Yale Psychiatry Grand Rounds: November 18, 2022

Transcript

• 00:00UN I think quote.
• 00:02it's so relevant that we're
• 00:04speaking at this at this moment of.
• 00:07All that's going on in the department
• 00:09but also in the wider world.
• 00:11So and I and I did want to just
• 00:14say thank you for your shout out to
• 00:17to the staff of the department and
• 00:19cream and I are both members of it
• 00:22and have been happy to have this
• 00:24opportunity to do special project.
• 00:28So we're really honored to be here
• 00:31and we appreciate your support.
• 00:34So Karima is going to do the
• 00:36first half of our presentation on
• 00:38urban renewal and Keith and I will
• 00:40present the second-half on what we
• 00:43call the CMHC controversy of 1969.
• 00:45We originally did these two presentations
• 00:48in longer form earlier this year and
• 00:51we're leaving out a lot of material today.
• 00:54We can share the links to the full
• 00:57presentations in the chat at the end.
• 00:59Today, our lens is purposefully somewhat
• 01:01wide and there's a lot more to say.
• 01:04About CMHC's early history including
• 01:06its various programs and services,
• 01:09our history work is continuing.
• 01:11So please feel free to get in touch if
• 01:13you have any questions or if you just
• 01:15want to talk about anything you hear today.
• 01:18The CMHC history exploration
• 01:20project is a component of CMHC's
• 01:23larger anti racism initiative.
• 01:25So one of the principles of anti racism is
• 01:28that it's important to know one's history.
• 01:30Since 2020,
• 01:31we've been working at CMHC toward
• 01:34becoming an anti racist organization.
• 01:36But we aren't the first CMHC people to
• 01:39struggle with questions about racism.
• 01:42As CMHC's early history shows,
• 01:44race and racism were decisive
• 01:46factors from the beginning.
• 01:48Staff and faculty today who are
• 01:51working on anti racism.
• 01:53Yeah,
• 01:53that's CMC and in the department
• 01:55are actually standing on the
• 01:57shoulders of some of the first people
• 02:00to walk the corridors of CMHC.
• 02:02Those people were struggling with many
• 02:04of the same issues and even at times
• 02:07using some of the exact same terms.
• 02:09I think CHC of the 60s embodied the
• 02:13deep contradictions that still exists
• 02:15in American Society more generally.
• 02:18There was great hope for the new
• 02:20Community Mental Health Center.
• 02:21Its people were forward-looking,
• 02:24optimistic, loquacious,
• 02:25even somewhat innocent,
• 02:26while at the same time trapped in
• 02:30historical patterns and assumptions,
• 02:32stumped by the same problems of structural,
• 02:35institutional, interpersonal,
• 02:37and individual racism.
• 02:39There still vexing us today.
• 02:42So this has been quite a journey for us
• 02:44and at times a very emotional one actually,
• 02:47as we have talked with people and wrestled
• 02:49with what we've learned in our research.
• 02:52But fortunately we haven't been alone.
• 02:54So on behalf of our history team,
• 02:56I just want to thank Mike Sarniak,
• 02:58Bob Cole, Maria Oliva,
• 03:00the restorative CMHC committee,
• 03:02Marco Ramos, Matt Jacobson,
• 03:05Crystal Feemster, Ellie Rubin,
• 03:07Karen Roffman, Daniel Hosang,
• 03:10Ronald Lewis,
• 03:11Britt Lewis.
• 03:12The family of the late Serena Spruel,
• 03:15the Greater New Haven African American
• 03:17Historical Society and the New Haven Museum.
• 03:20And the special shout out
• 03:22goes to fellow members of
• 03:23the history exploration project,
• 03:25Karima and Keith, Melissa Dennis,
• 03:28Erica Richard and Richard Ewens.
• 03:31And finally, we've been very deeply grateful
• 03:34and privileged to speak with some people,
• 03:38excuse me, whom we interviewed who
• 03:40were at CMHC in the late 1960s.
• 03:43Doctor Claude Thomas, Apostle Fred Harris,
• 03:46John Doctor John Seely,
• 03:49doctor Howard Zenana and the
• 03:51first historian of CMHC.
• 03:53Doctor Selby Jacobs.
• 03:55So on that note,
• 03:56I'm going to turn it over to
• 03:58Karima for the first half.
• 04:02Thank you, Lucille.
• 04:03Good morning everyone.
• 04:05I want to thank John Christow
• 04:07for the opportunity to
• 04:08present this material today.
• 04:10Our committee has been working
• 04:12hard over the last two years to
• 04:14mine the archives of CMHC and and
• 04:16other archives and I really we all
• 04:19appreciate the opportunity to share
• 04:21this material with the department today.
• 04:24I'm gonna share my screen.
• 04:34That.
• 04:40OK, can everyone see my screen? Just put
• 04:44it in your slideshow mode.
• 04:47OK, perfect. OK, great.
• 04:50So as Lucille said earlier,
• 04:53this is just an overview of our
• 04:55presentation that we did earlier.
• 04:57So this presentation was actually
• 04:59given in January of of this year
• 05:01and this is kind of a summary
• 05:03of that presentation in January.
• 05:05So some of it will look familiar,
• 05:08some of it is abbreviated and
• 05:09we encourage you to go back to
• 05:11the YouTube channel and look
• 05:12at the full presentation.
• 05:16So I want to start today with just what
• 05:18was our intention with this project
• 05:19and our approach to the project.
• 05:21So we wanted to humanize the
• 05:23concept of urban renewal.
• 05:24Urban renewal is certainly not new.
• 05:26It's been happening for
• 05:28decades in this country,
• 05:29and we've been studying it as scholars
• 05:32in this country for a long time.
• 05:33But our goal today is to
• 05:35really humanize that concept.
• 05:37What did it actually mean to the
• 05:39people who lived here and were forced
• 05:41to move to make way for a new city,
• 05:43essentially.
• 05:44So we want to work to do that today.
• 05:47We also want to situate CMHC within the
• 05:50geographical and social landscape of change.
• 05:53So we have a rapidly changing
• 05:55landscape across the city,
• 05:56and seeing HCC fits into that,
• 05:58and also a rapidly changing
• 06:01social landscape in the city of
• 06:03New Haven and across the country.
• 06:06CHC opened its doors in 1966,
• 06:08right in the middle of the
• 06:11civil rights movement.
• 06:12Lots of controversy,
• 06:13controversy about that issue as
• 06:16well as other issues around race
• 06:18and and later the war movement.
• 06:21So CMC sort of comes right in the middle
• 06:23of all this other things that are happening.
• 06:25So I wanted to make sure that we sort
• 06:27of ground ourselves and where we were
• 06:28and how we fit into this larger landscape.
• 06:31So I'm doing part one,
• 06:32which makes urban renewal,
• 06:34makes it possible for CMHC
• 06:37to exist at 34 Park St.
• 06:39There's no other way we could
• 06:41physically be here and if it weren't
• 06:43for urban renewal simultaneously,
• 06:45it is the thing that has impacted our
• 06:47clients and our community partners
• 06:49both positively and negatively.
• 06:51So we'll talk about that as we
• 06:53interact with our community around us.
• 06:55We have to know that they have been
• 06:57impacted by seeing by urban renewal
• 06:59even if it's decades removed.
• 07:01Still they are kind of the the
• 07:03recipients of that legacy of
• 07:05urban renewal and Part 2,
• 07:07which Lucille and Keith will
• 07:08bring to you later.
• 07:09Examines our early fumbles through
• 07:12this new and tense relationship
• 07:14between CHC and the Community,
• 07:16and that's the larger question I
• 07:18want people to hold inside them
• 07:19today as we think about this work,
• 07:21what is our relation to the to the
• 07:24Community given this history of
• 07:26urban renewal and this relocation
• 07:27of many people across the city?
• 07:29How do we relate to that community then?
• 07:31How did we begin that relationship
• 07:34and what is our relationship
• 07:36today with our community?
• 07:38So our methodology for this,
• 07:39we had a variety of ways
• 07:41of approaching this work.
• 07:43We started off with the oral
• 07:44histories of the displaced,
• 07:46so we have our guest speakers,
• 07:48which I'll get into in just a moment,
• 07:50and we did extensive interviews with them.
• 07:52We also borrowed some clips from
• 07:54the New Haven oral History project,
• 07:56which we played in the original presentation.
• 07:59So altogether we had a wide
• 08:00variety of voices that you heard
• 08:02of different people from different
• 08:04class backgrounds and
• 08:05cultural backgrounds talking about
• 08:07their own personal experience.
• 08:09Urban renewal in New Haven.
• 08:11We also had secondary sources
• 08:12that we read as a community and
• 08:14talked about and brought that
• 08:16material into this presentation,
• 08:17as well as several interviews
• 08:19with early CMHC faculty.
