He became a travel writer and speaks about his experiences traveling, as well as his relationship to community while being a young man in New York City; mainly in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Major turning points discussed include: founding his Neighborhoodies business, becoming a father, moving to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and his business ventures there. He prides himself on constructing his businesses around the concept of "radical friendliness;" in order to counter much of the anti-social behavior that exists in coffee shops and other kinds of stores in New York City. He is committed to being part of and building community in Crown Heights. He is also trying to rethink how his businesses can better serve the needs of all community members, not just new arrivals, in the area. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Amy Ellenbogen describes the influences and events in her life that led up to her work at the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center, which she has led as director since 2002. She talks about the importance of her Marxist-leaning grandmother who self-identified as a "Jewish humanist atheist;" and asking questions of her parents at an early age about Jewish rituals and traditions. She recalls her first trip to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in the mid-1980s as a guest of a Lubavitch Hasidic host family as part of a Jewish "in-reach" program that the Crown Heights-based orthodox Jewish community conducted. She reflects on coming of age in a diverse community and school, and her early questions about differences between her peers and herself were informed by racial and class dynamics. These questions would continue to shape her outlook, leading her to found ROOTED (Respecting Ourselves and Others Through EDucation) in graduate school. She traces the evolution of her work at the Mediation Center, from an organization founded after the August 1991 unrest to address inter-cultural conflict, to one that primarily provides neighborhood services, mediates landlord-tenant issues, and works to curb gun-related violence and killings through violence prevention and violence interruption programs. Finally, she reflects on the impact that gentrification has had on Crown Heights and the kind of work the Mediation Center does. Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.

In this interview, Richard Green recalls his early childhood in Honduras and Texas before his family moved to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn around the time he was in sixth grade. He describes the kinds of recreational activities that were available to young people in the 1950s and early 1960s, including the informal games they played as well as more organized activities such as the Police Athletics League organized sports tournaments. He reflects on his political coming of age in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, and being inspired by the Brooklyn activities of leaders like the Reverend Milton Galamison and Malcolm X. After graduating from high school, Green joined the United States Marine Corps, and he details some of the challenges he faced, being a Black man navigating the military at the height of the anti-war and Black Power movements. He talks about the changes in the neighborhood, which he noticed after completing his tour of duty and returning to Crown Heights in 1976. He recounts how these conditions—like building abandonment and truancy— inspired him to found the Crown Heights Youth Collective in 1978, and the work it has done over the past three decades to help organize tenants, address youth education, and respond to police-community tensions. Some of the high profile incidents he discusses include reactions to the police killing of Arthur Miller, the racially motivated killing of Michael Griffith, and the 1991 Crown Heights unrest. Green was also recorded for the Listen to this: Crown Heights Oral History collection in 2010 (2010.020). Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.

In this first of two interviews, a recording error results in the oral history picking up the already-in-progress telling of Mark Winston Griffith's move to Queens from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn as a child. Although he moved to Queens in the third grade, it was due to his grandmother remaining in Crown Heights that enabled him to spend a great deal of time in the neighborhood, and he describes the part of his childhood spent there. He also shares other biographical turns in his young adulthood. Having become politically active at Brown University, Griffith recalls his desire to return to Crown Heights to work for Al Vann, but instead found an opening with Assemblyman Clarence Norman, Jr. He remembers that work, as well as being a co-founder of CHANT (Crown Heights Africans Networking Together), a local activist group. Griffith briefly mentions his English Literature studies in Ghana, then talks about working for Community Service Society and the Crown Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association; both of which put him in a position to cofound the Central Brooklyn Partnership and the Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union. This interview ends abruptly, with Griffith discussing the growth and decline of the Credit Union. Interview conducted by Matthew Birkhold.

In this second of two interviews, Mark Winston Griffith begins by describing his first memories of the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and the way in which the neighborhood's Black cultural and political institutions shaped his childhood and his future. Griffith then resumes his description of the Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union before discussing his career as a journalist, his run for city council in 2009-2010, and his role in founding Brooklyn Movement Center in 2012. He describes Brooklyn Movement Center as the culmination of his experiences in Crown Heights and the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Griffith then expresses his concern over gentrification. In closing, he considers what the future of Crown Heights might look like. Interview conducted by Matthew Birkhold.

