Items

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  2020-09-24

  Christopher: Find the things that gives you peace

  Christopher is the administrative aid at the African American Museum of Nassau County. He works with museum director, Joysetta Pearse, to promote understanding and appreciation of African American culture, art and tradition through education, interpretation, exhibitions, collections and programs for the enrichment of the public. Chris discusses his work, as well as how we hopes to come out stronger, on the other side of COVID. He also discusses the loss of his uncle and getting a diagnosis of his own during COVID.
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  2020-10-01

  Interview by Dr. Juilee Decker and Alicia Evans, educator and Fiber Artist

  Alicia Evans describes her busy life before COVID. She was a professor at City University New York as well as a fiber artist and medical actor. She describes how her work changed due to COVID, and how virtual learning has changed the way things are taught. She shares her art and stories about how she is impacting lives through her work and art.
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  2020-10-15

  Galvin Bisserup, Photographer, and the Father's Day Men's Chorus Project

  "Galvin P. Bisserup, Jr. is the owner and principal portrait photographer of Glickman Studio Photographers which has been in Freeport, NY for 98 years. Over the years he has captured the many eventful moments of individual lives, from infancy through seasoned adulthood. For over three decades this professional photographer has been behind the camera capturing the smiles from the heart and soul. In this interview, Galvin recounts his career and how his work as a community photographer has been impacted by COVID. He also describes a project from this past spring which resulted in the creation of a music CD in celebration of Father’s Day with his men’s chorus. This interview was recorded by Juilee Decker and Joysetta Pearse with Galvin Bisserup on October 15, 2020 at 6 pm ET and lasted approximately 40 minutes. It was conducted over Zoom. A transcript is attached, along with multiple images associated with the interview, provided by Bisserup. It is part of the LongIslandCommunity series, an initiative of COVID-19 archive (Juilee Decker) and the African American Museum of Nassau County (Joysetta Pearse)."
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  2020-09-24

  Jayce, Tonia, and Keiwan tell their COVID stories

  Jayce, Tonia, and Keiwan tell their COVID stories as part of the LongIslandStories collection being done at the African American Museum of Nassau County
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  2020-09-24

  Horace Graydon: I want to live peacefully with you, politically, socially…

  Horace Graydon is a community volunteer, avid walker, and advocate for disrupting the pipeline to prison for youth of color. Horace tells his story against the backdrop of his long-term sentences in federal penitentiary. In the end, Horace is hopeful, though, finding that his passion for his work now. Stating that he "took so much out of our black communities by when" he committed acts that led him to prison that, now, he is
• 
  2020-10-01

  Marcellus Morris, Community Organizer and Diversion Counselor

  Marcellus Morris is a community organizer and diversion counselor in Hempstead, NY. Through Reign 4 Life and other initiatives, he works with at-risk youth toward
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  2020-09-24

  Interview by Juilee Decker and Dr. Fayth Vaughn-Shavuo of the PEACE Program

  P.E.A.C.E. is an acronym for Partnerships in Education to Avoid Criminal Justice System Entry. The P.E.A.C.E. Afterschool Program, Inc., operates a year-round program consisting of an after school program where children are provided with free homework assistance, social/character development, academic enrichment and community service projects. Ongoing workshops engage cognitive skills that enable the students to say no to gangs. The program is spearheaded by Dr. Fayth Vaughn-Shavuo who sat down with us, and invited 5—which grew to 8!---children to tell their stories. Of particular interest is the words that the children used to talk about COVID. Warren felt it has been boring; Kaymauri was sad that she had to social distance while Fatamata was sad in the beginning of COVID, but is now kind of happy; Jahcai didn’t like that in school there is no more sharing of items/materials; Daniel mentioned being worried and also spending time watching YouTube and eating marshmallows. Jayvien mentioned having to survive and to be careful but not being able to feel anything. Ivrhim felt scared at the beginning of COVID but feels safe now, while Joshua feels annoyed and angry about COVID. Some bright spots: Kaymauri learned how to beat box! In the final interview, Dr. V mentioned the ways in which differences and inequities have been exacerbated by COVID, particularly the dependency upon internet and need to have access for children and everyone in a household. This is particularly a challenge in government housing and situations where there is only 1 device with a parent. Anyone interested in learning more about PEACE, can visit their website: https://www.peaceafterschoolprogram.org/
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  2020-04-08T18:22

