On Sept. 18, Fordham history professor Mark Naison led a walking tour of students and members of the greater New York community through the historic Morrisania neighborhood in the Bronx.
Naison, a principal investigator on Fordham’s Bronx African American History Project, has worked for years to create a database for scholars and people in the community to access the Bronx’s African-American history. The walk was part of his ongoing efforts to rebut perceptions of the borough as an urban wasteland and to share, particularly with students, the rich vein of history that resides just blocks from Fordham’s campus.
The tour also attracted New York State Assemblyman Jose Rivera and Bronx-born trumpeter Jimmy Owens.
“The Bronx is a place where people of many different racial, religious, and national backgrounds live in harmony and which has produced more varieties of popular music than any place in the world. Everyone from Fordham can gain inspiration from this experience, whether from studying the borough’s history, or immersing themselves in Bronx communities and sharing the Bronx’s cultural traditions,” said Naison.
Video by Jeff Coltin
