Mission Statement:
To chronicle the growth and development of Brooklyn College as an institution, through the lens of the immigrant experience there. This is done through:
1) Documenting immigrant experiences there through oral history accounts,
2) Analyzing the extent to which the history of New York has shaped the immigrant experience at Brooklyn College, and
3) Analyzing the role that immigrants have played in shaping the Brooklyn College experience.
Brooklyn College Immigrant Experience on Dipity.
What was the immigrant experience like at Brooklyn College? Here’s a taste:
“My father said, ‘What, are you crazy? What is this meshegoss? You have to go to college? Be a bookkeeper. Get married.’ But he couldn’t stop me. I went to Brooklyn College. I worked in the lab, and I thrived.” -Miriam Kittrell, an immigrant student from the 1970s
What did immigrants think of their educational experience at Brooklyn College?
“There was a real sense of excellence among the faculty. They were teachers, not celebrities going on television.” -Alan Lechuk, an immigrant student from the 1980s
Quotes taken from “It Happened in Brooklyn: An Oral History of Growing Up in the Borough in the 1940’s, ‘50’s, and ‘60’s” by Harvey Frommer and Myrna Katz Frommer, 1993, Harcourt Brace & Company, Florida
Explore the site to learn even more!
This website was brought to you by Professor O’Malley’s Peopling of NYC Macaulay Seminar of Spring 2012.
Dear Professor O’Malley,
I am the editor of the Brooklyn College Kingsman. Though I really appreciate the link to our webpage (which we just set up this January are very proud of) the context in which you link to our site is hardly flattering.
The Kingsman was shut down in the 80’s because of racism, but since the paper has restarted there have been no similar scandals and the old Kingsman editors have nothing to do with the current staff.
Our paper has actually written extensively on immigration issues and was the first to report on the DREAM Team of Brooklyn College, a group of young undocumented immigrants fighting for basic privileges like education and employment. Under my leadership, the paper has taken a clear stand about immigration issues and we have only defended diversity and immigrant rights.
We also have written many critical articles about racial profiling, particularly the NYPD’s racially selective “Stop and Frisk” methods and the NYPD’s blanket surveillance of Muslim students on our campus.
The context in which our paper was mentioned only linked our paper with racism. I think this website should acknowledge that the “new” Kingsman has championed tolerance, equality and basic civil liberties of all students.
Thank you,
Rachel
Dear Ms. Silberstein,
Thank you for being the first one to comment on our blog! Also, thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.
The allegations of racism to which you are referring were posted on our Web site under the section called “1980s and 1990s” and, indeed, such racism existed during that time period. Just as a historical textbook might discuss slavery even though it no longer exists today, so too are we obligated to discuss the racism of your newspaper in the past even though there doesn’t seem to be any problem with it nowadays.
We have been very busy working on the site, and it will hopefully be finalized by this Wednesday. We will try to add more information reflecting that the Kingsman is now more politically correct than it was in times past.