In the first session of this two session interview, Albert Johnson talks about growing up in Cleveland, Ohio in the nineteen fifties and sixties. He describes the African-American community and neighborhood he was reared by, and how unique and special an experience it was for him. He discusses the political climate and racial dynamics of this time and place by telling stories about his family, neighborhood, schoolmates, teachers, and household he grew up in. This session of the interview, conducted by Svetlana Kitto, ends abruptly.

In the second session of a two session interview, Albert Johnson intersects his childhood story with another layer of complexity: growing up gay. He tells stories about his family's reactions to his sexuality, both surprising and sad. He enumerates and describes in detail all the gay clubs in Cleveland he went to as a young adult, including two different bars run by lesbians. He moves onto talk about his move to Buffalo, New York, where he worked at a hospital and met his first true love; John, a doctor. Together, they moved to New York City, where Johnson attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, then worked in the Garment District. He tells stories about the clubs he went to, the people he loved, and the fashion business circa the 1980s. He tells of the losses to AIDS in its early years in New York, including John. Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1996 and relates those early experiences of trying to get medical care and treatment. He talks about meeting "Butchie" King, who was a DJ at the Starlite Lounge in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and how it took some convincing for Johnson to come bartend there in 2001. He talks about attracting a regular clientele by being the first to make fancy mixed drinks at the bar; describing some drinks and some patrons. He compares various eras of ownership of the Starlite, and tells stories about the place and what it meant to the community. He reflects on the ways the Starlite Lounge changed his life and the meaning of it, and how once the people who made the Starlite what it was were dead and/or gone, it was time for it to end. Interview conducted by Svetlana Kitto.

In the interview, Sophie Williams Johnson talks about growing up in Baltimore; including learning violin and becoming a musician, then meeting and marrying her husband. Of her time in Brooklyn, she recalls how she and her husband worked as musicians in churches, and organized their own youth music programs in the community. Johnson speaks about working at the New Muse cultural institution, Brooklyn Museum, and Magnolia Tree Earth Center, as well as her work with Community Board Nine and the Bergen Street Community Garden. She concludes with her observations on community change and the effects of gentrification in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

Nick Juravich begins the interview by describing his childhood homes and being raised as a "city kid" by an academic and a historian. Juravich remembers growing up in support of various forms of protests and growing into an anti-war activist while studying social and oral history as a University of Chicago undergraduate. He recalls his time at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and returning to the States to find work and a home with his wife in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Making a living as an after-school coordinator with the New York Road Runners, Juravich describes the footwork and encounters that gave him a deep experience of Brooklyn neighborhoods, shop owners, and residents. Settling into a reflection on life in his building, the surrounding block of brownstones on Dean Street between Franklin and Bedford, and the businesses of Crown Heights, he relates how his blog emerged and became a document of and public forum for the community. Much of the latter part of the interview is spent sharing tales of controversies amid businesses, residents, public services, and community groups, and analyzing the dramatic arc of gentrification and how and when it runs its course in Crown Heights. Interview conducted by Svetlana Kitto.

In this interview, Timothy La'Viticus talks about his involvement at the tail end of the Starlite Lounge's existence in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Starlite was one of the oldest city bars to welcome gay, as well as heterosexual, patrons. La'Viticus recalls other gay clubs in the city which have closed, including Two Potatoes/ Chances Are on Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. He relates his experiences of dealing with the new owners of the building which housed the Starlite Lounge, and the reasons why Starlite ultimately closed. La'Viticus also shares some of his biographical background. Throughout, he fondly describes the people who worked alongside him in the bars, as well as patrons; a few specifically and otherwise generally. Interview conducted by Andrew Viñales.

