Date of Graduation

5-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Advisor(s)

Keri Walsh

Abstract

The Bronx River has been left largely unexamined in the realms of literature and art in the 21st century. Prior to colonization, the riverbanks served as a home and resource for Indigenous communities. However, by the Industrial Revolution, the river had become a dumping ground, starting with the first watermill in 1666 in West Farms. Of the twenty-three mile river, the lower five miles served as an informal sewer and was hidden from the public eye, "its few access points blocked by gigantic mounds of submerged cars, worn-out tires, less identifiable garbage, and rusting junk," (Jonnes, 463). Only in the past fifty years, when community activists took notice of the river, has it become a place of engagement for the South Bronx. Local activism in the Bronx has been instrumental in the environmental remediation and revitalization of the Bronx River and its aquatic wildlife health, like the alewife fish and the American eel. Furthermore, the Bronx River has been a stage for displacement for over four hundred years of recorded history. Beginning with European colonization in the 17th century, then Robert Moses’ highways through the Bronx, the decade of fire, and now, with the imminent threat of gentrification in the Bronx. These violent battles over land, both historical and modern, emphasize the value of the Bronx River. It is a place worth fighting for, in its beauty and natural resources. The future redevelopment of the riverbanks will determine whether gentrification will be the next plague of displacement on the land.

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