  Holland Tunnel

  My life has been greatly interrupted by the Covid-19. As of March 12th, 2020, everything around me came to a screeching halt and it was the last time I drove my car into Manhattan. New York and New Jersey began working in partnership during the Corona pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy and Governor Andrew Cuomo closed the states to prevent the spread of the Corona Virus. They both did a marvelous job in managing the spread of the virus and kept the public well informed. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is run by the Government with an office in Weehawken, New Jersey. They keep the region moving by, land, rail, and sea. Critical healthcare workers, first responders, and other essential workers were the pulse of cities, keeping the communities alive and functioning. As of March 22nd, the Port Authority began collecting tolls exclusively by electronic and suspended cash toll collection between the states at the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and Holland Tunnel due to the safety and social distancing. I live in the Newport Waterfront Development, a bedroom town just across the Hudson river, I am steps away from the Holland Tunnel. The tunnel was built in 1921 and it is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River, and it connects Lower Manhattan in New York City to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. Normally over 100,000 vehicles pass through the Holland Tunnel daily. I was incredibly happy about the many reports concerning the air quality change and pollution were way down. With all health clubs and gyms closed, I began daily walks and it struck me that there were very few cars traveling into lower Manhattan during rush hour. What a sight to see, Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 6:22 PM
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  2020-07-22

  Ruth Hunt's Story

  Many family members expressed a great sense of relief knowing that mom passed last year and not in 2020 because it would have been unbearable for me not to be able to visit with my mother during this pandemic. My mom was confined to a nursing/rehab facility for the last nine months of her life and I had to travel back and forth from New Jersey to Virginia to spend 10 days at a time with her. It was the hardest nine months of my life advocating for my mother's life while she was confined. Although she passed the last day of February 2019, I continued running that race to get everything perfectly in place to honor her life. The family was not up to the burial at the time so we planned to have a family reunion this July 2020 and a graveside service to remit mom's ashes in the grave waiting for her next to our father. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic the family has decided to postpone the graveside service until July 2021 in order to celebrate her life. You can listen to an interview with my mother here: https://omny.fm/shows/fuel-for-the-spirit/fuel-for-the-spirit-7-13-19. I am a family researcher, my story is here: https://www.ruthdhunt.com/
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  April 7, 2020

  DataViz

  Daily check in of the COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at JHU
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  2020-06-04

  Museums and Collecting COVID-19

  On June 4, 2020 the Curators Committee of the American Alliance of Museums presented a session focused on Collecting COVID. The session called attention to the importance of documenting significant history while living in a pandemic and discussed the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of collecting objects, ephemera and materiel in the time of crisis. The presenters (Stacey Swigart, Drexel Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships; Thomas Lonnberg and Tory Schendel Cox, Evansville Museum of Arts; Juilee Decker, Rochester Institute of Technology; and Redmond Barnett, Historian/Consultant) reviewed best practices, safety measures, look at museums who are collecting and how communities can/are involved and what communities can do to document your local/regional history. This item is a PDF of their entire presentation.
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  2020-04-04

  Coloring Sheet

  Coloring has been therapeutic during COVID-19. Rochester, NY-based artist Shawn Dunwoody made some of his "Legion of Legends" coloring pages available online to encourage everyone during this time.
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  2020-04-05

  Coloring Sheet

  Coloring has been therapeutic during COVID-19. Charlotte, NC-based artist Stephen Wilson distributed a coloring book over email and social media to encourage everyone during this time.
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  2020-03-22

  Planogram (i.e., how I revamped my semester midstream)

  My courses tend to be organized around weeks, modules, and learning outcomes that inform our readings, assignments, and free-form activities. I really enjoy teaching and the art of pedagogy. COVID-19 forced me to change course mid-stream. I know that I was not alone, as everyone had to do this, whether an instructor or student or ancillary staff. I kept trying time and again to simply re-write my syllabus timeline. What finally worked, after six days of fretting, was gridding everything out visually and then color coding the content around videos, assignments due, discussion post topics, and live chat discussions. This large post it (25" x 30") served as my planning guide. Here it is, after I had mapped out about half of the weeks in visual and textual form. I have called this piece "planogram" as that is the term for the visual layout used in retail so that staff can set up displays that mirror those at other locations. It's a visual plan of a layout. Well, I am happy to say, now that I am on the other side of this process, that the Post It Note version of the planogram served me well. And, I hope that my students were able to carve out a meaningful learning experience, even though it was not as any of us had intended in January—which now seems so long ago.
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  2020-03-31

