Laurie Greenwald Oral History

Identifier: aql:20664

Description: Laurie Greenwald moved with her mother and two sisters to Parkway Village when she was five years old in the early 1960's. Parkway Village was predominantly housing for United Nations employees at that time. She has lived in the same apartment her whole life with the exception of a few years in Binghamton, New York where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Theater. Ms. Greenwald worked for many years as a script reader and in other theater-related jobs, but has been a middle school and elementary school teacher in Jamaica since 2003. Because she attended public elementary, middle, and high school in Jamaica, sent her two daughters through the same schools and now works in them, Ms. Greenwald speaks knowledgeably about changes she has witnessed from the 1960's to 2012. Greenwald was part of a school integration program in 1968/69 for her 7th grade year. She was bused to IS 8, a predominantly African-American middle school in south Jamaica before returning the next year to her home school, PS 217. She describes how her family and fellow students were more political than people are today and recalls many of the major events of the Civil Rights movement, national politics, and the local politics impacted by her increasingly diverse neighborhood in Jamaica.

Title : Laurie Greenwald Oral History

Collection : aql:16060

Summary/Description : Laurie Greenwald moved with her mother and two sisters to Parkway Village when she was five years old in the early 1960's. Parkway Village was predominantly housing for United Nations employees at that time. She has lived in the same apartment her whole life with the exception of a few years in Binghamton, New York where she earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Theater. Ms. Greenwald worked for many years as a script reader and in other theater-related jobs, but has been a middle school and elementary school teacher in Jamaica since 2003. Because she attended public elementary, middle, and high school in Jamaica, sent her two daughters through the same schools and now works in them, Ms. Greenwald speaks knowledgeably about changes she has witnessed from the 1960's to 2012. Greenwald was part of a school integration program in 1968/69 for her 7th grade year. She was bused to IS 8, a predominantly African-American middle school in south Jamaica before returning the next year to her home school, PS 217. She describes how her family and fellow students were more political than people are today and recalls many of the major events of the Civil Rights movement, national politics, and the local politics impacted by her increasingly diverse neighborhood in Jamaica.

Identifier : aql:20664