Oral History with JoEllen Eisenman Sgueglia

Oral history recorded for the Bronx African American History Project on January 28, 2021 with JoEllen Eisenman Sgueglia, an artist whose family has lived in the United Workers Cooperative Colony, or the Allerton Coops, since its founding in 1927. In her oral history, JoEllen speaks about her family's revolutionary roots in the former Russian Empire, their labor and other activism in New York City, their time in the Coops, and other aspects of the family's history. She also reminiscences on Reggie Smith, a Black artist in the Coops with whom she shared a dynamic artistic and romantic relationship for many years.

The interviewer is Steven Payne, research librarian and archivist for The Bronx County Historical Society. The Bronx African American History Project is a community-based oral history project of Fordham University and The Bronx County Historical Society.