In this first of two interviews, Bob Law shares his memories of growing up in the Kingsborough Houses in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Referring to his childhood, he describes the community as racially mixed, though predominantly White, with friendships existing across racial lines. Growing up working class, he shares that— along with middle class values that Black parents instilled in their children— he and his peers had easy access to fun and entertainment, including Ebbets Field and TV personalities, and thus never wanted for anything. Along with a description of gang culture in the area, he recounts local/area sports stars who both made it to the major league and those who did not, due to racism. He describes Crown Heights as a neighborhood where some Black people aspired to improve their lives and invest in a community. Law speaks about Black people entering electoral politics in Brooklyn; beginning with Maude Richardson and her run for state assembly, to Shirley Chisholm, to present day politicians like Letitia James. He talks about Brooklyn CORE, for which he was a central member, and their integrationist platform. Law also speaks about his shifting Black consciousness; being inspired by Malcolm X and a turning point of the church bombing in Alabama where four Black girls were killed. He also speaks about jazz venues in Brooklyn. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In the second of two interviews, Bob Law recounts his entry into radio and speaks about the role of Black radio in energizing Black political activity in Brooklyn and across the nation. He describes the emergence of the Black United Front and distinguishes between the Brooklyn CORE mobilizations in the 1960s and the police brutality protests in the late 1970s (particularly the 1978 Eastern Parkway protest of Arthur Miller's killing). He points out that the anger of the 1970s protests was a significant contrast to the "politics of respectability" in the 1960s protests. Law speaks at length about electoral politics in Brooklyn, highlighting his work on Al Vann's early campaigns and his thoughts about Shirley Chisholm's role in the community. He recalls a lawsuit that he organized against the Department of Education in 1990 and his role in organizing the Al-Karim School decades prior. Law also speaks about his experience with housing in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and his thoughts about its future. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In the interview, Constance Lesold talks about her many memories of the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. She discusses her longtime residence of thirty years at an apartment building on Eastern Parkway. She focuses on the battle to save the Franklin Avenue Shuttle from permanent closure. Throughout she names other activists, community leaders and organizations, and politicians; these include her husband, Community Boards Eight and Nine, Borough President Howard Golden, Arthur Miller, the Brooklyn Museum, New Muse, and the Children's Museum. Lesold chronicles the politics affecting social issues in Brooklyn, often referencing the Eastern Parkway Coalition Garden above the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. The gentrification of Crown Heights, tenants associations and how neighbors run their buildings, and justice for those with mental health issues are other concerns for Lesold. She concludes by contemplating Vermont, where she'll be living next. Constance Lesold was also recorded for the Listen to this: Crown Heights Oral History collection in 2010 (2010.020) and she made a gift of the Eastern Parkway Coalition records, 1952-2007 (2007.016) to BHS. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Sylvia Wong Lewis talks about growing up as a child of blue collar Caribbean and African-American parents living on a block in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn that was middle class and racially integrated in the 1950s and 1960s. Her father worked as a baker, and her mother operated a daycare out of the family home, often caring for the children of local teachers. She describes her upbringing as multicultural: she attended St. Matthew's Catholic school, participated in the Girl Scouts troop at First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and often accompanied her Chinese grandmother to a Buddhist temple in Chinatown. She also talks about the neighborhood's geography, and what it was like to cross over into the northern side of Eastern Parkway— regarded by some longtime residents as the border between Crown Heights and the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Recalling that her grandmother lived "behind" the Lubavitchers' main synagogue, Lewis recounts her interactions with both Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews in the neighborhood. She speaks of being fearful of the Maccabees, a Hasidic security patrol, because the patrol's efforts to keep the neighborhood safe often targeted Black people. She also recalls an incident where the police stopped and frisked her two younger brothers in front of their mother, an event that traumatized her. Another key theme in the interview is Lewis's class consciousness as a working class kid encountering members of New York's Black elite that had been living in Crown Heights. She mentions meeting Jackie Robinson's wife, as well babysitting for an associate of Lena Horne. She talks about her experiences during the blackout of 1977, as well as the 1991 unrest, and the changes in the neighborhood she witnessed since growing up there. After recording, Lewis requested that some biographically related details be removed. Under two minutes near the ninety-nine minute mark have been edited from the audio. Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.

