Inspired by feminist methodology and participatory action research, CBBG is designed to be responsive to the concentric conversations happening among narrators, interviewers, archivists, and the public programming audience, as well as resonating scholarship, activism, and media. Sady Sullivan shares the strengths and challenges of CBBG's experimental project design and the pleasures of hosting forums where people practice talking about race/ethnicity (and intersecting identities) together.
Themes: Cultural Preservation
Lyn Hill
Oral History
"We kind of went for the high holidays and for the other holidays as well, for Sukkoth and Simchat Torah and Hanukkah and then my parents very often went on Friday nights and I did go through a period when I was maybe 13, 14, 15 years where I actually went every Saturday morning by myself...And then I went less often until -- maybe mostly just for high holidays until I got married at which time nobody from Habonim would marry us because I was marrying a non-Jew and for many, many years that w
Paul and Yurika Golin
Oral History
"Right before my bar mitzvah, when I was hating the studying, I was 12, and I already knew that I was, at the least, agnostic -- I kind of yelled at her, “I don’t want to do this. I don’t believe in God.” And she said, “Well, I don’t either, and you’re going to do it.” And it was really interesting to me because at that point and for the rest of her career she had already dedicated herself to working as a Jewish communal professional in the Jewish Community Centers movement.
Shameeka Mattis
Oral History
"It just felt like every time I came to Brooklyn… it was always 100 new white people on the train, 50 new white people, and I’m like “This is different.” Because racially Brooklyn was the black borough in so many different parts… So feeling that difference, at first I was just in shock and then I was angry because I knew that that meant that the property values were going to go up and… that the faces that would represent mine wouldn’t necessarily be there.”
Janet Pinkowitz
Oral History
"I never wanted my mother to wear her, her Chinese dresses, which, of course, were really beautiful... I wanted her to wear something like an American shirtwaist dress, that kind of thing. That was something I regretted later, that I didn’t embrace more of that part of my heritage. Because it was just trouble for me, feeling and looking different. I just wanted to look like everybody else".
Cross-Cultural Fusion in the Art of Japanese Tattooing
Exhibit
While adaptation may destroy or change certain aspects of a traditional art form, fusion is also a natural progression that promotes growth and strengthens traditions for a new generation, ensuring its survival.
Mixed Blood Photo Project by CYJO
Article
Portraying NYC and Beijing-based families that include children with mixed races, ethnicities, and cultures.
Mixed Mondays Film Series - Toasted Marshmallows
Article
Part 3 of Mixed Mondays film series is the first U.S preview of Toasted Marshmallows' documentary about mixed-race women in North America
Mixed Mondays Film Series - My Beautiful Laundrette
Article
Part 2 of Mixed Mondays film series is Oscar-nominated My Beautiful Laundrette - about mixed, immigrant, and queer relationships in London
The Men Who Left Were White
Article
Personal essay about the history of mixed African and European ancestry
Zines from the Borderlands: Storytelling about Mixed-Heritage
Article
Come talk about race, gender, sexuality and media with four zinesters, activists and media-makers.
Brooklyn Abolitionists
Article
The New York Times' review of Brooklyn Historical Society's new exhibition
Hidden No More
Article
Historian Renee Romano writes about the importance of the CBBG oral history collections
Come Out Swinging: The Changing World of Boxing
Article
Join Lucia Trimbur to discuss her new book and Gleason's Gym, New York's oldest boxing institution.
Reading Series: Quantifying Bloodlines
Article
Join others interested in discussing family history, DNA, and the myth of purity.
Anna Roberts
Oral History
"All of the places that I grew up, they were mostly suburban, mostly white neighborhoods. In general, our family looked a lot different than most of the other families that lived in the area. I definitely think that we were probably one of the only mixed families in upstate New York; and definitely Hudson, Massachusetts; and definitely in Larchmont, New York.