Archives for African-American History

Black History Month StoryWalk: Mamie on the Mound

Black History Month StoryWalk: Mamie on the Mound

The Trove’s 2021 Black History StoryWalk Mamie on the Mound: A Woman in Baseball’s Negro Leagues By Leah Henderson Illustrated by George Doutsiopoulos Starting January 28th, 2021 Get ready to step back in time as you take a walk along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the Library Plaza. Follow the panels and read Mamie on the Mound by Leah Henderson and illustrated by George Doutsiopoulos.  The StoryWalk is up and ready to view on the Library's windows through 2/23. Mamie on the Mound tells the real-life story of Mamie “Peanut” Johnson who did not let her “two strikes”
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January 28, 2021 9:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.
Tags: African-American History, baseball, biography, black history month, history, Jackie Robinson, mamie johnson, negro league baseball, negro leagues, Observances and Celebrations, satchel paige, storywalk, and the negro leagues.

Local History: Rosa Kittrell

Local History: Rosa Kittrell

October 10 has been designated World Mental Health Day by the World Health Organization. In honor of it, here is a story about a White Plains resident whose activism on behalf of people with mental illness had a national impact. Rosa Kittrell worked hard to redefine the way we view and treat the most vulnerable members of society. Through her tireless activism, personal struggles with mental illness, and belief in the power of education, Kittrell developed a motto: “Others, Lord, others.” Like so many black women in America, Kittrell was intersectional in her activism before anyone ever heard of that
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October 10, 2017 11:53 am | by | 1 Comment
Categories: Local History.
Tags: activism, African-American History, Black History, clifford beers, day care, feminism, local history, mental health reform, mental hygiene, mental illness, rosa kittrell, social justice, thomas p brennan, white plains collection, white plains history, and world mental health day.

Local History: School’s Out, Pt. 2

Local History: School’s Out, Pt. 2

The late 1960s was a time of increasing consciousness about racial issues in the United States. The mainstream civil rights movement won victories in 1964 and 1965 with large pieces of Federal legislation like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. By 1968, however, because of issues like Vietnam, economic injustice, the conditions of urban life, and the nature of black identity some people questioned how much progress had really been made. The civil rights movement itself was fractured. Some advocated equality and integration within the framework of American society. Others, generally younger activists, promoted black power or
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July 28, 2017 4:59 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, boycotts, civil rights, local history, race relations, racial balance plan, Reporter Dispatch, school, strikes, students, white plains collection, White Plains High School, and white plains history.

Local History: School’s Out, Pt. 1

Local History: School’s Out, Pt. 1

The late 1960s was a time of increasing consciousness about racial issues in the United States. The mainstream civil rights movement won victories in 1964 and 1965 with large pieces of Federal legislation like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. By 1968, however, because of issues like Vietnam, economic injustice, the conditions of urban life, and the nature of black identity some people questioned how much progress had really been made. The civil rights movement itself was fractured. Some advocated equality and integration within the framework of American society. Others, generally younger activists, promoted black power or
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July 21, 2017 5:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, boycotts, civil rights, local-history, race relations, racial balance plan, Reporter Dispatch, school, strikes, students, teachers, white plains collection, White Plains High School, and white plains history.

Local History: Researching Greenburgh

Local History: Researching Greenburgh

All kinds of curious researchers find their way to the library and discover the White Plains Collection can help answer their questions. I've helped people find their yearbook picture, learn about the people who used to live in their house (no American Horror Stories uncovered yet), unearth lost city reports, and find photographs they didn't know existed. Two recent research queries covered similar topics, and all the researchers are generating interesting projects about Greenburgh.   The Greenburgh African American Historical Alliance is a newly formed community-based organization created to assist in the historical preservation of African American heritage, history and
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March 10, 2017 5:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, community history, fairview, greenburgh, Greenburgh African American Historical Alliance, housing, local-history, white plains collection, and white plains history.

Local History: Black History Month

Local History: Black History Month

It's February, a month recognized as Black History Month across America. Sometimes also called African American History Month, wide-scale public recognition of the history of Black Americans began in 1915 when Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. In 1926, Negro History Week was established through the ASALH. The commemoration was updated in 1975 and given its current form by an act of Congress and a Presidential Proclamation in 1986. A full history of the public commemoration can be found here. In 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture
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February 4, 2017 4:32 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, black history month, historical societies, local history, Observances and Celebrations, white plains collection, and white plains history.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Kenny Lee

People & Stories Oral History Project: Kenny Lee

We are grateful to start our collaboration with White Plains Jazz Fest and ArtsWestchester on a good note–with an oral history by Kenny Lee, whose life and music are important parts of White Plains history. Lee is known to different people for different things. Some know him as a trumpet player and band leader of the Kenny Lee All Stars. Others know him as a detective with the White Plains Police Department. Lee was born in White Plains and, taking after his father, started playing trumpet at an early age. He played in the White Plains Schools in the jazz
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July 8, 2016 4:58 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, ArtsWestchester, Black History, jazz, Jazz Fest, local history, music, oral history, People & Stories, police, and white plains history.

