Archives for Black 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.

Children Walk with George Moses Horton

Children Walk with George Moses Horton

Children at White Plains Public Library are learning about George Moses Horton as they walk The Trove's Black History StoryWalk® which is on display in the Library's art gallery during the month of February through Sunday, March 13, 2016. The StoryWalk® is based on the book: Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton, written and illustrated by Don Tate. George Moses Horton was a slave who grew up working long hours on a North Carolina farm. Though unable to attend school, he was determined and taught himself to read. While he tended his master’s cattle, he composed verses in
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February 3, 2016 2:33 pm | by | 2 Comments
Categories: Events, Gallery, Kids, and Uncategorized.
Tags: Black History, children, storywalk, and The Trove.

Kick Off Black History Month

Kick Off Black History Month

The Trove at the White Plains Public Library and White Plains Juneteenth Heritage Committee have joined together to kick off February as Black History Month on Sunday, January 31 in The Trove. The activities begin at 1:00 p.m. with the opening of the annual Black History StoryWalk®. This year’s StoryWalk® is  based on the book, Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton written and illustrated by Don Tate. This is an opportunity to learn about George Moses Horton, the first African-American man to be published. The StoryWalk® is open during regular library hours to families with children in first
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January 25, 2016 5:00 am | by | No Comments
Categories: Events and Kids.
Tags: Black History, books, children, storytime, storywalk, and The Trove.

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.