In this interview Mordechai Lightstone talks about the role the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn played in the evolution of his Jewish identity and deepening of his faith. He recalls the first time he ever heard of Crown Heights in a radio broadcast about the 1991 unrest, which he remembers causing his mother great sadness. He recounts being introduced to the Lubavitch community by his uncle while visiting Montreal. It was while accompanying his uncle that Lightstone first visited Crown Heights, around the age of fourteen. He describes visiting the resting place of the Rebbe, the spiritual leader of the Lubavitch; and gives his first impressions of the Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway and rituals that he found both strange at first but spiritually compelling. He reflects on his growing sense of commitment to Judaism after his return to Los Angeles, and his gradual identification with the Chabad community. He recalls some of the mentors in the community that helped guide his learning and development, and his decision to move to Crown Heights in 2007. In his remembrance of his first years in Crown Heights, he talks about studying, his training as a meat slaughterer, and courtship and marriage. He describes his family's journey to home-ownership in Crown Heights, addresses perceptions of the role of Jews in neighborhood real estate, and how gentrification and housing pressures have impacted members of the Jewish community. One of the central themes of his interview is the geography of Crown Heights—its meaning, its identity, and its boundaries; and how that geography is inextricably tied to the neighborhood's (and his) Jewish history. Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.

In this interview, Florence Miller talks about growing up in Florida, meeting Arthur Miller, eloping, and moving to New York as a late teenager. She speaks about the activities of her husband, their time in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and his death at the hands of New York Police Department. Miller chronicles the painful period of finding a job and working to support her family as a single mother, then moving back to Florida once her father became ill, and eventually beginning a career as a nurse. She mentions Arthur's job as superintendent of 925 Prospect Place, his emerging business in construction and building renovation, his grocery store on Nostrand Avenue (Bright Night Supermarket), the activities of the 4 Star Block Association, and more. Miller explains the need for the foundation called Arthur Miller Jr. - A Daughter Never Forgets, established by her daughter LoLisa (who is present for the interview, but heard only briefly). Arthur Miller (born November 30, 1941, in Nassau Bahamas, died June 14, 1978 in Brooklyn) is memorialized on the organization's website (https://arthurmillerjradnff.org/), and Florence Miller explains the non-profit foundation's mission. Interview via telephone conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Bronya Shaffer talks about her parents' experience of being religious Jews in Stalinist Russia. She recalls growing up in the 1960s and how the Civil Rights Movement really grabbed her attention. Shaffer remembers her college experience, courtship and marriage, moving to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and encountering racism in the Jewish community as well as high crime in the area. Reflecting on the emergence of feminism in America, she discusses how those ideals affected how she raised her daughters and how this fit with the teachings by the Rebbe of the Lubavitcher Hasidim. Shaffer then relates her experience and some content from her time as an emerging, traveling lecturer on Jewish values, myths that grow out of Judaism, gender roles, and marriage dynamics. Focusing on living in Crown Heights, Shaffer describes the demographic turnover known as white flight and her feelings on security in a time of a rising crime rate. Exploring her memories of the lives lost and the unrest in August of 1991, Shaffer explains that city officials and the media distorted the events into a story of civil fracture based solely on race. She shares some frustration with how cultural institutions created further distortions in how they tried to mend the fabric of the Crown Heights community. In closing, Shaffer observes gentrification's effects and how rising housing costs make it prohibitive to raise a middle-class family in the neighborhood. Interview conducted by Svetlana Kitto.