• 08:21So all of that was our our
• 08:23background research or part of it.
• 08:24We also looked at our CMHC scrapbooks,
• 08:27which are pretty extensive and very
• 08:29detailed on this particular period,
• 08:31and the newsletters.
• 08:32We also borrowed several photographs
• 08:35from the New Haven Museum and
• 08:37we had a chance to look at
• 08:39several items out of the unit.
• 08:41Yale University Manuscripts and archives.
• 08:44And then there's a moment
• 08:45of experiential learning,
• 08:46which I will get into in just a minute,
• 08:48where we sort of got to learn in the
• 08:50moment as we were doing this work.
• 08:53So our big things for this portion are
• 08:56what was New Haven like before urban renewal?
• 08:59What was Old Oak Street like and old
• 09:02Dixwell Ave like before urban renewal.
• 09:05But I'll get into the origins of CHC.
• 09:07How did this physical space come
• 09:09to be and what is our legacy
• 09:11today of urban renewal?
• 09:15So this is our first guest speaker.
• 09:16He was with us in January.
• 09:18He might be on the call today.
• 09:19I'm not sure. Ronald Lewis,
• 09:21who was very gracious with his time with us
• 09:23and we interviewed him several times about
• 09:26his his lived experience as a young person,
• 09:28as a child in New Haven,
• 09:30when the city was going through all
• 09:32of this change with urban renewal.
• 09:33So he is a longtime educator
• 09:35and the New Haven School system,
• 09:37semi professional tennis player.
• 09:39He served in our nation's military,
• 09:41including active duty in Vietnam.
• 09:43And for us, it's CHC.
• 09:45He's the proud.
• 09:46Father of Brett Lewis,
• 09:47he's who's one of our amazing
• 09:49social workers at CMHC.
• 09:50So we're delighted that that
• 09:52Brit recommended him and it was
• 09:55great to know him and to include
• 09:57him in our larger CMC family.
• 09:59So Serena's rule?
• 10:02You know, I interviewed her quite a
• 10:04bit in January and she passed in July.
• 10:06So this was a big shock for
• 10:07all of us at CMHC.
• 10:09And it's a little sad.
• 10:11It was pretty sudden,
• 10:12but I am including her in
• 10:13this presentation today.
• 10:15She was a huge part of it in January.
• 10:17So you will see photographs of her,
• 10:19you'll see video clips of her,
• 10:21you'll hear her voice.
• 10:22I don't mean that to be upsetting to anyone.
• 10:25I want it to be a celebration.
• 10:27You know, this is part of the
• 10:28legacy that she left us at CMC,
• 10:30and I think she would want
• 10:31us to continue to tell her.
• 10:32Story so I've included her in that way.
• 10:34Today she was up here on
• 10:37recovery support specialist,
• 10:38a proud mother,
• 10:39grandmother and great grandmother.
• 10:41She earned her associates
• 10:42degree from Gateway Community
• 10:44College and was a gourmet chef,
• 10:46a vegetarian chef from the Natural
• 10:49Natural Gourmet Institute of New York.
• 10:51So she had a lot of great
• 10:52accomplishments and she was just
• 10:53an all around wonderful person and
• 10:55she added so much value to CNBC.
• 10:59OK. So this is what Oak Street looked like.
• 11:01This is a park on Oak Street before
• 11:04urban renewal, before the demolition and
• 11:06the the reorganization of this area.
• 11:08So I just wanted to show a little moment of
• 11:10what it looks like physically before then.
• 11:13So the other street neighborhood,
• 11:14just a little bit of background,
• 11:16in 19 the 1950s, Oak Street was the most
• 11:19densely populated neighborhood in New Haven.
• 11:21It was racially integrated with
• 11:23African American residents and
• 11:24Eastern European immigrants.
• 11:26It was mostly Eastern European
• 11:28immigrants in this particular area,
• 11:29with some African American
• 11:31residents also included.
• 11:33And again, there was no division.
• 11:34Everyone sort of kind of mixed
• 11:36together from different countries
• 11:37and different cultural backgrounds,
• 11:39very densely populated.
• 11:40We had open air markets.
• 11:42We had mom and pop shops.
• 11:43Restaurants,
• 11:43tenements and cultural organizations
• 11:45in the Oak Street neighborhood.
• 11:50The demolition began in the late 1950s.
• 11:53There were 900 households and 250 businesses
• 11:56that were forced out of the area.
• 11:59So just think of 900 families had to
• 12:01move and 250 businesses were closed,
• 12:04many of them not to ever reopen again.
• 12:0856% of those households were
• 12:10white households, and many of them
• 12:12moved to the nearby suburbs with.
• 12:14But it's a very different story for
• 12:17the African American residents.
• 12:19So I want to play a clip.
• 12:20This is from the January presentation,
• 12:22so I'm just going to play.
• 12:23I think it's about a minute long
• 12:25so you can hear some of our story.
• 12:28And I think this is Mr.
• 12:29Lewis talking about his life.
• 12:31He used to live on Oak St.
• 12:34My mother worked at Winchester
• 12:36where they made the list,
• 12:37guns and things like that,
• 12:38and she bring bullets home and what we would
• 12:41do is my brother a little bit older than me.
• 12:43It would take the bullets,
• 12:45put in a big garbage can in the back
• 12:47of the yard and we would duck the
• 12:49bullets firing through the trash cans.
• 12:51And when they weren't doing that,
• 12:53they were selling rat tails.
• 12:55The church had put out sort
• 12:56of a bounty on rat tails.
• 12:58I think it was $0.25.
• 13:00That's so many rats were in the
• 13:01community down on oak tree.
• 13:03You talked about the small businesses.
• 13:05I know it's a long time ago and I can't
• 13:07remember any black small businesses there.
• 13:09There were businesses there,
• 13:11but I don't remember any black
• 13:13store down in that Oak Street area.
• 13:15Maybe it's just my memory
• 13:16slipping at the point,
• 13:17but I'm not sure.
• 13:20And the rattails, just to explain
• 13:23to the audience that that was
• 13:25a form of extermination, right?
• 13:28Because to get an exterminator and they
• 13:30asked the children to go and kill the rats,
• 13:31essentially exterminator,
• 13:32that wasn't something we knew about that,
• 13:35which is something where the church
• 13:36had said to try to get rid of
• 13:38some of the rats that were there,
• 13:40you just had to put out a bounty
• 13:42on them and the bigger kids in the
• 13:44neighborhood would hit the tails,
• 13:45turn them in and get the money
• 13:48and probably go to the movies.
• 13:50Wow, that's amazing. Amazing.
• 13:52Thank you for sharing that with us.
• 13:57My mother worked at winter. OK,
• 13:59so that was Mr. Lewis talking
• 14:01about his childhood on Oak Street.
• 14:03And just you can just hear how terrible
• 14:06the conditions were for that area,
• 14:08which was deemed Islam
• 14:10and was later torn down.
• 14:1240% of African American households were
• 14:15assigned to relocation areas across the city.
• 14:18Many of them once they were assigned,
• 14:20some of them were reassigned later on
• 14:23as the project moved through the various
• 14:25phases of construction and demolition.
• 14:28But the for the White House,
• 14:29those many of them were able to
• 14:31save money and eventually move out
• 14:33to the suburbs and purchase homes.
• 14:34So it kind of forced them into
• 14:38this track of upward mobility.
• 14:39Whereas African Americans never
• 14:40quite many of them were not able to
• 14:43regain that putting in terms of home
• 14:45ownership and able to eventually
• 14:47move out of the relocation area.
• 14:49So they were sort of ended up kind of
• 14:51stuck in those areas for generations
• 14:54actually the Hill neighborhood
• 14:56was overcrowded.
• 14:57So you had an overcrowded hill neighborhood.
• 14:59You had people moving from
• 15:00Oak Street into the hill,
• 15:01which made it made it worse,
• 15:03and eventually large public housing projects,
• 15:06including the Elm Haven projects we're
• 15:09builds in the Dixwell neighborhood.
• 15:13So just a little background on old Dixwell.
• 15:15Dixwell was the 5th Urban
• 15:17Renewal Project area,
• 15:18so you had several areas across the city.
• 15:20Oak Street was first.
• 15:23Dixwell was 5070% of the
• 15:26neighborhood was African American.
• 15:281100 households were relocated.
• 15:29So on Oak Street we had 900
• 15:32households relocated on.
• 15:33In the Dixwell neighborhood we had 1100.
• 15:3630% of those home units were demolished.
• 15:40Many families from Oak Street
• 15:42landed in Dixwell and then some
• 15:43had to move a second time.
• 15:45And this is the original Q House,
• 15:46which is a major,
• 15:48very important Community Center for
• 15:50youth and the whole community on Dixwell,
• 15:53which was also later torn down.
