Embedded Files
Living Narratives of Greenburgh Residents
The Town of Greenburgh has been creating an archive of stories highlighting the struggles, challenges, and successes our local Black Community has had during the last two centuries here.
Website produced by Krista Madsen, pulling from many sources, including: articles by the volunteer Greenburgh Town Historians, Riley Wentzler and Felicia Barber; videos from Janelle Wallace, town Cable Access TV director; interviews by Tina Harper, Senior Services Coordinator, Department of Community Resources/TDYCC; and other contributing community members.
Have a story of your family’s history in Greenburgh, or know someone with an interesting life story who should be included in this project? Please share by emailing pfeiner@greenburghny.com, including a photo, video or other materials if you have any. Thank you for reading and helping grow this important archive.
The following are presented in alphabetical order by title -
Hartsdale community leader Daniel Weinfeld presented the Greenburgh Town Board members and public with a fascinating presentation about the Civil War and the military service during that war by African American men of Greenburgh.
Esther McCarthy presented the town with an interesting presentation: Alzheimer's and African Americans
André Talley, larger than life Vogue creative director who lived in Greenburgh and died in early 2022, gets a road dedicated to him later that year.
Councilman Ken Jones kicks off the series with a story about his aunt, Anna Bernard, a Parkway Gardens resident who was the first African American to be admitted to the NY Bar
From the Civil Rights movement to the recent swearing in of Georgia's first African American Senator, Greenburgh resident Barbara Johnson Armstrong witnesses history.
Barbara Perry, first commissioner of the Department of Community Resources, as well as first African-American and first female commissioner in the Town of Greenburgh, shares her experiences as a lifelong resident.
Tina P. Dinkins interviews Biff Henderson, whose eventful life started in the Jim Crow south. He was deployed to Vietnam, and was well known as David Letterman's sidekick.
We continue with a fascinating report by Bishop Dr. Wilbert G Preston, noting "the marks of slavery still burn bright." Bishop Dr. Wilbert G. Preston is the Pastor of Christ Temple and chairs the Greenburgh Housing Authority.
Greenburgh celebrates an introduction to the first Black History Museum Initiative reception at the Greenburgh Library on February 2, 2025.
Historian Keith Doherty discovers the local history of black-owned farms, in an article from the RivertownsDispatch.com
The life and legend of American jazz singer and bandlander with a career spanning 65 years
Tina Harper of the TDYCC interviews Greenburgh resident Charlotte Phoenix, PhD, about her incredible grandfather's life journey from Mississippi to Michigan.
Elaine Finsilver recounts how she was so active on the local front for the fight for justice in the 1960s she missed MLK Jr's famous speech; the text of Bill Greenwalt's sermon from 2020 on the 1963 March on Washington; and Mike Sigal on his participation in the Civil Rights Movement.
A presentation on black Civil War soldiers from Hastings and Greenburgh by Dan Weinfeld to the Hastings Historical Society on June 11, 2023
Tina Harper of the TDYCC interviews Greenburgh resident Diana Bason about growing up in White Plains and Greenburgh.
Eugene Rutherford, is a lifelong resident of Greenburgh, Storyteller and retired Teacher/Educator.
An article by Daniel R. Weinfeld from the Manor Woods Blog: On mapping Greenburgh's African American home ownership using the tools of the 1940 census
Imani Bolling, lifelong resident and long-term committed educator, discusses life in Greenburgh
James Robinson, former Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Community Resources and lifelong Greenburgh resident, discusses growing up as a young black male here.
Jane Washington, former educator and Greenburgh resident for the past 29 years, shares her experiences as an African American woman with interviewee Tina Harper.
Lee Burwell, lifelong resident of Greenburgh whose parents hail from North Carolina, recounts growing up African-American and his parents' experience migrating north.
Explore the incredible life and local mansion of Madam CJ Walker, first self-made female millionaire in the United States
An article from Town & Country about the historic of this "bucolic haven for middle-class black families"
Jordan Copeland talks about the history of Black people in Edgemont and in Greenburgh, the inspirational Cockburn and Stewart family stories, and housing discrimination in Town
From the Human Rights Advisory program, a Black History Month Lecture with Historian Roger S. Glass Feb. 25, 2025
Here's the story of Ron Cook, first African American to integrate Ardsley schools in 1965, as interviewed on Paul Feiner's WVOX radio show in 2018.
Greenburgh Catches Fame: The Story of Legendary Brooklyn Dodger Roy Campanella by the Town Historians
Legendary Civil Rights’ Activist in Greenburgh: Vernon Jordan Jr: An article by the Town Historians
Vinne Bagwell's "Yesterday" Monument was unveiled and dedicated in Irvington, June 10, 2023
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