  Sourdough bread fail

  During the first few weeks of COVID-19, I found myself not wanting to grocery shop and to focus on making do with what we had. However, as I have a number of food allergies, I have to be careful about what I eat. So I attempted to make bread—not in the TikTok viral-trendsetting-sense, but rather as a means to an end. My efforts were shortlived. I tried three recipes. Each was a disaster. Here is the beginnings of a sourdough starter that is vegan and gluten free. I fed it and cared for it gingerly for a week - nursing it along with fresh g-f flour every day, as a ritual to puncuate my day in the way that commuting to work used to do. On the 8th day, mold grew in the bowl and I tossed out the starter.
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  2020-04-07

  Buckwheat bread fail

  During the first few weeks of COVID-19, I found myself not wanting to grocery shop and to focus on making do with what we had. However, as I have a number of food allergies, I have to be careful about what I eat. So I attempted to make bread—not in the TikTok viral-trendsetting-sense, but rather as a means to an end. My efforts were shortlived. I tried three recipes. Each was a disaster. Here is buckwheat bread that is vegan and gluten free. It tasted like dirt.
• 
  2020-07-04

  This Work is Spiritual: Finding Willoughby McWhite

  COVID gave Janice Gilyard the opportunity to dig deeper into genealogy, one of her hobbies. On July 4, 2020, she uncovered details about the remarkable life of her 5x great grandmother, Willoughby McWhite, who was enslaved. Janice tells about her uncovering of her 5x great grandmother in this way: So here we go. Yesterday, I called my Grandmother to wish her a Happy 97th Birthday (She was born on the 4th of July and she is the ONLY reason I look forward to the 4th of July). I was already disappointed as I could not visit her in South Carolina because of the current covid crisis. Then I was really upset because I could not find the darn photo of my son holding a fish he had caught to include in a photo collage I was preparing to post on Facebook for her. You see, my grandmother was the first person to take my son fishing and everyone refers to her as the fishing lady. I finally got around to posting the collage and called my Aunt and asked her to kiss my grandmother on the forehead and tell her it was from me. That is our thing if I can’t visit. Of course we started talking about family and then she started giving me names she hadn’t mentioned before. I’m the family historian for my maternal and paternal lines. I' m like what the heck!!!! I've been talking to you for 25 years and today you give me NEW names? So we kept talking and I decided to bring up my Ancestry account to enter them. All of a sudden, I saw a note that someone had written for ONE OF MY ANCESTORS. I was already excited that I was adding two additional generations and then BAM!!!!! I S L O W L Y read a note that someone had shared, looked up the reference and what do I see? One of my favorite shows was listed!!!! The History Detectives (aired on PBS). What was the focus of the segment? A woman’s grandfather had purchased a lot of Civil War memorabilia (They live I in Wichita, Kansas). WHAT was the last item included in the material he purchased? A SLAVE BILL OF SALE! WHERE did they start filming? CHARLESTON, SC! WHO was it for????? WAIT FOR IT…. My 5th GREATGRANDMOTHER!!!!!!!!! Who was one of the featured researchers asked to assist in the research? JOSEPH MCGILL from the SLAVE DWELLING Project! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? IN 2012! WHERE was JOSEPH MCGILL when they filmed his segment, Slave Cabins in Florence, SC which I visited over 25 years ago WHEN I FIRST started doing my research!!! WHO else was featured? An Archivist in the same blasted town that my family is from and I’ve met him and talked with him several times about DIFFERENT lines of my family and he helped me so much!!!! Where did my enslaved ancestor live, not far from where we purchased a home in SC several years ago!!!!! Don’t tell me that we are NOT on a SPIRITUAL QUEST when we do our research. I did not plan to do ANY of this yesterday into the next morning (It is now 3:45 AM AND I feel like I have a rubber band around my head because I should be sleeping but I can’t go to sleep until I finish getting this on paper) !!!!! I am stunned and in shock. I encourage you to following the pulling and tugging at your spirit and to listen to the still small voice that guides you to do certain things. I personally believe it is God and our Ancestors directing us to find them and tell their stories! One more thing! Please help other people with their research. I do this all the time and I’m convinced that I’m being helped along the way because I help other people as much as I can. Following is the link to the show that aired. It is at the very beginning. Thank you for reading. From a proud descendant of a STRONG woman who endured, overcame, and refused to die during the struggle!!! Her name was Willoughby and I honor and celebrate her today with my entire being! (Other items in the archive include an interview recorded on July 21, 2020).
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  2020-07-04