• 15:57So **** Swell was a cultural hub in New
• 15:59Haven and for the Northeast region.
• 16:01You had many famous jazz clubs and jazz
• 16:06luminaries come through New Haven.
• 16:08We also had lots of programs like
• 16:09the dance school was well known
• 16:11to everyone's child had to go to
• 16:13the dance school and the annual
• 16:14recital was a big deal in New Haven.
• 16:17So there was a lot of culture
• 16:19that was shared in in old Dixwell.
• 16:23Is also, you also had small businesses,
• 16:25you had a vibrant small business economy.
• 16:28You had 200 businesses that were forced
• 16:30to close as a result of urban renewal.
• 16:32So again this also disenfranchised people
• 16:34lost their homes and also some of them
• 16:37also lost their small business as well.
• 16:41This is why this is so important
• 16:43with the small businesses of Dixwell.
• 16:45And this quote is from an old newspaper,
• 16:47but it talks about the Dixwell
• 16:49neighborhood being the cultural hub
• 16:52and shopping hub for the neighborhood.
• 16:54And also, I'll just read the part
• 16:56of it that says the fact that the
• 16:58downtown restaurants wouldn't serve
• 17:00******* wasn't too much of a problem.
• 17:03Because, and it goes on to talk
• 17:05about the restaurants that were on
• 17:06Dix Rd that would serve *******.
• 17:08So those small businesses and
• 17:10that cultural space in the Dixwell
• 17:12neighborhood was very important.
• 17:14It protected African Americans
• 17:16from having to go downtown,
• 17:18where they would shortly face
• 17:20different forms of racism.
• 17:21So they could avoid that by by going
• 17:23to their own cultural centers and
• 17:26restaurants in the Dixwell Ave neighborhood.
• 17:29When these are torn down,
• 17:30people are forced to confront
• 17:31racism in different ways.
• 17:33Were forced to go outside of their
• 17:35neighborhood for their basic needs.
• 17:36So that's another reason why those
• 17:38that space and those stores and
• 17:41that cultural space was so important
• 17:43to people in that neighborhood.
• 17:46Many African Americans work at the
• 17:48Winchester repeating arms factory.
• 17:50Earlier on in the century it was
• 17:53it provided jobs for many European
• 17:56immigrants and later on around the
• 17:5850s and 60s, many and even the 70s.
• 18:01Many African Americans who came up
• 18:03from North Carolina worked at the
• 18:06Winchester Repeating Arms factory
• 18:07and many of the workers also lived
• 18:10in the Dixwell area.
• 18:12OK, Freddie Fixer parade.
• 18:13This was a major tradition started
• 18:16in the 1960s.
• 18:17It was to a doctor.
• 18:19Fred Smith wanted people to get
• 18:20out to the neighborhood and clean
• 18:22up the neighborhood and take pride
• 18:23in their neighborhood.
• 18:24And at the end there was a big party,
• 18:26like a block party to celebrate.
• 18:27This became an annual tradition and
• 18:29a parade that is still a staple of
• 18:33of the African American community today.
• 18:35And that went up on Dixwell Ave.
• 18:38So this is a clip from Mr.
• 18:40Lewis.
• 18:43Could scramble,
• 18:44and that's what it was called,
• 18:45scramble and they would hurt each other.
• 18:49Going for these coins and it still
• 18:52maddens me now to think about
• 18:55these privileged young white
• 18:56yalies had the nerve to come into
• 18:59our neighborhood and throw coins
• 19:01at the young black kids there.
• 19:03I was too young at the time to participate,
• 19:05but my brother and my other brother,
• 19:07Edward Tio Lewis, would participate,
• 19:10and he'd get knocked about and beaten
• 19:11about for a little more than nothing.
• 19:17Thank you so much, Mr. Lewis.
• 19:18We've heard, I've heard about that
• 19:20scramble from other people in New
• 19:22Haven about being thrown pennies
• 19:23from the Yale students and the
• 19:25little kids would run after it,
• 19:27not realizing how, you know,
• 19:28some of them not didn't realize
• 19:30how demeaning it was.
• 19:31They have enough nerve.
• 19:32They didn't have enough nerve
• 19:34to send dollars change.
• 19:38Thank you so much.
• 19:40You're welcome. They could swim.
• 19:43So what are we talking about is the scramble
• 19:45which was kind of the Yale students sort
• 19:47of mocking the pretty fixer parades.
• 19:49You would have our African American
• 19:52celebration and and pride in our
• 19:54neighborhood and then you would have
• 19:56the yellow students would actually
• 19:57rent a float and ride the float up and
• 20:00down Dixwell Ave and throw pennies at
• 20:02the at the African American children.
• 20:04So this is a a very strong memory for
• 20:06lots of people people of that generation.
• 20:08I've heard many of them talk about
• 20:11the scramble and how.
• 20:12Degrading it was,
• 20:12once they got older and were able to
• 20:14realize what was happening that it was,
• 20:16it was insulting and it was making a
• 20:19mockery of the Freddie Fixer parade.
• 20:22So this is this is a clip from Serena,
• 20:24who talks about her childhood
• 20:26being moved from several different
• 20:27locations across the city.
• 20:31Way in 1956.
• 20:35I was around two years old and my
• 20:37baby brother was six months old.
• 20:39My father had some kind of
• 20:42agreement with the City of heaven.
• 20:45Where they would purchase the properties
• 20:48of land that they wanted to use for
• 20:52some future redevelopment development.
• 20:54Those inhabitants would move out in,
• 20:58my family would move in,
• 21:00and we would then stay in the
• 21:03property until the city of New
• 21:04Haven was ready to begin working on
• 21:06that particular renewal project.
• 21:08It was a way for the properties to remain
• 21:13occupied and not contribute to blight.
• 21:16The city didn't have to then worry about
• 21:19squatters or taking over the property,
• 21:21either.
• 21:22Our family would stay in a house,
• 21:25usually for one to two years at a time.
• 21:28I did get attached to the house
• 21:31on 432 Chapel Street.
• 21:33That was the only place where we
• 21:35live that was above a business.
• 21:40The way in 1950.
• 21:41OK, so I'm sorry.
• 21:42That was a little jarring for some people.
• 21:44I know the first time I watched it,
• 21:46it was a little upsetting.
• 21:48But again, I think she would want to be
• 21:50included in this and I think it's a great,
• 21:51great way to honor her memory.
• 21:54So that was her talking about her
• 21:56childhood where her father had
• 21:57to deal with the city to again,
• 21:59she had 1211 siblings and her
• 22:01father was a single dad and had
• 22:03to provide for his children.
• 22:04So he had a deal for housing.
• 22:06He took advantage of urban renewal in a
• 22:08way and said let's see if we can get.
• 22:11Housing for free and these empty
• 22:13spaces until construction starts.
• 22:15So you would find kind of a loophole
• 22:17in urban renewal and say I'm going to
• 22:19house my children in these empty homes
• 22:20until it's time for construction to start.
• 22:22So there was a year or two in between
• 22:25when people had to evacuate the space and
• 22:28when the construction actually started,
• 22:30and that's the moment he would step into
• 22:32this family and house them for years.
• 22:33So because of that,
• 22:35she moved quite a bit throughout
• 22:37her childhood and had lots of
• 22:40different experiences in New Haven.
• 22:43So this is a second clip from Serena
• 22:46Chain link fencing and see
• 22:48the park on the other,
• 22:50which was around the corner.
• 22:51And I absolutely love this
• 22:53house and I really, really was
• 22:55devastated when we had to leave it.
• 22:58But they changed it into Department
• 23:02of Transportation and you can see
• 23:04the highway going right through,
• 23:05right through the back of that building.
• 23:12This is 111 Winter St This is
• 23:14behind the Stetson Library in the
• 23:16parking lot and back of the Stetson
• 23:19Library on Dixwell Ave and where I'm
• 23:21standing at is where my house was.
• 23:23So they for my house down to be
• 23:26a part of parking lot and back of
• 23:28the Stetson Library on ****** lab.
• 23:31And yeah. That's me,
• 23:34and that's where my house was. Yeah.
• 23:37So this is not related to the highway at all.
• 23:40It's just part of the neighborhood.
• 23:43Was torn down, yeah, right.
• 23:44Part of the change that they wanted
• 23:46to make in the in the neighborhood.
• 23:51The chain link.
• 23:52Because I just want to go back a second.
• 23:54So what she was talking about is
• 23:56this space here behind Dixwell Ave.
• 23:58This was winter St the street no longer
• 24:00exists and it's been made into a parking lot.
• 24:02So this, this brings the point of
• 24:05urban renewal was to to tear down
• 24:07these spaces to build the highway.
