Meet Kaleda

Kaleda, 66 years old, is a lifelong resident of Harlem and self-proclaimed amateur historian, with a love for diving deeper into the history of Harlem, the community she was raised in.

She shares, “[The] Schomburg… the public library there was the first place I could go by myself as a kid, growing up on 140th and Lenox.” This is where her love of history began, “I found my block in a book… The original mansion that sat there had the richest women in America at the turn of the century. I was like-”, she demonstrates her shock staring at the book. “‘Here? You mean her name was… Pickney and the estate was the Watts estate, and my building is Pickney Court and the one next to it is Watts Court. What?’”

She further discusses the history of Harlem, saying, “The move of African Americans in New York from downtown, especially after the 1900 race riot, [was] to find a place of security where we couldn’t get run out. And to create communities that were multi-layered… My mother especially always talks about when you were growing up, you made choices based on the diversity of the building. So you could go for the fast money and watch that neighbor go to jail… you could watch the neighbors who had jobs as civil servants, which were stable but may not have had the newest [items].... Everyone makes choices based on [their] lived experiences.”

“[The] Schomburg… the public library there was the first place I could go by myself as a kid, growing up on 140th and Lenox.”

Before we left she told us about the development and re-doing of Riverside Drive, explaining how the street used to come straight down to the river. Kaleda described piers lining the river as well as major train tracks nearby. She has a picture of her building with the road leading straight to the river. The picture showed how residents weren't as far down as it is now, the area was wild and being developed.

With the knowledge she shared, her investment in knowing the history of the neighborhood she was raised in and continues to live in is clear. She believes knowing the history of your community is “key”, “...if you’re gonna live in a community, be part of it. If you’re gonna tear down something, know what you’re tearing down. If you’re gonna build something, know why and where.”