People & Stories Oral History Project: YWCA GEMS

People & Stories Oral History Project: YWCA GEMS

People & Stories was thrilled when Rhonda Brooks and Candi Poinsette, of the YWCA, reached out to collaborate on an oral history project about the history of the GEMS. GEMS stands for “Girls Empowered Through Meaningful Support” and has existed in one form or another for over 40 years in White Plains. GEMS strives to assist girls in the White Plains community in becoming self-reliant, competent, caring and healthy. It does so by providing relevant engaging activities in the areas of cultural awareness, health and wellness, college and careers, and self-esteem. Current members of GEMS met with alumni to learn
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June 9, 2016 9:08 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: 1960s, 1970s, African-American History, college, education, empowerment, GEMS, high school, Latina History, local history, oral history, People & Stories, teens, white plains history, Women's History, youth groups, and YWCA.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Lord Judah & JCA

People & Stories Oral History Project: Lord Judah & JCA

This is the first time People & Stories is presenting a produced oral history, and it's for a good reason. Lord Judah is the artist behind H.I.P.H.O.P., which stands for Highly Intelligent People Healing Our Planet. H.I.P.H.O.P. is many things. It's a philosophy for engaging with social issues, a mobile-teaching unit, and an artistic collective. H.I.P.H.O.P. is combining music with a social justice mission through teaching workshops with young people and support for local artists. Lord Judah and JCA mix their personal stories about coming up in White Plains with insights about how to find a place as an artist
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May 27, 2016 6:06 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, artists, Black History, community activism, education, hip hop, JCA, local history, lord judah, music, oral history, People & Stories, social justice, teaching, and white plains history.

People & Stories Oral History Project: The Mosleys

People & Stories Oral History Project: The Mosleys

Brandon Mosley took the question posed by television show “Who Do You Think You Are?” seriously and set out to discover how he came to be in White Plains. His mother told him stories about his great-aunt's successful cosmetic company in Harlem, his grandfather's influential role in White Plains public schools, and his great-grandfather's life as a preacher in North Carolina–and he discovered many more. He wrote a history of his mother's (Marcia's) side of the family in The Tree That Shades Me, which he self-published. In their oral history, Brandon talks about the process of discovering his family's history
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April 4, 2016 1:48 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: 19th Century, African-American History, Black History, local history, National Beauty Supply Company, North Carolina, oral history, People & Stories, and white plains history.

Street Maps and Family Pictures

Street Maps and Family Pictures

The local history community in White Plains has been busy over the past few months! We are proud to share the Streets of White Plains, an interactive map created by Cliff Blau that explains the history of many street names in our city. Cliff thoroughly plumbed the White Plains Collection at the Library, then doggedly followed leads to the County Clerk's Office and beyond. View the map on our Atlases and Maps page and use the share button to show it to friends or family! Back in December, we had a Community History Day where we scanned photographs, documents, or
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March 1, 2016 10:13 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, community history, Culture In Transit, DCMNY, Jewish History, local history, postage stamps, postcards, Urban Renewal, white plains history, and workshops.

People & Stories Goes National!

People & Stories Goes National!

Kevin Tidmarsh and Saahil Desai, students at Pomona College in California, investigate the stories of early students of color at their school in the first episode of Hidden Pomona, “Stranger In A Strange Land.” Drawing on Leola Bryant's oral history in our People & Stories Collection, Tidmarsh and Desai chronicle the impact White Plains native and Pomona alumnus Eileen Johnson had on the lives of African-Americans.
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February 20, 2016 10:49 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, Eileen Johnson, General Foods, Leola Bryant, local history, oral history, People & Stories, podcast, Pomona College, and white plains history.

Everyone’s a Historian: Community History Day

Everyone’s a Historian: Community History Day

At White Plains Public Library, we believe in sharing historical authority with the community.  So last Saturday, we created a space in which everyone was a historian.  No one person has a monopoly on the past and no single narrative could possibly tell all our stories.  We all have knowledge of the past, it's just a matter of sharing and using it! Several community members brought items from their personal collections to be digitized and added to our online collection.  We had a diverse group of people, from life-long White Plains residents to current and past members of government to
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December 15, 2015 10:04 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, community history, digitization, local history, oral history, People & Stories, postcards, Urban Renewal, white plains collection, and white plains history.

Hiking The Hills at Silver Lake

Hiking The Hills at Silver Lake

On Saturday, November 14, I joined a group of history-minded individuals in a hike guided by Bice Wilson through the archeological remains of The Hills, an African American community that existed between the 1790s and the early 20th century.  In her book, Freedom Journey, Edythe Ann Quinn estimates that the population of The Hills reached its peak in the 1860s, with about 200 people living in numerous dwellings.  Most of these homes were located along Stony Hill Road, which begins off Lake Street in West Harrison and disappears into woods.  As recently as one hundred years ago, these woods were
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November 16, 2015 12:16 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Events and Local History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, Hiking, local history, Silver Lake Preserve, the hills, West Harrison, and white plains history.