• 24:09Right. But you also have spaces
• 24:10that were just deemed slums and
• 24:12had nothing to do with the highway,
• 24:14but we're also torn down.
• 24:15So where she's standing is would
• 24:17have been the front door of the home
• 24:18that she lived in and one of the
• 24:20homes that she loved as a child.
• 24:22So it's. It's, you know,
• 24:23this is a kind of iconic picture
• 24:25of Serena and also.
• 24:27Her occupying this now essentially
• 24:28empty space.
• 24:29It's a parking lot with very
• 24:31few vehicles in it.
• 24:32So it almost sort of begs the question,
• 24:34what was the point of destroying
• 24:36that row of houses in that space?
• 24:38So it's a interesting moment.
• 24:41We got to talk about how long River
• 24:43renewal not only impacted the spaces
• 24:44for the construction of the highway,
• 24:46but also just other spaces
• 24:48that were designated as slums.
• 24:514. OK, so. Hope St CMH sort.
• 24:56It was born out of this idea
• 24:58of the Oak St Connector.
• 25:00So the goal was to have a highway,
• 25:02a short stretch of Hwy that would
• 25:04reconfigure the highway system to
• 25:06connect I91 with I-95 in the heart of
• 25:08the city by directing traffic to a
• 25:11downtown shopping and parking district.
• 25:13Secondary purpose of urban renewal
• 25:16was to eradicate existing slums,
• 25:18and that's sort of what Serena
• 25:19was saying in that earlier clip.
• 25:21Hundreds of families were removed
• 25:22to make way for the connector.
• 25:24We don't have in the hospital and our
• 25:28medical school campus including CMHC.
• 25:30So this is a map of what the
• 25:32neighborhood looked like before
• 25:34demolition and after construction.
• 25:36So you can see that this was
• 25:38very densely populated area,
• 25:39lots of homes, tenement buildings,
• 25:41small businesses,
• 25:42etcetera,
• 25:42all torn down and to make space
• 25:44for the highway coming through.
• 25:48So this is our block, CMHC's block.
• 25:51You can see here the housing that was
• 25:53here and some of the small businesses,
• 25:56you had 114 households that
• 25:57were forced to move to make way
• 26:00for CMHC and you had five small
• 26:02businesses that had to move as well.
• 26:04So this is what this is a,
• 26:06I think it's a fire map from 1961 and I
• 26:09added the names from the phone book of 1960.
• 26:12So you can actually see the names
• 26:13of people who lived here and the
• 26:15names of the businesses of people
• 26:17who who lived on this city block.
• 26:21You know, I've highlighted some of
• 26:23the major small businesses and some
• 26:25of the major apartment complexes.
• 26:27You had Howard's cleaning and pressing.
• 26:29You had Howard's shoe repair.
• 26:31You had Harry and Bernie's grill,
• 26:33American window and cleaning,
• 26:35and a doctor's office.
• 26:36You also had apartments
• 26:37and rooming houses here.
• 26:41So land acquisition,
• 26:4329 properties were purchased by the state,
• 26:4614 successfully negotiated with the owners,
• 26:4915 working were condemned,
• 26:52but courts were court awards
• 26:54were higher than the proposed,
• 26:56than the appraisals.
• 26:57These had to be renegotiated.
• 27:00And in the midst of construction you
• 27:01had one home owner who refused to move,
• 27:04who continue to haggle over the
• 27:06price and continue to renegotiate
• 27:08for a higher price with the state.
• 27:10So here you see.
• 27:11Actually the construction site of CMHC
• 27:13being built and that one homeowner in
• 27:15the corner who is is still negotiating
• 27:17with the state for a higher price.
• 27:20So it suggests also the deep attachment
• 27:23to the space and the pride and home
• 27:26ownership that this person refused
• 27:28to leave until until the bitter end,
• 27:30until he was able to negotiate something
• 27:33that he or she thought was fair.
• 27:36We had a terrible crane accident really
• 27:38quickly where a crane was toppled.
• 27:41And nearly killed.
• 27:42Two people were seriously injured
• 27:45with this crane crash that it fell
• 27:48across the length of Oak Street,
• 27:50which is now like S frontage Rd.
• 27:54And there was a person who was who was
• 27:57crushed underneath the crane and had to
• 27:59be sort of pulled out by first responders.
• 28:02And so he ended up writing a letter
• 28:04of thanks to the first responders
• 28:06who saved his life that day and
• 28:08we're able to pull him out of the
• 28:10crane and take it to the hospital.
• 28:12Once the two men who were on a
• 28:14scaffolding that was helping to
• 28:15construct the second floors CHC.
• 28:17They were also injured, but not seriously.
• 28:20Or just a little little bit of insight
• 28:23into the archives that we found.
• 28:25We also had a tree topping topping
• 28:27ceremony when the building was complete
• 28:29and had sort of this is a Scandinavian
• 28:32tradition and construction to place a
• 28:34tree and often a flag on the highest
• 28:36room of the building and have that have
• 28:38that sort of mounted onto the the building.
• 28:40It was sort of a a sign of a blessing
• 28:42of the building and all the people
• 28:45who would occupy it.
• 28:46So for those who work here,
• 28:47the building has been blessed,
• 28:48everybody, just to let you know.
• 28:51OK.
• 28:52So this is before and after.
• 28:53This is the fire map from 1961,
• 28:55you see the densely populated block.
• 28:57Then this is 1965 after
• 29:00construction where all those homes,
• 29:02apartment buildings,
• 29:03businesses have been removed and
• 29:05we have our building CMHC remains.
• 29:10And this is opening day.
• 29:11This is the Department of Psychiatry
• 29:14faculty opening the doors of CHC in 1966.
• 29:20OK, so just one more clip
• 29:22from Ronald, Mr Ronald Lewis.
• 29:26Freedom. We had clean running water.
• 29:29We had we had pets.
• 29:31Reminds me of one story.
• 29:32I had a dog named Rover,
• 29:34and because we let our dogs run free
• 29:36because of the open spaces there,
• 29:38the dog would come back to the house
• 29:40running wanted we'd go outside when
• 29:42he wanted to the maintenance man.
• 29:44Loved our dog away from us.
• 29:46What he did was he'd feed
• 29:48my dog and love my dog.
• 29:49And I see my dog somewhere down in the park.
• 29:52And I called him.
• 29:53I said come here.
• 29:53Rover and Rover would wag his tail
• 29:55and he come to me in a loving way.
• 29:58He'd roll on the ground,
• 29:59I pet his belly and then he
• 30:01would go back to this new owner.
• 30:03And we never tried to get Rover back
• 30:05because we think the man loved him
• 30:07and that's all that really matters.
• 30:09But I had a good experience in rocky
• 30:10premiere. I went on to the service.
• 30:14Thank you.
• 30:14So for you, it's a,
• 30:16it was a positive experience
• 30:17moving to Rock You at that time,
• 30:19away from the raps and living in the store.
• 30:21I'd say it was a very positive experience.
• 30:23I understand what you're saying
• 30:25about the army knowing a lot of
• 30:26people were pushed out and I don't
• 30:27know where a lot of them went,
• 30:29but a lot of people did come
• 30:31to Rockview and Brookside.
• 30:32And for a lot of people it was,
• 30:34it was moving on up and have the
• 30:37things that we had there that we
• 30:39really want accustomed to down on oak St.
• 30:41OK, perfect.
• 30:43Perfect.
• 30:43Thank you.
• 30:45Item.
• 30:46So this is an interesting point that Mr.
• 30:48Lewis is bringing up about.
• 30:49His experience was actually positive,
• 30:51moving away from the rats,
• 30:53moving into a much nicer housing situation
• 30:57where you had lots of green grass.
• 30:59It was very diverse group of
• 31:01people from all over the world and
• 31:03different cultural backgrounds.
• 31:05And he had the open spaces on the sort
• 31:07of over by Southern campus in that
• 31:09area and there were a lot of open
• 31:11space for him and his friends to play.
• 31:13So we talked a lot about playing with the
• 31:15different animals and putting his dog.
• 31:17Which is a sharp contrast to
• 31:18what he was doing before,
• 31:19which was being tasked with
• 31:21killing the rats on Oak Street.
• 31:23So for him it was a very positive experience
• 31:25and for some other people it was to it.
• 31:27It wasn't all terrible for everyone,
• 31:28but there for some people I think
• 31:30it depends on where you landed.
• 31:32If you landed in rock for you at the time,
• 31:34you had a good experience.
• 31:35If you landed in the hill,
• 31:36you didn't have a good experience
• 31:38because you experience overcrowding
• 31:40and probably more rats actually inhale.
• 31:42So just depends on where
• 31:44you were relocated to.
• 31:45So this is the last clip from serving.
• 31:47It's about 30 seconds.