In this interview, Esmeralda Simmons speaks about growing up in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1950s and 1960s, describing neighborhood demographics, racial conflict, and her experience in Catholic schools: St. Matthew School, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy, and St. Brendan's Diocesean High School. Also important is her description of the neighborhood, including neighborhood boundaries of Crown Heights which overlap with the present day Prospect-Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. She also talks about her work at the Center for Law and Social Justice, the Black United Front, "The East," and Black political activity in Brooklyn (including electoral politics in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the era when the interview occurred). She also describes the decline of the neighborhood in the 1970s and her experience of gentrification in Crown Heights in the early twenty-first century. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Rudy Suggs narrates his life from childhood, to life as a young adult involved in the drug trade, up to the contemporary period where he works as a violence interrupter; all centered in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Suggs talks about the drug trade in detail and elaborates upon the 1986 New York Police Department 77th Precinct scandal. He describes his youth, being bused to schools that were predominantly attended by White students, and growing up in a large family. He also remembers the 1977 New York City blackout. He details his time spent in prison and how he moved from a life of crime to working as a cook for a senior citizen center and as a violence interrupter for the local Save Our Streets program within the Crown Heights Mediation Center. He also speaks about his experience of gentrification in the neighborhood. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In the interview, Greg Todd speaks about the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1980s, early 1990s, and 2000s. He discusses Brooklyn Ecumenical Cooperatives and the housing conditions in Brooklyn in the 1980s and 1990s. He distinguishes between non-profit housing development and commercial housing development. He describes the role of city government in housing development and argues that Giuliani's administration eliminated the availability of non-profit developers to obtain city owned housing stock, instead selling it to commercial developers. Todd also speaks about his involvement in a community garden, Imani Garden, in Crown Heights. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Reggie Workman talks about coming to New York as a young man to join the music scene; including his arrival in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, and later moving to and within the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Workman recalls the institution that was known first as The Muse, a temporary home for Brooklyn Children's Museum. He describes the genesis and content of the New Muse; a space that offered a planetarium and menagerie for children, music lessons, programming, and more for all ages— on Bedford Avenue between Eastern Parkway and Lincoln Place— starting in the early 1970s. He speaks at length about the kinds of programing that the New Muse organized and other musicians who were involved in the music program under his direction. As a result of political factions and decreased funding, he shares how the New Muse closed its doors in the early 1980s. Workman speaks about the community organization "The East;" located in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn and led by Jitu Weusi. He remembers life in Crown Heights, other organizations of musicians, and the drug epidemic in Brooklyn. Workman also contemplates gentrification. Interview conducted by Amaka Okechukwu.

In this interview, Alonzo Davis recalls life as a child growing up in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. He describes his block and immediate neighborhood, contrasting those with his later experience at a boarding school outside of the city. Davis discusses his memories of some events during the 1991 Crown Heights "riot," and this leads into general observations about people in conflict there. Contrasting 2017 with how policing and safety has changed since the early 1990s, he invokes his own experiences and the observations of his father, who worked in the New York Police Department before moving up the ranks in Corrections. Davis also considers how neighborliness plays into a sense of safety at home. After a pause in the interview, he concludes with a description of the Crown Heights landscape during the crack cocaine epidemic. Interview conducted by Mark Winston Griffith.

In the interview, Alisha Finlay recalls her childhood, her teens, and feelings about living in the Bushwick and Crown Heights neighborhoods of Brooklyn; noting their differences. She refers to her recollection and understanding of the August, 1991 uprising in Crown Heights, as well as the secondhand experiences of relatives. Much of the interview turns on Finlay's experiences and evolving opinions on policing; on the level of cultural understanding and on a level of her personal encounters with police. That subject leads into her discussion of gentrification and what she favors and dislikes about its effect on Crown Heights. In closing, Finlay also notes the influence of the Hasidic community on the area. Interview conducted by Walis Johnson.

In this interview, Evangeline "Eve" Porter vividly remembers her first trip to New York City and Brooklyn when she was nine years old; traveling to visit relatives by herself. In 1952, she recalls, she came back to Brooklyn, married, and had three children. They lived on a block of Sterling Street, with neighbors who she remembers as a cohesive unit. She speaks about what makes a good community and the values of her upbringing in North Carolina. She talks about street crime on Franklin Avenue and Crown Heights in general in the late twentieth century. Referring to Crown Heights as Crow Hill, Porter tells of her community work with the Three Saints Association. (This was the precursor to Crow Hill Community Association, which she founded.) She points out the need to include tenants in community organizing and the improvements to security via community policing and police presences as beat officers. In closing, Porter speaks to how Black people and the youth of the neighborhood interrelate, how social interactions there have improved, and the effects of having a local police captain of color. Evangeline Porter was also recorded for the Listen to this: Crown Heights Oral History collection in 2010 (2010.020). Interview conducted by Walis Johnson.

In this interview, Carlyle Price discusses his atypical childhood, largely through a lens of his schooling. He recalls the challenges he faced throughout his educational experiences as a Black man. Price reflects on being racially profiled and other interactions with police. He remembers the importance of learning Black history as a child, and considers themes of Black consciousness and aspiration. Talking about gentrification, Price identifies the social cost of disappearing storefronts and links to ideas of belonging, home, familiarity and community. He analyzes safety by gauging if there's a sense of freedom and the ability to play in a neighborhood. He also shares his feelings on racially-charged controversies in New York City's past, specifically Gavin Cato's death in Crown Heights and the Central Park Five. In closing, Price voices his frustration with unfair public transit, and details his fight for justice in a domestic violence charge in Albany. Interview conducted by Jenny Goldberg.

