About This Item

  • Call NumberOSOS_OH_0024-accs
  • Summary(1:10) Mother's summer day camp at John the Baptist Community Center -- (1:36) Doing the paperwork for the garden growing up -- (1:49) Taking over the garden after mother's retirement -- (2:44) Original state of the garden -- (3:00) Mother purchasing the property during the Koch administration -- (3:08) Developing the abandoned lot -- (4:02) Unity of the neighborhood and fighting for the youth -- (6:00) Transforming from a vegetable garden to a community park and cultural gathering space -- (7:31) Monthly potlucks to bring neighbors together and put a positive spin on gentrification in the area -- (8:58) Describing the garden as it looks now -- (9:53) The 'Golden Bridge' and 'Jenny's Kitchen' -- (10:45) Growing up under the influence of giving and community-minded women -- (11:31) Wheelchair members of the garden and accessible garden beds -- (12:49) Old-school block parties and classic street games -- (14:20) Erosion of the ground and the need for ground assessment in the lot -- (15:23) Gentrification forces pushing the community out -- (17:02) Fighting for the neighborhood legacy and creating a 'tree of life' to commemorate the community -- (18:03) Challenges of the K2 epidemic and lack of community mobilization -- (20:29) Farm animals in a local private garden -- (22:16) Rewards of breaking bread and seeing community gather -- (23:10) Encouraging a spirit of community service.
  • Date2016-08-13
  • Physical Description1 sound file (26 min.) : digital, MP3
  • CreatorGolden, Yolanda
  • Cite AsBrooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  • Digital Public Library of AmericaThis item is represented in the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).
  • Formatsound recording-nonmusical
  • GenreinterviewsMP3
  • NoteAudio interview conducted on August 13, 2016, by Samantha Feldman at John the Baptist Community Center. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This interview stems from a shared partnership with Brooklyn Public Library and Brooklyn Queens Land Trust under the name of Our Gardens, Our Stories.
  • SubjectNineteen eighties ; Community gardens ; Community development--New York (State)--Brooklyn ; Youth development ; Gardening ; Retirement ; Drug abuse ; Koch, Ed, 1924-2013. Mayor ; Vegetables ; Older People ; Gentrification ; Disabilities ; Abandoned buildings ; Political participation
  • PlaceBedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
  • RightsThis work is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the source and new material created with this work is shared under the same conditions.
  • TitleOral history interview conducted with Yolanda Golden on 2016 August 13.