• 31:51Kevin Carlile St and I had
• 31:54just made a new white friend.
• 31:57And then one day she came to me crying.
• 32:00And then when I asked her why she said that,
• 32:03her father said that they had to move away.
• 32:06And, you know, we had just become friends,
• 32:09you know, so we both were devastated.
• 32:11So, and I think, you know,
• 32:12that was like the beginning of white flight,
• 32:15you know, at that time in my life and
• 32:18in the neighborhood and everything.
• 32:21Most, you know, snowballed after that.
• 32:26Seven, Carlos OK, so just to
• 32:29to emphasize Serena's point
• 32:31again, many of the white households
• 32:33were able to eventually move out of the
• 32:36those relocation areas and find housing,
• 32:38homeownership and housing in the
• 32:40suburbs and so in a way urban renewal.
• 32:43Eventually ended up segregating the city.
• 32:46It didn't maybe intend to do that
• 32:48necessarily because everyone was moved.
• 32:49It was more segregated by class,
• 32:52but it gave, it prompted people,
• 32:56the white families,
• 32:56to seek more to try and get ownership of
• 32:59a home and to move outside of those areas.
• 33:01So then it became sort of people
• 33:03of color dominated areas in those
• 33:05relocation areas and the white
• 33:07families were able to eventually
• 33:08move out and move into the suburbs.
• 33:11So she talked about the white flight also.
• 33:13I just want to say.
• 33:14Before I leave this issue of Serena,
• 33:16she didn't have any photos of her
• 33:17childhood like Mr. Lewis did.
• 33:19Mr. Lewis had.
• 33:19Mr.
• 33:20Lewis had different photographs
• 33:21because she moved so many times and
• 33:23she experienced extreme poverty.
• 33:25There were no photos left of her
• 33:27as a as a child.
• 33:28And so she and I were tasked with
• 33:31driving across the city to get current
• 33:33photos of where she used to live.
• 33:35And so this is part of the bond with
• 33:37Serena that we had this this whole
• 33:39Sunday together and we took lots.
• 33:41So I'll just go back quickly to see
• 33:43some of the photographs that we had.
• 33:44So we she shared a lot with me that
• 33:47particular day about her life,
• 33:48which was really interesting.
• 33:49And so the photos you see of about
• 33:52her story are current photos of what
• 33:53the space looks like now as opposed
• 33:55to what it looked like at that point.
• 33:57So that's kind of the experiential
• 33:59learning for me,
• 34:00learning about the city and seeing
• 34:02the city through the eyes of Serena,
• 34:05who was a child at the time.
• 34:06So that was a really interesting
• 34:08way of of doing this for me.
• 34:11It was research,
• 34:12but also building a really
• 34:13nice friendship between us.
• 34:16I lived that way.
• 34:17OK, so this is just I'm finishing up here.
• 34:20This is the past and the present.
• 34:21So this is Winchester repeating
• 34:23arms factory earlier in the century,
• 34:281950s and earlier.
• 34:29And then this is Winchester building
• 34:31today which is now been turned into
• 34:33really I'm sure expensive condos.
• 34:35So, so Winchester is still exists
• 34:37but it's in a different form.
• 34:39This is the Freddie Fixer parade
• 34:41in the in the 60s and 70s,
• 34:44and this is the credit Fixer parade today.
• 34:45So it still exists.
• 34:46It had several years where it
• 34:47didn't happen and then people had
• 34:49to raise money to bring it back,
• 34:50but it's still an important tradition
• 34:53in the Dixwell neighborhood.
• 34:55This is the old Q House which is a
• 34:58much loved Community Center in Dixwell
• 35:00that was eventually torn down again.
• 35:03Nothing was in its place for about 15 years.
• 35:05And then this is the brand new Q House
• 35:07which just which just opened last year.
• 35:09So that idea of a Community Center in
• 35:12the Dixwell area has been restored.
• 35:15And this is, this is ours, this is Sean.
• 35:17We've seen in 1966 and it's a CMHC today.
• 35:20So again,
• 35:21I just want us to think about our
• 35:23relationship to community as we
• 35:25continue this conversation and I
• 35:26want to turn it back over to Lucille.
• 35:30Thank you so much, Karima,
• 35:32for providing that really crucial context.
• 35:36Keith and I are going to just jump right into
• 35:39civil rights now and the 691969 controversy.
• 35:42And I just want you to know we're probably
• 35:44going to go toward the bitter end here today.
• 35:46And I I, I'm sorry, we're not going
• 35:48to have a lot of time for questions,
• 35:50but unless people want to stay on after,
• 35:53we can definitely be here.
• 35:54So Umm, so CMHC's birth coincided
• 35:57with the civil rights movement.
• 36:01And was made possible by new funding
• 36:03streams that opened up during civil rights.
• 36:05During this time in New Haven,
• 36:07residents of The Hill neighborhood
• 36:09where CMHC is located,
• 36:10and you just learned a lot about it,
• 36:13we're fighting back against the
• 36:15many forms of injustice they faced.
• 36:18The Hill Coalition,
• 36:19what we call today the community,
• 36:21included primarily black residents,
• 36:23but also Puerto Ricans and poor whites.
• 36:26At CMHC,
• 36:27the staff and faculty both embodied the
• 36:30progressive activist spirit of the time,
• 36:32standing in solidarity with the community
• 36:34and acted in opposition to that.
• 36:37Community creating walls and
• 36:39reinforcing boundaries.
• 36:40They embraced a new vision,
• 36:42yet they also resisted that vision.
• 36:45And one of the core issues they wrestled
• 36:48with was what is CMHC's relationship
• 36:50with and accountability to the community.
• 36:53What is community mental health anyway?
• 36:55Who is it for?
• 37:02In 1963, a mental health had taken
• 37:04a giant leap with the passage of
• 37:07the community Mental Health Act.
• 37:09This legislation reduced the
• 37:11patient populations inside asylums
• 37:13through deinstitutionalization
• 37:14and made funds available for
• 37:16community based mental healthcare.
• 37:18And two years later in 1965,
• 37:20landmark legislation came with the
• 37:22passage of Medicare and Medicaid.
• 37:24And so before Medicare and Medicaid in
• 37:27the South, black patients and doctors
• 37:30experience complete medical segregation.
• 37:32In the north we had de facto segregation,
• 37:35and due to poverty and racism,
• 37:36if Black, Puerto Rican and poor people,
• 37:39poor white people, received any care,
• 37:41they were treated in charity hospitals,
• 37:43publicly run hospitals or state asylums
• 37:45where many people stayed for their lives.
• 37:48And this picture here shows a
• 37:49doctor's office in Merigold,
• 37:51Ms in 1939.
• 37:53And so suddenly,
• 37:54with the passage of Medicare and Medicaid,
• 37:56a huge influx of federal dollars
• 37:58began to enter the healthcare system
• 38:00while also creating incentives for
• 38:03hospitals to desegregate and respond
• 38:05to respond better to community needs.
• 38:07This was very important for the
• 38:09proposed CHC because it meant that the
• 38:11organization would need to quickly adapt
• 38:13to the demands of medical civil rights
• 38:16or risk not receiving federal funds.
• 38:18And so a quote from the book Medicare and
• 38:21Medicaid at 50 says Medicare in its essence,
• 38:23was the gift of the civil rights struggle.
• 38:26The civil rights movement's gift
• 38:27forced the racial and economic
• 38:29segregation of American hospitals.
• 38:31Desegregation of American hospitals and
• 38:33American hospitals went from being the
• 38:36nation's most racially and economically.
• 38:38Segregated institutions to
• 38:40its most integrated.
• 38:42And so now we're going to introduce you
• 38:44to the two main characters of our story,
• 38:47Doctor Fritz Redlich and Mr Fred Harris.
• 38:50Mr.
• 38:51Harris, today known as Apostle Harris,
• 38:53was born and grew up in New Haven.
• 38:55His father was a native new havener.
• 38:57His mother's family descended to slaves,
• 38:59left North Carolina during the Great
• 39:01Migration and resettled in New Haven.
• 39:03As a young man he was smart,
• 39:05handsome and, by his own description,
• 39:07well dressed and a great dancer.
• 39:09Fred Harris was just being born
• 39:12when Doctor Frederick Fritz Redlich,
• 39:13a young psychoanalytic psychiatrist,
• 39:15left his native Vienna in 1939 following
• 39:18the annexation of Austria by the Nazis.
• 39:21And Doctor Redlich had grown up Catholic,
• 39:23but he learned of his family's Jewish
• 39:25origins when he was a young adult.
• 39:27He came to the Yale Psychiatry
• 39:30Department in 1942,
• 39:31and he became the chair in 1960.
• 39:34Fred Harris, meanwhile,
• 39:35he grew up in New Haven and settled
• 39:38in the hill with his young family.
