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Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life in the Bronx from the 1930s to the 1960s 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Mark Naison (Author), Bob Gumbs (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
Residents of the South Bronx during its promising postwar decades tell their stories in their own words.
 
In the 1930s, word spread in Harlem that there were spacious apartments for rent in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. Landlords, desperate to avoid foreclosure, began putting signs in windows and placing ads in New York’s black newspapers that said “We rent to select colored families”—by which they meant those with a securely employed wage earner and light complexions. Black families moved in by the score, beginning a period in which the Bronx served as a borough of hope and upward mobility.
 
Chronicling a time when African Americans were suspended between the best and worst possibilities of New York City, Before the Fires tells the personal stories of men and women who lived in the South Bronx before the social and economic decline of the late 1960s. Located on a hill overlooking a large industrial district, Morrisania offered migrants from Harlem, the South, and the Caribbean an opportunity to raise children in a neighborhood with better schools, strong churches, more shopping, less crime, and clean air. It also boasted vibrant music venues, giving rise to such titans as Herbie Hancock, Eddie Palmieri, Valerie Simpson, the Chantels, and Jimmy Owens.
 
Rich in detail, these interviews describe growing up and living in communities rarely mentioned in other histories. Before the Fires captures the optimism of the period—as well as the heartache of what was lost in the urban crisis and the burning of the Bronx.
 
“Excellent . . . profound, moving.” —Robert W. Snyder, Rutgers University, Newark
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0823273546
  2. Edition
    1st
  3. Publisher
    Empire State Editions
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2016
  5. Language
    English
  6. File size
    5.2 MB
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is an important eye-opener and a fascinating read. ― Literary Hub, "Understanding the Bronx: A Reading List"

Before the Fires is an excellent oral history―profound, moving and skillfully executed. It will compel readers to revise their understandings of both the South Bronx and New York City.---Robert W. Snyder, Rutgers University-Newark

As hip-hop has become a metaphor for the ingenuity and perseverance of a generation of black and Latino/a youth raised in the South Bronx in the 1970s, Mark Naison and Robert Gumbs’s oral history of the region is a timely reminder of the brilliance incubated in the South Bronx two generations Before the Fires.---―Mark Anthony Neal, author of Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities

Naison and Gumbs are beginning a conversation that needs to be had about the way the community and local government can identify policies and initiatives that will cause the Bronx to flourish, not diminish. The editors of this book are showing that the Bronx has the foundation to continue to be a melting pot of different races, cultures, and religions that can support growth and productivity as it once did so well. ― The Literary Bronx

Review

Naison and Gumbs are beginning a conversation that needs to be had about the way the community and local government can identify policies and initiatives that will cause the Bronx to flourish, not diminish. The editors of this book are showing that the Bronx has the foundation to continue to be a melting pot of different races, cultures, and religions that can support growth and productivity as it once did so well. ― The Literary Bronx

As hip-hop has become a metaphor for the ingenuity and perseverance of a generation of black and Latino/a youth raised in the South Bronx in the 1970s, Mark Naison and Robert Gumbs’s oral history of the region is a timely reminder of the brilliance incubated in the South Bronx two generations Before the Fires.---―Mark Anthony Neal, author of Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities

Before the Fires is an excellent oral history―profound, moving and skillfully executed. It will compel readers to revise their understandings of both the South Bronx and New York City.---Robert W. Snyder, Rutgers University-Newark,

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01J86B22Q
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Empire State Editions; 1st edition (September 1, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 1, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5.2 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 225 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Markita Twain
    5.0 out of 5 stars A trip down memory lane for me.
    Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This book was recommended to me by one of the participants in the oral anecdotal interviews, contained in the book. The reason it was recommended is because it focused on my childhood neighborhood. My family relocated to the Morrisania section of the Bronx from West Harlem in 1954. At the time, I was too young to know any of the significance of moving to this particular area of the Bronx, or even that it was called Morrisania. I didn't learn that fact until well into adulthood. Reading the anecdotal accounts was like taking a trip down memory lane, because I recognized all of the neighborhood places that were mentioned, and I attended the elementary and junior high school referenced as well. I left this area of the Bronx at the age of fourteen as my family had been evicted from our basement apartment by the landlord, even though my father was hired as superintendent by this landlord.
    I never did learn the reason for the eviction; children don't question parents about adult matters. My father had to find housing for us quickly and we ended up in a dilapidated wooden structure located under the El on Third Ave at 165th, between Park and Washington Avenue; a corner aptly named Wieher Court.
    This structure was a two story horror that contained "Railroad Flats.'' We lived on the upper floor that contained one other family, and our front room window overlooked the El train, which rattled noisily by. We could actually look right into the train windows! Luckily, we only stayed there for four short months, because my family had been accepted into a housing project on First Avenue in East Harlem.
    I could go on and on. I realize how many memories reading this book has awakened in me.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Ray Bromley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2017
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    great!
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  • SundayAtDusk
    5.0 out of 5 stars Before The Heroin . . . .
    Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2016
    When I first started reading this book, I thought the stories were a bit flat. These oral histories weren't as lively as the other recent memoirs I had read about growing up in one place or another. But then I reminded myself that these were memories being told to someone else, readjusted my expectations a bit, and soon was looking forward to each new person being interviewed. What was being stated over and over again was that the Bronx was a good place to grow up, a good place to live . . . before the fires and before the heroin.

    From the 1930s-1960s, blacks from Harlem, from the South, from many other places, were moving to the Bronx and discovering there was no violence when they moved into predominantly white neighborhood. The whites would eventually move out; but before that time, the neighborhoods were integrated and the schools were integrated. There were violent gangs, but most of those interviewed said they just learned how to avoid them, learned where not to go. Doors and windows were left unlocked, as well as opened in the summer, and people watched out for each other. Schools even remained open at night with activities to keep children productively occupied.

    Music was a huge part of life for so many of those interviewed. There was music in the schools, music in homes, music in church, music in clubs, music on the streets. From jazz to doo-wop, music came up over and over again in the interviews. Church was also a big part of life for many, although some families went back to Harlem to attend the churches they attended before moving to the Bronx. Most of those interviewed grew up in homes with both a father and mother, too; many fathers working as building superintendents, Pullman porters or at the post office. There were mentors in the families, mentors in the schools, mentors in the neighborhood.

    What destroyed the Bronx, according to most everyone, was heroin. People started on marijuana, got addicted to heroin, and it was all downhill from there. Doors and windows had to be locked to keep the drug addicts from stealing whatever they could get their hands on; and, according to one person interviewed, drug dealers were being thrown off roofs. In addition, people had to worry about being mugged, when they use to walk home at night with no fear. Economically, the neighborhoods began to suffer, too, and budget cuts greatly damaged music programs and other activities in the schools. Finally, there were the fires . . . but before the fires, there were a whole bunch of kids growing up in Bronx neighborhoods that they look back on, as adults, with tremendous love and loyalty.

    (Note: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review.)
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Elvin Gonzalez
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent analysis of the constitution for anyone
    Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    You don't need to be doctoral to comprehend.
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