About Us
From The Peopling of New York City
What We've Done
This wiki was created by Prof. Maria Rice Bellamy's Honors Seminar class at the College of Staten Island, with lots of help from our ITF Lisa Brundage. Our class focuses on the diverse people within New York City. Particularly our focus is on the Western African Immigrants from Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria who have settled on Staten Island.
As a class we have all traveled together on several occasions to points of interest which helped in our studies. Our first trip brought us to Ellis Island, where we learned how many people immigrated into New York in the past. Understanding the reasons people used to come to New York was an excellent base for exploring why people might come presently. Our next trip brought us into Manhattan, where we toured downtown while learning about the past of the city, and ultimately led us to the African Burial Grounds. Here, Rasul (our tour guide), gave us expert information on the people of Africa, including those who came to America against their will. This tour helped us to better understand the past of the people of Africa, while also highlighting the detrimental effects of the slave trade on the African continent. One of the many important lessons we learned here was the difference between current African Immigrants and African Americans.
We also did a lot of research on our own and in smaller groups. Many of us attended services at African Immigrant Churches, in order to experience the religion and culture of the African Immigrants. We've interviewed various members of the community, gathering valuable information from the people who we researched. On top of that we visited African shops and points of interest throughout Staten Island, learning about the family life, business community, culture, food, clothing, etc., of the African Immigrants.
Meet the Class
As students, all New Yorkers ourselves, we are just as diverse as the people we are meant to study. Each of us come from different backgrounds, which helps to bring many views and opinions to our research and discussions.
From left to right, Back Row: Prof. Maria Rice Bellamy, Suren Ravindran, Steve Noviello, Vincent Balestriere, Regina Miller, Robert Hargraves, Jon Rossi. Middle Row: Thomas O'Day, Alexa Cimbal, Kalpita Abhyankar, Isabella Cardona, ITF Lisa Brundage. Front Row: Peter Dellegrazie, Richie Algarin, Valerie DeAngelo, Gary Mulligan. Not shown: Tony Jin.
Staten Africa Theme Song
Written by: Valerie and Richie
Sung by (from the left): Valerie, Robert, Isabella, and Richie