Meet the Author: Edythe Ann Quinn and “Freedom Journey”

Meet the Author: Edythe Ann Quinn and “Freedom Journey”

Join us on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:00 PM as Dr. Edythe Ann Quinn shares from her new book Freedom Journey: Black Civil War Soldiers and The Hills Community, Westchester County, New York. Through wonderfully detailed letters, recruit rosters, and pension records, Quinn tells the story of thirty-five African American Civil War soldiers and the United States Colored Troop (USCT) regiments with which they served. The men all came from The Hills, an African American community near present-day Silver Lake. Their ties to family, land, church, school, and occupational experiences at home buffered the brutal indifference of boredom and battle,
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September 23, 2015 6:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Authors & Books, Events, and Local History.
Tags: African-American History, author event, Black History, civil war history, local-history, military history, silver lake, the hills, and white plains history.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Dr. Olivia J. Hooker

People & Stories Oral History Project: Dr. Olivia J. Hooker

Dr. Olivia J. Hooker turned 100 in 2015. She is a fascinating, brilliant, fun person, and White Plains is lucky to count her among its residents. Her life started in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where her father owned a successful department store. His store and the neighborhood known as The Black Wall Street were destroyed in what Dr. Hooker called “the terrible catastrophe in Tulsa.” “Other people called it the Tulsa Riot. It really wasn't a riot–we were the victims,” said Dr. Hooker. The Greenwood district of Tulsa was devastated by the racist violence, and news of the injustice was under-reported in
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September 4, 2015 11:56 am | by | 15 Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, Dr. Olivia J. Hooker, local history, oral history, People & Stories, US Coast Guard, white plains history, and Women's History.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Al Surya Peterson

People & Stories Oral History Project: Al Surya Peterson

Al Surya Peterson has deep roots in the White Plains area and is a knowledgeable and ardent proponent of black history in Westchester County. His grandfather came to work on the Rockefeller Estate in the early 20th century and settled on land owned by a former slave on Saxon Woods Road. In this oral history, Peterson describes growing up in a close-knit black community on the White Plains-Scarsdale border. Although he attended school in Scarsdale, he spent (and continues to spend) lots of time in White Plains. He visited family and friends here during his childhood, was the first African-American
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July 28, 2015 9:49 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, arts, Black History, Fisher Avenue, local history, oral history, People & Stories, post office, saxon woods road, and white plains history.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Leola Bryant

People & Stories Oral History Project: Leola Bryant

Leola Bryant sat down with Teddy Lee and Ben Himmelfarb to record this oral history.  Bryant's memory and wit are crisp, and her stories about White Plains are highly informative. She recalls life for children in downtown White Plains and the distinct geographic and ethnic character of the neighborhoods. Bryant is especially insightful about how segregation and discrimination affected black citizens of White Plains. Although she recalls being discriminated against in her job, she feels the schools were free from the prejudice that affected so many other areas of her life. Eileen Johnson, daughter of a White Plains doctor, was
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June 13, 2015 4:53 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, Alexander's, Black History, civil rights, Employment, General Foods, IBM, Leola Bryant, local history, oral history, People & Stories, and white plains history.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Teddy Lee, Jr.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Teddy Lee, Jr.

Theodore Jay Lee, Jr., better known as Teddy, is the owner of Lee's Funeral Home and a lifelong resident of White Plains. His father, Theodore Jay Lee, Sr., migrated north from Virginia, became a licensed undertaker, and began working in Westchester County. In the late 1920s, Lee Sr. moved to White Plains and opened a funeral home at 57 Brookfield Street. Lee remembers the pride and integrity with which his father operated the business, helping people with personal problems or their taxes in addition to funeral arrangements. Lee vividly recalls life for children in downtown White Plains during the 1930s
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June 13, 2015 10:22 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, Brookfield Street, business, history, local history, oral history, People & Stories, Teddy Lee, and white plains history.

People & Stories Oral History Project: Harry Bright

People & Stories Oral History Project: Harry Bright

People & Stories is the oral history project of the White Plains Public Library. People & Stories seeks to record and share the voices of people who have lived or worked in White Plains. The project functions by pairing interviewers with storytellers from the community. If you are interested in becoming an interviewer, we have our first training event on Saturday, April 18, from 10:30 am- 12:00 pm at the Library. Harry Bright's work as an educator took him around the world, from Cambodia to Europe, and, of course, to White Plains. Bright worked as a teacher and coach at
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April 1, 2015 4:31 pm | by | No Comments
Categories: Local History and Oral History.
Tags: African-American History, Black History, education, Harry Bright, Human Rights Commission, local history, oral history, People & Stories, and white plains history.