OUR ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

This project documents and honors the lives and experiences of residents, organizers, activists, and housing advocates who have tirelessly worked to protect the land and spirit of the Cooper Square community. It offers valuable lessons from past struggles and triumphs, highlighting the dedication, love, and care that have enabled this community to thrive amid disinvestment and, more recently, gentrification. In an ever-changing context, these stories demonstrate that shared ownership is not only possible but essential for preserving low-income, working-class, and immigrant communities. Designed as an educational and organizing tool, this project aims to build leadership and inspire future generations to shape Cooper Square’s future.​

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Narrators are the primary collaborators in this collective endeavor led by Cooper Square CLT Board member Gabriela Rendón, urban planner, scholar activist, and founder of the Housing Justice Oral History Project. Key contributors also include board members Tom Angotti, Michael Atkins, Harriet Cohen, Larissa Ho, Monxo López, Valois Mickens, and Lucas Tatarsky. Additionally, students from The New School played an important role in transcribing, editing, and indexing the interviews. The research team for the first round of interviews in Fall 2022 included Sam Ayala, Em Flaire, Isis Gamble, Cristy Garcia, Mariana Londono, Nan Fang, Anna Roth, and Lucas Tatarsky. For the second round, Jiray Avedisian and Xavier Moysén Alvarez, research assistants from the Housing Justice Oral History Project, contributed with similar work.

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As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, we are gradually releasing oral history interviews of member of the Cooper Square community, including one of the last conversations recorded with the one and only Frances Goldin!