In the interview, Pearleta Price begins with reflections on growing up in Barbados. She talks about her work as a Broadway make-up artist. Price recalls early days in Brooklyn; in 1968, at sixteen, she moved with her family to the Crown Heights neighborhood, during a harsh winter. She describes being the only Black family on the block (136 Rockaway Parkway) and her predominantly Jewish neighbors. She compares her education in Barbados with that of George H. Wingate High School. Many changes in the neighborhood are described; with a focus on mom and pop stores being replaced by more anonymous larger stores. Price talks about her church attendance and how the family's churches intersected with community support of tenants' rights. She remembers several factors related to the August 1991 turmoil in Crown Heights. Price ends with a discussion of West Indian Carnival and her criticism of how it has evolved. Interview conducted by Jenny Goldberg.

In the interview, Yocheved Sidof begins with reflections on growing up in Minnesota, attending an out-of-state boarding school in her teens, and coming to New York City for Yeshiva University. She talks about the Hasidic community of her youth and within the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Sidof recalls her early experiences with that part of Brooklyn and evaluates the lifestyles, spiritual energy, and social mores that made it a dynamic locale for her. With an anecdote about her car being stolen, she links to general concerns and community efforts related to policing and safety. She relates her own progress in life— relationships and career choices— with how Crown Heights became less, then more important for her. Sidof talks about her filmmaking and photography efforts that she used to draw out profiles of people and the community of Crown Heights. She describes how she began a family and their efforts at finding a home. Sidof also relates the origin and progress of the Lamplighters school. In closing, she observes how gentrification has changed the area, and reflects on the ever-evolving sense of community and safety in Crown Heights. Interview conducted by Walis Johnson.

In the interview, Meredith Staton begins with an explanation of the redistricting of the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn into North and South. In a few instances throughout, he uses the distribution of the city's homeless shelters as an example of social inequity. Staton and his wife, Lula, reflect on how they bought their house from the last White family on the block in 1963. That leads into a discussion of how people feel "pushed out" because housing prices are so high. The couple describes the turn from a quiet neighborhood to one struggling with crime issues emanating from nearby public housing. Staton describes his experience with the police department and leading a group of patrolling volunteers, and the associated social benefits with safety. The couple refers to the precipitating events and the unrest of Crown Heights in August of 1991. They emphasize community safety and policing again, and Staton weighs in on the stop-and-frisk method. Meredith Staton was also recorded for the Listen to this: Crown Heights Oral History collection in 2010 (2010.020). Interview conducted by Walis Johnson.

In this interview, Randy Zimmerman discusses his personal background as well as the impetus for and timeline of his Free Portrait Project. He describes a typical portrait session, and some of the things he learned while doing this work. He shares anecdotes about several of the people he met throughout the process, and how he has become a liaison of sorts between disparate parts of the community. Through his network of community members he has found the goal of encouraging his neighbors to find commonalities where they assume there are only differences. Zimmerman speaks openly and candidly about the preconceived notions and prejudices that we all carry within us, and how his work on the Free Portrait Project has helped him accept and freely admit to those perceptions in a hope of openly and honestly grappling with them. Lastly, he talks about his personal experiences with the police and the 77th precinct, his run-ins with the police, and his realization of his "White privilege" during those moments, and his perceptions about what could be done to further improve community relations. Interview conducted by Candace Thompson.

In this interview, Deborah Alexander talks about her life growing up in the Bronx and what led her to eventually become a speech teacher in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. She discusses her experiences in Intelligent and Gifted Classes (IGC) in both junior high school and Lehman High School. She recalls facing racism in an incident at school that corresponded with the Roots series' premiere. She describes her role in the Afro-Latin Club at Ithaca College and the racism that she also faced there as a student. She delves into her experiences as a speech teacher and the reemergence of the Weeksville Museum at PS 243. Alexander then evaluates the differences between her life as a student and the lives of students circa 2017. Interview conducted by Obden Mondésir.

