Disciplines

Jewish Studies

Abstract

Harriet, born in 1938 in the Bronx maternity hospital on 165th street, spent her childhood and early adult life living on the Grand Concourse. She was at the crossroads of the Concourse and 161st street, where she led a vibrant childhood playing with all of the local children. She was in a very diverse environment, but she did not experience very much ethnic or racial tension. She recalls playing lots of games with her friends, and living in a neighborhood with lots to do. She attended public schools—PS 35 and PS 22—for elementary school and junior high before going to Music and Art (now LaGuardia) for high school. After graduating, she spent a year pursuing a degree at Columbia University’s School of Fine Arts. However, she soon decided that a fine arts degree was not for her, and she transferred to Hunter College, where she learned teaching.

After graduating, Harriet worked as an elementary school teacher in the east Bronx for 12 years. She was drawn to education after hearing a lecture on the importance of teaching in her youth. After she left her job on maternity leave, she took up a teaching position in Manhattan, where she had moved several years prior.

She was very excited to live in Manhattan, both because the Bronx was changing and because everything seemed to be happening in Manhattan. She first moved there with a roommate before she met her husband, who had an apartment in Park West Village. She still lives there today.

Harriet’s mother was born in America to immigrant parents, and she grew up on the Lower East Side. Harriet knows little about her father, except that his family was Sephardic. She assumes that he graduated from high school, and she is unsure what level of education her mother attained. Her father worked in credit management at CIT, and her mother was a homemaker.

Overall, Harriet recalls her childhood in the Bronx as being very, very fun. There were lots of places for kids to go out and play, and there were not as many safety concerns as there are today. She had friends all over the neighborhood, and she is very grateful for her time in the Bronx.

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