  Queen Willoughby, my 5x Great Grandmother

  COVID gave Janice Gilyard the opportunity to dig deeper into genealogy, one of her hobbies. On July 4, 2020, she uncovered details about the remarkable life of her 5x great grandmother, Willoughby McWhite. Here is Janice's story about finding Willoughby. (Other items in the archive include an interview where Janice tells the story of how she discovered how Willoughby went from being property in 1829 to being a wife who was independent and keeping house in 1870. The interview with Janice was recorded on July 21, 2020). I’m the President of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society – New Jersey Chapter. Following is the link to the show that aired. It is at the very beginning. Thank you for reading. From a proud descendant of a STRONG woman who endured, overcame, and refused to die during the struggle!!! Her name was Willoughby and I honor and celebrate her today with my entire being! After finding and viewing a segment on the PBS Program, The History Detectives https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-bill-sale/ regarding Willoughby, my 5th Great- grandmother, there are new questions that I must answer. I pray that the answers will be found and in my lifetime. They are:  Were you born in Charleston, South Carolina, Africa, or the Caribbean?  Who are your parents and where did you last see them?  How and why were you separated from your parents?  Did you cry?  How were you treated by your enslavers? Ugh!  Did you and Essex decide to be a couple or was the relationship/marriage forced?  Were you ever reunited with your parents?  Where is your final resting place?  Other than me, who are your descendants? All of these questions caused tears to stream down my face. I can’t image my children being ripped away from me and not know what their fate would be? To have your child taken away and you don’t know anything is unfathomable. You were bought and sold three times. It is hard for me to even type these words. Willoughby McWhite, you were victorious to me. You survived, you were married, you had children, and you purchased land! Because of you, I am. I hope that when you purchased the land (160 acres), that you felt free, empowered, and strong! I hope you felt safe that you could breathe freely. When I found about you, I was stunned. Then I wondered why I didn’t find you sooner. Although I wish I had, I realize that I found you when God wanted me to find you, the 4th of July! This is a day that freedom is celebrated in this country. Yeah right! Settlers came to this country for religious freedom, yet they enslaved you and countless others. If one group is free and another is not, there is no real freedom! Thank you for refusing to die. Many would have died from grief but you didn’t. Many would have died from disappointment, but you didn’t. Many would have died from loneliness, but you didn’t. In the segment for The History Detectives, they stated that you were alone twice! Unbelievable! You were still a child. Did you cry yourself to sleep? I was left with my grandmother whom I loved when my mother moved to New Jersey without me and I cried for three days! I have so much more that I will share for your essay. It will include as much information as possible regarding what was going on in the Pee Dee Region of South Carolina as you were being transported/taken from Charleston, SC to Marion, SC. Who were your neighbors? Were there other enslaved people near you that might have been family members? After speaking with my Aunt Ruby and then finding you and a part of your history, I know that I was supposed to find you on the 4th of July! I will celebrate you, tell your story, and make sure that as many people as possible know who Willoughby McWhite was. Thank you for finding me! Thank you for the tugging at my heart to go to Charleston, to visit the slave cabins, to meet Maxey Foxworth, the chat with Joseph McGill via Facebook. Oh yes, I can see clearly now that it was meant to be. Thank you Queen Willoughby! You are forever etched in my heart and soul! For your DNA exist in me! Other entries in the archive relate to this one. To find them search by Willoughby McWhite.
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  2020-07-21

  Interview with Janice Gilyard about Finding Willoughby McWhite

  COVID gave Janice Gilyard the opportunity to dig deeper into genealogy, one of her hobbies. On July 4, 2020, she uncovered details about the remarkable life of her 5x great grandmother, Willoughby McWhite, who was enslaved. Janice Gilyard tells the story of finding Willoughby in an interviewed with Juilee Decker recorded on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 4:30 pm. The interview is 72 minutes long, and a transcript is provided. Other entries in the archive relate to this one. To find them search by AAMNC and/or