In this interview, Morris Britt recalls that he moved to New York because of the racism in the South and his realization that he could not "exist" in South Carolina. He talks about living in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn since 1970 and how he found himself working as a janitor at the Weeksville School at eighteen years old. Britt recounts how PS 243 changed its name from the Isaac Newton School to the Weeksville School. He discusses the politically and culturally involved faculty members that worked at the school, such as Marguerite Thompson, Joyce Washington, and Parent-Teacher Association president Elman Meggs. Britt reviews how the school and neighborhood have changed from 1970-2017, touching on what it was like to have his son attend the school. He also considers his first dealings with gentrification. Interview conducted by Obden Mondésir.

In this interview, Myrah Brown Green recalls many of her biographical highlights. She remembers her youth in a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she experienced racism from a childhood friend's father and a stutter which she believes had developed from a fear of needles. She remembers meeting Richard Green for the first time and realizing his impact on the community in Brooklyn. Brown Green discusses starting the Crown Heights Youth Collective, the difficulty in maintaining the organization, and the roles that she and her husband played during the social upheaval in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in August of 1991. She also references the Summer Youth Employment Program that she directed to specifically support pregnant teenage women. Brown Green relates her involvement in starting up a home school. In closing she shares where her focus is in 2017; taking part in raising a granddaughter, publishing a book, and exhibiting her quilted artwork. Her husband, Richard Green, was recorded for Voices of Crown Heights oral histories: Brooklyn History Society and the Listen to this: Crown Heights Oral History collection in 2010 (2010.020). Interview conducted by Larry Weekes.

In this interview, Jean Derico talks about her experience as an educator at PS 243 and how the school changed during her three decades-long teaching career. She describes how the school initially was a very prominent one; with her being part of a change in demographics in regard to the teachers employed. Derico evaluates how the student population started to decrease with the rise of charter schools. She also discusses the changes in demographics both racially and generationally that she has witnessed in her profession. She also shares about the Weeksville museum that was at the school; how it was turned into a junk room and how it was eventually re-opened in 2015 through the impetus of the local Parent Teacher Association president's (Donnaly Lamont) proactivity. Herman Butler intermittently adds description of his experience at PS 243; recalling the school's participation in the archeological dig that occurred in 1968 and when the school changed its name from the Isaac Newton School to the Weeksville School. He also discusses how the school has changed since 1967 and how it may have lost the "feeling of the community." Interview conducted by Obden Mondésir.

In the interview, Linda Patricia Leach-James speaks about her experiences in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn as a member of a middle class African American family. She discusses her upbringing and her educational experiences in Catholic parochial schools. Leach-James recalls key biographical turning points. She remembers arriving to college and attending Hampton Institute, a historically Black school. Leach-James references her time living in a few towns in France. She reflects on how her family reacted and coped during the August, 1991 event that's sometimes known as the Crown Heights riot. Interview conducted by Vivian Millicent Warfield.

In the interview, Richard Maxwell initially discusses the changing boundaries of central Brooklyn and the demographic and political influences that create them. He also focuses on encountering the Jewish community in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn during the 1940s and how he grew up— predominantly on Jefferson Street and Nostrand Avenue. He recalls the many positions that he held in the Department of Education and his interactions with Brooklyn political players. He mentions his time as a student at Boys' High School, its preponderance of quality basketball players, and how that played a role in his social life growing up. Maxwell reflects on his decision to move closer to his brother— who, after serving in Vietnam, suffered from the effects of Agent Orange— which led him to work at the notoriously difficult school IS 320. He speculates on the issues of school safety and the gang behavior that he encountered as an anti-gang specialist and acknowledges the patterns among some youths that impacted the August 1991 uprising in Crown Heights. Maxwell identifies Richard Green as an educator who helped quell the uproar and violence that occurred at that time. In closing, he lists many of the bars that he frequented in Crown Heights. Interview conducted by Brigitte Winston.

In this interview, Dr. Mark Naison talks about life in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn during the 1950s. He describes the neighborhood as very working class and, in demographic terms, mostly Italian and Jewish. Dr. Naison remembers being ostracized for the intellectual pursuits that his parents foisted upon him, and the gameplay, athletics, and fighting with his public school peers which he used as social compensation. Interview conducted by Obden Mondésir.