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Interviewee: Michael “Mike” Sherman

Interviewer: Steven Payne

Summary by Gabriel Capellan

August 25, 2022

Michael “Mike” Sherman is the former Social Action Chair of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity (KAP). He was born in the Bronx to two Jamaican parents who immigrated to America in the 60s. He was raised in the northeastern part of the Bronx, near Matthews Avenue, Allerton Avenue, and Pelham Parkway. As a child, he would go to the local movie theater on Allerton Avenue and a mini-playground at PS 76. He recalls growing up listening to reggae music and eating rice and peas with oxtail with his parents near Allerton and Matthews Ave. His K-12 education would spark his interest in community embetterment.

He would go on to attend PS 76, where he fostered a love for performing music and community engagement, participating in the school’s band and color guard. Thereafter, he attended the now-closed IS 135, a school that prepared him to later attend Harry S Truman High School; during his freshman year. He transferred to Evander Childs High School in his sophomore year, where he participated in a program called Traveling Tourism. The program trained students in the travel and tourism industry, with particular focus on hotel or restaurant management, or working at an airport. This program provided him with a connection to college, allowing him to earn college credits. Where did it lead? Fordham University.

After his diligent efforts, he was accepted into Fordham University’s night school while working full-time during the day. During his undergraduate career, he also worked at Mercedes-Benz on 42nd Street in Manhattan; he worked there until he graduated in 2001. During his time at Fordham, he felt connected to the student body but excluded from social events since he didn’t have the time to do so and did not live on campus.

After masterfully completing his bachelors, he worked various jobs, including a correction officer (2005-2007), at AT&T (2007-2010), and in a community-based program called “Guided Riverside,” which provided homeless shelter and food if they needed it. He also had a son and a daughter in 2006. He felt accomplished by what he did, both in his family and giving back with his occupations, but he wasn’t done yet.

Disciplines

African American Studies | Public History

Abstract

In 2010, Sherman was introduced to KAP at a party held in Eastwood Manor in the Bronx. He enjoyed the feeling of giving back he got from them, and he was chartered into the fraternity in spring 2012. That same year, Sherman began working at a charter school, Harlem’s Children Zone, where he served as Assistant Dean and later as a Teaching Assistant.

In 2021, Sherman left Harlem’s Children Zone, wanting more control of his classroom, and founded his own charter school, Emblaze Academy, in Hunts Point. Sherman teaches because it fulfills him to be a pillar of support for other Black students who didn’t have a Black male teacher in their elementary years. His work at KAP would embetter his community with providing them tools to college, financial literacy, and with social events.

In his time with KAP, he organized community events including Halloween services, cleaning the Bronx River, book drives, voter registration drives, and financial literacy classes. In the future, he wants KAP’s mentoring program, The Right Guide, to be more widely implemented, since he believed it was underutilized. The program mentors young men in preparation for college. Mike Sherman is a man who's involved in mentoring young men preparing for college, and teaching elementary school students in his community; he has always grown up in a strong community, and he wants to give back, either through his teaching or curating social events with KAP. His accomplishments include his position of Social Action Chair at KAP, the founding of Emblaze Academy, and his mentorship program, The Right Guide.

LINK TO VIDEO INTERVIEW: http://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/baahp/id/81

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