• 39:40In 1965,
• 39:40when he and his wife discovered that
• 39:42their children's elementary school had
• 39:44no toilet paper, they took action.
• 39:46They got a group of parents together,
• 39:48protested, and eventually won.
• 39:50The Hill Parents Association,
• 39:52a legendary activist group in New Haven,
• 39:54was born, and its members chose Mr.
• 39:56Harris as their leader.
• 39:58The Hill Parents Association picked up,
• 40:00fixed up a neighborhood park,
• 40:02opened a summer camp for kids,
• 40:04started a freedom school,
• 40:05raised money,
• 40:06and most of all, they spoke out when they
• 40:09decided to go to the welfare commissioners.
• 40:11Was in Hartford to protest the
• 40:13welfare departments disrespect
• 40:14towards people in the community. Mr.
• 40:16Harris, along with his fellow protesters were
• 40:19violently beaten by police and by 1967 Mr.
• 40:22Harris was locked in a pitch
• 40:24battle with New Haven mayors,
• 40:26with the New Haven Mayor ****
• 40:27Lees and his city government.
• 40:30The Hill Parents Association had
• 40:32exposed the lie of Lee's quote
• 40:35Model City and Lee was furious.
• 40:37He'll activists jumped aboard tour buses
• 40:39and redirected them around the city.
• 40:41Going towards the wreckage of urban renewal.
• 40:48By now, it's well documented that the
• 40:51police were sowing discord and confusion in
• 40:54active and activist communities nationwide.
• 40:57An escalation of violence began in
• 41:001967 with the outbreak of rebellions
• 41:02in black and brown communities
• 41:04across the US and law enforcement's
• 41:07increasingly militarized response.
• 41:08This was just one year after CMHC opened.
• 41:13Here in New Haven on August 19th,
• 41:161967 when a white restaurant
• 41:18owner shot a Puerto Rican man
• 41:20who came toward him with a knife,
• 41:22a four day rebellion broke out in the hill.
• 41:25The state declared martial law in the
• 41:27hill and state police were sent in,
• 41:29much to the disgust of Mr.
• 41:31Harris and others.
• 41:32And here you can see if you
• 41:34headlines from the Hill rebellion.
• 41:41Buses left from CMHC to take women
• 41:44and children to the suburbs.
• 41:52And then on April 14, I'm sorry,
• 41:55April 4th, 1968, Doctor Martin
• 41:57Luther King Junior was assassinated.
• 42:00The next day, a memorial service for
• 42:02Doctor King was held in the CHC Auditorium.
• 42:05And just two months later,
• 42:06Robert F Kennedy was assassinated.
• 42:09It was a very, very violent time.
• 42:12So at this point,
• 42:13you might be imagining that CMHC staff
• 42:16and patients looked in those days like
• 42:18the diverse CMHC community of today.
• 42:20But in the 1960s,
• 42:22CMHC was a heavily white institution,
• 42:25attracting mostly white patients into care.
• 42:28And here again,
• 42:29you see the Yale Department of
• 42:32Psychiatry photo of CMHC faculty
• 42:34and staff with Rachel Robinson,
• 42:36the first director of nursing
• 42:38and one of CMHC's only black
• 42:40leaders on the left hand side.
• 42:42The front row.
• 42:45And we know from this and other photos
• 42:47that the staff was overwhelmingly white.
• 42:49We looked at census information and we
• 42:51saw that the the New Haven population had
• 42:54actually shifted during the 50s and 60s,
• 42:56with a growing black population or
• 42:59burgeoning Puerto Rican population
• 43:01and declining numbers of white people
• 43:03due to white flight to the suburbs.
• 43:06So in 1966 in terms of race.
• 43:09The heavily white composition of CMC
• 43:12faculty and staff at this point really
• 43:15didn't reflect the community it served.
• 43:17So this is a report of
• 43:21the 1st 100 days of CMHC.
• 43:2420% of patients were seen were
• 43:27young people ages 16 to 20.
• 43:29And during that window of time,
• 43:3120% of patients were adolescents
• 43:34ages 16 to 20.
• 43:35Overall,
• 43:3686% of patients were white,
• 43:39only 14% were black and there is no
• 43:42reference to Puerto Rican patients.
• 43:45So by 1969,
• 43:46the demographics had slightly shifted.
• 43:49And CMHC knew that it had a problem.
• 43:52It was working to diversify its
• 43:54patient population and its workforce,
• 43:56especially in the hill West Haven Division.
• 44:02CMHC's largest service was
• 44:04the Hill West Haven Division.
• 44:06It was headquartered on the
• 44:075th floor of 34 Park St,
• 44:09and it was separate from CMHC's
• 44:11General Clinical service and
• 44:13different for a couple of reasons.
• 44:15It serves 2 geographical areas,
• 44:17the Hill neighborhood and
• 44:19also the town of West Haven,
• 44:20offering clinical services,
• 44:22community organizing,
• 44:23research and training.
• 44:25And importantly,
• 44:25the division partnered with
• 44:27two community advisory boards,
• 44:29The Hill Health Board and the Community
• 44:31Services Association of West Haven.
• 44:34And so the hill West Haven Division is
• 44:36where CMHC's most activist community
• 44:38oriented staff members worked.
• 44:40And it was federally funded and
• 44:42brought in extra state dollars
• 44:44through required matching funds.
• 44:46And so this chart shows that in 1969,
• 44:50the division accounted for 61% of
• 44:52grant funding awarded to the center
• 44:56and 20% of CMHC's overall budget.
• 45:04This next chart shows in green
• 45:06that the hall West Haven Division
• 45:08employed the largest number of staff
• 45:10of any unit at CMHC with 118 people,
• 45:13or 27% of the total staff. Let's CMHC.
• 45:17And then here you can see a breakdown
• 45:19of different staff positions within
• 45:21the Hill West Haven Division in 1969,
• 45:23with the largest group being
• 45:25mental health workers and AIDS,
• 45:27second largest being nurses.
• 45:29Nurses and tied for third are social
• 45:32workers and psychiatrists with 11 each.
• 45:35And in 1969,
• 45:36the hill West Haven Division won
• 45:38its second grant in part to support
• 45:41the creation of field stations
• 45:43in the Hill and West Haven.
• 45:45And so in West Haven,
• 45:46the field station was located in
• 45:48the First Congregational Church,
• 45:50which is shown here.
• 45:53And in the hill, the Hill Field
• 45:55station was based in the newly
• 45:58established Field Hill Health Center.
• 46:00And by embedding themselves in
• 46:02the neighborhoods, the staff,
• 46:04they were really able to meet the
• 46:07Community people literally where they were.
• 46:09And the hill West Haven Division saw mental
• 46:11health as being connected to social problems.
• 46:14And we're to address both.
• 46:17And so still at this point.
• 46:22CMT's relationship with the hill explicit,
• 46:23especially with the black community,
• 46:25was mixed.
• 46:27Community members complained about,
• 46:29quote, red tape. At CMHC.
• 46:31There was a huge concern about drugs
• 46:33across all communities in the region,
• 46:35and CMHC struggled to meet
• 46:37the demand for drug treatment.
• 46:39Mr.
• 46:39Harris himself felt that the staff
• 46:41didn't know how to interact with people
• 46:43from the neighborhood and community.
• 46:44People wanted jobs.
• 46:45They felt that the center should contribute
• 46:47to the neighborhood economy through hiring,
• 46:49and that it should have staff
• 46:50members who were part of the.
• 46:51Community.
• 46:52Many staff and faculty also
• 46:53cared about these issues as well,
• 46:55and the division responded to these
• 46:58employment concerns by creating
• 46:59a robust training and employment
• 47:01program that launched in 1969.
• 47:03Jobs available as CMC gets funds,
• 47:07read a headline in the crow,
• 47:09which was new heaven's African
• 47:11American newspaper at the time.
• 47:14And this photo shows the house where
• 47:16the hill West Haven Division Training
• 47:18Center was located at 122 Davenport Ave,
• 47:20just down the street from
• 47:22Yale New Haven Hospital.
• 47:25Perhaps in a sincere effort
• 47:28to be more community minded,
• 47:30perhaps as a public relations move,
• 47:32or perhaps it was both, on April 10th 1969,
• 47:36Doctor Gerald Clareman,
• 47:38the new CMHC director,
• 47:39announced the appointment of Fred Harris,
• 47:42a special assistant to the director of CMHC.
• 47:45In this press release,
• 47:47Doctor Clareman acknowledged season CHC's
• 47:49concern over its relationship with, quote,
• 47:53the Black and the poor of New Haven.
• 47:56And he explained that he was hiring Mr.
• 47:58Harris to help CHC become a more
• 48:01meaningful and useful institution
• 48:03to the New Haven community.
