!S u m m e r
The history of Africandescended peoples in New
Yo r k C i t y i s a s u b j e c t
intimately connected with the
city itself. We must remember
that because people of the
African diaspora played very
specific roles within New York
City, a city that serves as an
international leader, this
subject operates on a global
level. The history of Black
people in New York City is a
history of modern history. It is
one that is constantly
changing and tied with the
City's development, culture,
When
Dr. Roberts initially
politics, struggles with its past
spoke with me about the STSI,
and continuous tensions. To
I was very excited. My first
dedicate a summer institute to
thought was "wow, I get to
that subject is to invite deep
include a section on civil
investigation into the City,
rights, activism, migration and
Black people, how the past
c o m m u n i t y
unfolded, and
migration in
what's going
Brooklyn, that's
on
the
This type of learning, which comes from the
amazing."
present. The
As I began to design
STSI, without
multiple experiences of the participants, creates
my seminar, I
a doubt,
new learning environments for everyone,
decided to approach
serves as an
including the expert.
the presentation with
opportunity to
two concerns bring the
p e d a g o g y, a n d
cultural
curriculum and
institutions,
into discourse about parental
historiography.
art, history, and real time lived
disfunction, and the education
The first concern compelled
experiences of Black people
system in Harlem; someone
me to design a presentation
and Black institutions in New
also made connections to
that might benefit educators
York City together.
works by photographer Jacob
and how they would teach this
Reese.This type of rich
subject. The other
analysis never happened
concern,
historiography
during one of my seminars
called for a different approach,
before. I must say, I will
one that considered the ways
never look at images in the
have historians dealt with this
same way. The discussions,
subject, how various primary
not only about the image, but
sources illustrated the history
throughout my seminar, were
itself, and how, in general, the
spontaneous, rich, and very
historiography of civil rights in
smart. This type of learning,
Brooklyn could be used in the
which comes from the
classroom.
multiple experiences of the
I imagined the historiography
participants, creates new
of civil rights in Brooklyn
learning environments for
functioning as a hub of a
everyone, including the
wheel and migration, urban
expert.
history and social movement
Te a c h e r s a n d
Scholars Institute (STSI)
seminar leader Dr. Brian
Purnell shares his experience
!
history as told through a
Brooklyn chapter of CORE
serving as spokes. With this in
mind, I eagerly prepared for
the seminar.
My experience presenting my
seminar, entitled ”Fighting Jim
Crow in the County of Kings:
The Civil Rights Movement in
Brooklyn" was incredible. I
really enjoyed the mix of
participants and the multiple
professional and intellectual
experiences they brought. In
many ways, the STSI made the
teaching experience a learning
experience for me. For
examples, the STSI
participants turned a question
I presented about a photo into
an opportunity to analyze
representations of poverty,
children, how images played
!