• 48:05He acknowledged that this
• 48:06would not be an easy process.
• 48:08And he stated, quote, we are aware that Mr.
• 48:12Harris, as one of the most militant and
• 48:15outspoken leaders of the black community,
• 48:17is a controversial person.
• 48:18That is one reason why we hired him.
• 48:22His evaluations of our practices
• 48:23here in the center have been.
• 48:26And will doubtless continue to be
• 48:28painful and upsetting, but useful to us.
• 48:33So Mr. Harris accepted the position,
• 48:35he said,
• 48:36because he wanted to try making
• 48:39change from within.
• 48:40He began A6 month contract at CMHC and
• 48:43the news was reported in the press.
• 48:49So just a few weeks later,
• 48:51an unfortunate episode occurred at CMHC.
• 48:54Mr. Harris and the Hill Board had
• 48:56worked out an agreement whereby
• 48:57the CMHC would accept young people
• 48:59in need of drug treatment. Mr.
• 49:01Harris told us that he would simply
• 49:03walk these young people into the
• 49:05center where they'd be cared for.
• 49:07On April 24th, 1969,
• 49:08police entered CMHC in search of a
• 49:11teenage patient who was receiving drug
• 49:13treatment and they who they were to arrest.
• 49:16Doctor Clareman was at a conference
• 49:19in Washington and the hospital
• 49:21administrator faced a decision.
• 49:23He called the state attorney
• 49:24general's office who advised him to
• 49:26allow the police to arrest the man.
• 49:28They did arrest the patient inside
• 49:31CMHC and charged him with two counts
• 49:34of possession and sale of drugs.
• 49:36Everyone at CMHC was very upset over this.
• 49:39Doctors, staff,
• 49:40community members and the news
• 49:42also hit the press.
• 49:44And here we would like to play for
• 49:46you the the first of two audio clips.
• 49:48By the 1st audio clip of a by actors
• 49:51from CMHC Theater group comprised of
• 49:53people in recovery who are reading
• 49:56aloud primary source documents.
• 49:58So listen to the voices of
• 50:00leadership expressed their outrage
• 50:02over the patients arrest.
• 50:05Excerpts from drug patients arrest angers,
• 50:07doctors here, April 1969.
• 50:11Commissioner Wilford, Bloomberg.
• 50:13It seems to me to be elemental medicine
• 50:17that a patient not be moved from a hospital.
• 50:21When medical judgment decides that
• 50:23the patient is too sick to be moved.
• 50:27Dean Fritz. Relic.
• 50:30Tradiction cannot be solved
• 50:32by primitive procedures.
• 50:34Drug addicts are sick people and need
• 50:37skilled treatment and education,
• 50:40and we have abilitation.
• 50:42To interfere with such treatment and
• 50:45replace it with jailing
• 50:47of drug addicts without any
• 50:50communication with the therapist
• 50:52is a most unfortunate act.
• 50:57Joint statement by Doctor Relic
• 51:00Dr Liz at CMC Executive Committee
• 51:03under arrest of Jimmy Jones at CMHC.
• 51:06We wish to protest such disruption of
• 51:09therapy and interference with CMHC's
• 51:11efforts to cooperate with the serious
• 51:13and intensive efforts of the hill
• 51:15community to combat the addiction problem.
• 51:21And after the patients arrest,
• 51:23150 protesters occupied a recently closed
• 51:26City Hospital building to dramatize the
• 51:29need for a narcotics facility quote,
• 51:32where people could receive drug treatment.
• 51:3522 people were arrested and later
• 51:37found guilty of trespassing,
• 51:38and we cross checked their names against an
• 51:40internal list of Hill West Haven Division
• 51:42staff members and discovered that Mr.
• 51:44Harris, plus four Hill West
• 51:46Haven Division staff members,
• 51:48two mental health aides,
• 51:49one nurse and one psychiatry
• 51:52resident were one were among those
• 51:54who were arrested at the protest.
• 51:56So what was Mr Harris's experience
• 51:59like in the CHC? CHC gave Mr.
• 52:02Harris an uneasy feeling.
• 52:03He was cynical about the
• 52:05organization's mission,
• 52:06which he saw as being mostly self-serving.
• 52:09Mr.
• 52:09Harris was deliberately provocative
• 52:11in the workplace,
• 52:12and in the short clip from our
• 52:14interview with him that we had last May,
• 52:16he offers a few vivid details.
• 52:21It was crazy.
• 52:24And I treated them like that, too.
• 52:26I bring my German shepherd to to work
• 52:28with me. I'd come with no shirt.
• 52:32I'd come with my hair.
• 52:34I had big axle wire hanging on my ear,
• 52:38warping, no shoes. But I
• 52:41get to work. Hmm.
• 52:43That either either they were afraid
• 52:45of me or they thought I was crazy.
• 52:48But I would get the work done.
• 52:50The projects that that they were doing,
• 52:53that I was involved in, they were done.
• 52:56You know, and they were able to
• 52:58be utilized to make them look
• 53:00good and and make it look like,
• 53:02look like they're doing all this
• 53:03for the community and all that.
• 53:07Some of them were doing
• 53:09their best they could.
• 53:11But they weren't knowledgeable of
• 53:12the people they were working with,
• 53:15and they weren't aware of
• 53:17the political influence.
• 53:22Despite the challenges, Mr.
• 53:23Harris continued his work with the CMHC
• 53:26and the Hill Health Board to help
• 53:28determine how CMHC would provide
• 53:29services and what the nature of its
• 53:32relationship to the Community would be.
• 53:35On September 2nd, 1969,
• 53:38a private meeting took place between Mr.
• 53:41Harris, members of the Hill Health Board,
• 53:43and doctor Fritz Redlich,
• 53:44who was now the Dean of Yale Medical School.
• 53:48Doctor Clareman, who hired Fred Harris,
• 53:50had left CMC, and a new CMHC
• 53:53director in Psychiatry Department
• 53:55chair doctor Mort Reiser had begun.
• 53:58We don't exactly know what
• 53:59the meeting between Mr.
• 54:00Harris, the Hill representatives
• 54:02and Doctor Redlich was about.
• 54:04There's a reference to problems with
• 54:06the treatment of a black patient at CMHC
• 54:08and mention of the communities demand to
• 54:11have more power in in determining care.
• 54:13Mr.
• 54:13Harris said they were asking Dean
• 54:15Redlick to sign an agreement with the
• 54:18community and that Redlich repeatedly
• 54:19held up his pen as if he were going to sign.
• 54:22But then you didn't sign for Mr.
• 54:25Harris.
• 54:25Dr Redlich's attitude was condescending.
• 54:28He didn't understand why Redlick
• 54:30wouldn't sign the agreement and
• 54:32felt his community was being used.
• 54:33He told us that in his anger and frustration,
• 54:36as was reported in the papers,
• 54:38he put his hands on Dean
• 54:40Redlick's neck as if to choke him.
• 54:44A joint statement from Redlick
• 54:46and Riser aligns with Mr Harris's
• 54:49description of what happened.
• 54:51They wrote quote when Dean Redlich
• 54:53was requested to sign a statement,
• 54:55he asked for 24 hours to
• 54:57consider the statement,
• 54:58declaring that he would not sign documents
• 55:00or act in an atmosphere of direct coercion.
• 55:03And interestingly, in our interview with Mr.
• 55:06Harris, this is like,
• 55:07you know, 50 years later,
• 55:08he told us that he later learned that
• 55:11the experience had reminded Doctor
• 55:13Redlich of being interrogated by the
• 55:16Nazis in Austria in the 1930s. But Mr.
• 55:19Harris said that as a young man,
• 55:21he didn't know or understand
• 55:23anything about this,
• 55:24and that Doctor Redlich had
• 55:26not mentioned it to him.
• 55:28Frederick and Riser stated that due to
• 55:30Mr Harris's actions in the meeting,
• 55:32which they said violated HR rules,
• 55:35they would not renew his six
• 55:37month contract with CMHC.
• 55:39The state also declined to hire Mr.
• 55:42Harris.
• 55:45This situation hit the newspapers and
• 55:47thus began a round of public protest that
• 55:50demonstrated widespread support for Mr.
• 55:53Harris. And one article printed Mr Harris's
• 55:56list of community complaints about CMHC,
• 55:59which I will read right now
• 56:00in the interest of time.
• 56:02So the complaints are as follows.
• 56:04The staff is not responsive to Black and
• 56:06Puerto Rican people and the inpatient units.
• 56:08There are not enough black people accepted
• 56:10for treatment in the mental Health Center.
• 56:11Too many black and Puerto Rican
• 56:13people are sent to the Connecticut.
• 56:14The hospital CMC does not deal with
• 56:16the majority of problems presented by
• 56:18poor black and Puerto Rican people.
• 56:20No Spanish speaking spat staff,
• 56:22not enough community staff,
• 56:24poor training of professionals who
• 56:25need to understand urban problems,
• 56:27research problems undertaking with
• 56:29patients without informing patients,
• 56:31not enough fully trained people
• 56:33seeing the white, poor,
• 56:34black and Puerto Rican people.
• 56:36And lastly,
• 56:36the Community has no official voice in
• 56:38the setting of the priorities of the
• 56:40CMHC and so in a large meeting with
• 56:43members of the Community doctor Riser.
• 56:45The new CMC director reiterated that
• 56:47although he would not rehire Mr.
• 56:49Harris,
• 56:49he wanted to work with the Community to
• 56:51hire the representative of their choosing,
• 56:54and in turn, the community chose Fred Harris.
• 56:57And then the negotiations stalled again.
• 56:59For two months,
• 57:00there was a great deal of publicity,
• 57:02mostly unfavorable to Yale and CMHC,
• 57:04and multiple emergency meetings were called.
• 57:07Throughout all of this,
• 57:09doctor Redlich and Doctor Reiser were
• 57:11communicating with Yale President
• 57:12Kingman Brewster about the negotiation
• 57:14over the rehiring of Fred Harris.
• 57:16Brewster stated in a letter to
• 57:18doctor Riser that the university is
• 57:20quote first and foremost in academic
• 57:22institution quote and that he did not
• 57:25want the university to fall quote to
• 57:27second rate academic quality quote by
• 57:30shifting its focus to community concerns.
• 57:33He urged Doctor Roger to find a
• 57:35balance between service teaching.
• 57:37Had to research.
• 57:41So inside the CMHC,
• 57:43many staff members were upset and
• 57:45questioned CMHC's values and commitments.
• 57:48On October 16th, Doctor Reiser held a center
• 57:52wide staff meeting that became very tense,
• 57:54with doctors and others asking
• 57:56pointed questions about Fred Harris,
• 57:58the controversy, and the relationship
• 58:00between CMHC and the community.
• 58:02From the transcript we have of this meeting,
• 58:05we can tell that it was long and difficult.
• 58:07During one especially heated exchange,
• 58:10Doctor Reiser asked a doctor are
• 58:12you calling me a racist or what?
• 58:15Clearly something needed to give.
• 58:18A few weeks later,
• 58:19CMHC reached an agreement to rehire Mr.
• 58:21Harris as Community advocate.
• 58:23They worked out a deal whereby Mr.
• 58:25Harris would be rehired not by CMHC or Yale,
• 58:29but by 7 together,
• 58:32a collective organization representing
• 58:347 inner city neighborhoods.
• 58:37So this deal left a lot of
• 58:40people with mixed feelings.
• 58:42One doctor stated that the
• 58:43controversy had left, quote,
• 58:45psychological scarring on both sides.
• 58:48And you can see here the quote
• 58:50Doctor Riser was quoted as saying.
• 58:52We consider this agreement an
• 58:54important breakthrough in the whole
• 58:55area of Community involvement
• 58:57with the treatment facility.
• 58:58But in contrast,
• 59:00missus Patricia Galliot,
• 59:02the secretary treasurer of seven together,
• 59:04said the whole process shows the kind of
• 59:07institutional racism that exists at the CMHC.
• 59:10They don't really care about the community
• 59:12and they don't want Freddie there either.
• 59:14But we made them take him.
• 59:15Freddy's just going to have to
• 59:17be on his toes.
• 59:18All the time.
• 59:21Unfortunately, things didn't calm down
• 59:23for the hill West Haven Division staff.
• 59:26In December 1969,
• 59:27Doctor Reiser wrote a proposal for the
• 59:30reorganization of services at CMHC.
• 59:33He proposed moving clinical
• 59:34services out of the Hill West Haven
• 59:36Division into the in-house general
• 59:38clinical service at 34 Park St,
• 59:40in effect to isolate the Division,
• 59:42Social and community
• 59:44aspect from clinical care.
• 59:47He also proposed a new position of
• 59:50psychiatrist and chief to oversee all
• 59:52clinical care and the establishment
• 59:54of a Community relations office.
• 59:57In January 1970,
• 59:58the staff of the Hill West Haven
• 60:00Division sent a memo to Doctor
• 01:00:02Reiser expressing their concern
• 01:00:03about the proposed reorganization.
• 01:00:05Riser shared their memo with
• 01:00:07staff and faculty and sent a copy
• 01:00:10to President Kingman Brewster.
• 01:00:11Doctor Reiser enclosed this note
• 01:00:14to President Brewster saying I've
• 01:00:16underlined the statements that I
• 01:00:18feel point up the major sources of
• 01:00:20serious disagreement, conflict,
• 01:00:21and tension.
• 01:00:22On the left you can see some
• 01:00:24of doctor risers, underlinings,
• 01:00:26and exclamation points.
• 01:00:27It's clear that he didn't
• 01:00:29appreciate the memo,
• 01:00:29although more than 50 years later we
• 01:00:31think it's one of the most compelling
• 01:00:33documents in the CMHC archive.
• 01:00:34Riser particularly did not like
• 01:00:36the suggestions that CMHC should
• 01:00:38address the Community, social,
• 01:00:40economic and institutional problems.
• 01:00:43Nor did he like the idea that
• 01:00:45CMHC should share decision making
• 01:00:46power with the Hill West Haven
• 01:00:48divisions to community boards.
• 01:00:50Tensions were still very high within CMC.
• 01:00:53The crisis of 1969 was winding down.
• 01:00:56But what price had been paid and by whom?
• 01:01:00On January 27th, 1970,
• 01:01:03Doctor Redlich wrote to President
• 01:01:06Brewster's trouble again in psychiatry.
• 01:01:09Evidently, Mr. Harris had accused Dr Reiser
• 01:01:12of hiring an aide who was a police agent.
• 01:01:16Quote This story turned out not to be true,
• 01:01:19Dean Redlich noted,
• 01:01:20but added that something needed to
• 01:01:22change within the CMHC, he wrote.
• 01:01:25Quote many things at the Mental Health
• 01:01:27Center have deteriorated even further.
• 01:01:30There is no discipline and people from
• 01:01:33the community and confused and radical
• 01:01:36staff are doing just about what they
• 01:01:39want in the hill West Haven service.
• 01:01:42And this is a drawing of hospital
• 01:01:45administrators with butterfly Nets
• 01:01:47trying to capture the community based
• 01:01:49staff in the hill West Haven Division.
• 01:01:52And this is from one of the articles
• 01:01:54that appeared in the aftermath
• 01:01:56of the Fred Harris controversy.
• 01:01:58So this is where we'll end
• 01:02:01our story for today.
• 01:02:02Doctor Riser left the CHC
• 01:02:04directorship soon after,
• 01:02:06but remained for years as chair of
• 01:02:08the Yale Department of Psychiatry.
• 01:02:10Dean Redlick left the deanship in 1972
• 01:02:12and retired from Yale five years later.
• 01:02:15Mr.
• 01:02:16Harris,
• 01:02:16after serving for the second time as CHC's
• 01:02:19community advocate for a brief period,
• 01:02:22left New Haven in 1970.
• 01:02:25And As for the hill West Haven division?
• 01:02:28The West Haven Mental Health Clinic
• 01:02:30today remains as home to CMHC's
• 01:02:32Young Adult and child services.
• 01:02:35But the field stations and the vision
• 01:02:38they represented ended long ago.
• 01:02:40As Doctor Selby Jacobs wrote in
• 01:02:42his book Inside Public Psychiatry,
• 01:02:44by 1982,
• 01:02:44with the start of block grants to
• 01:02:47states under President Reagan,
• 01:02:49The Hill West Haven Division
• 01:02:51was folded entirely into CMHC.
• 01:02:53The CMHC lost a division that for
• 01:02:5515 years had provided a vision
• 01:02:57of community mental health and
• 01:02:58had been a key agent of change.
• 01:03:02And in closing, we liked we'd like to
• 01:03:05give the final words to James Baldwin,
• 01:03:07who in 1966 wrote this.
• 01:03:10For history, as nearly no one seems to know,
• 01:03:14is not merely something to be read.
• 01:03:16And it does not refer merely,
• 01:03:18or even principally to the past.
• 01:03:20On the contrary,
• 01:03:21the great forces of history comes from
• 01:03:23the fact that we carry it within us,
• 01:03:25are unconsciously controlled
• 01:03:26by it in many ways,
• 01:03:28and history is literally
• 01:03:29present in all that we do.
• 01:03:31It could scarcely be otherwise,
• 01:03:33since it is to history that we
• 01:03:35owe our frames of reference,
• 01:03:36our identities and our aspirations.
• 01:03:40Thank you for listening.