Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Dennis Barton, 2015Biographical NoteDennis Barton was born in 1951, and he grew up in the Bronx. He was introduced to drugs in high school and also had his first brushes with the criminal justice system, including four months on Rikers Island. In 1971, he got married. Shortly thereafter, he was shot in a robbery. He and his wife had a daughter before parting ways. In 1974, he met a girlfriend with whom he had a second daughter. During this period, he was working running numbers. By 1978, working at Hunts Point poultry processing plant where he met a girlfriend with whom he had a third daughter in 1984. During the late 1970s, he was shooting cocaine. While high on cocaine and speed, he uncharacteristically turned to robbery and was charged with a felony. He ultimately served time at Sing Sing, Downstate Correctional Facility, and Otisville Correctional Facility. While at Otisville, he obtained his GED and enrolled in a program through Orange County Community College. In 1981, he got educational release to attend Bronx Community College, and he was paroled in 1982. Following the death of a close friend, he broke parole. In 1984, while he was out of prison in working in construction, he was introduced to crack cocaine. Addiction to crack led him to homelessness, and he spent much of the 1980s and 1990s living on the streets in Inwood and the Bronx. In the Bronx, he was part of a community where he was known as Moreno, and he regularly helped supers with maintenance or neighbors with odd jobs. In 1999, he was arrested for selling crack in a sting operation. Faced with incarceration and ready to change his life, he jumped at an opportunity to enter treatment at Bellevue Hospital and live in the Bellevue Men's Shelter. He eventually got housing in an SRO apartment. In 2002, he graduated from the New York Catholic Charities' Education Outreach Program. In 2006, he was ordained as a deacon in in the Middle Collegiate Church of New York. He has helped others through the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing's Speakers Bureau, Panim el Panim, Planned Parenthood, and Love Heals
Scope and ContentsIn this three-session interview, Dennis Barton discusses his life story in a roughly chronological fashion including his youth in the Bronx, his struggles with addiction, his incarceration, and rehabilitation. The first session begins with a discussion of family history. He describes his mother: her roots in South Carolina and participation in the Great Migration, her job in a factory, her work ethic, her social activities, and his respect for her. He describes the influence of his older brother and his death from tuberculosis. He discusses religion in his household and attending Caldwell AME Zion Church, and he muses on his faith. He describes the character of the Bronx in the 1950s-1960s, including activities of his youth such as the Fresh Air Fund summer camp, Boys' Club, and a job at Bernstein's candy store. He also discusses the drug culture of the Bronx in the 1960s, his introduction to heroin, increasing crime, and being stabbed in an attempted bicycle robbery. He discusses attending Roosevelt High School, race relations at the school, the civil rights movement, and early arrests for marijuana and heroin. The latter led to him being incarcerated at Rikers Island, and he describes this experience.
In the second session, Barton largely describes his activities during the 1960s-1980s. He describes his marriage in 1971, getting shot in a robbery and recovery, living between Bronx and Queens, and the birth of his first daughter. He describes various relationships and housing arrangements after his wife left, work running numbers, and the birth of his second daughter. In the late 1970s, he started work at a poultry factory in Hunts Point, and he describes the work there and meeting a girlfriend there. He also describes drug culture at the factory, his use of heroin and cocaine laced with speed, and shooting galleries. Short on money for drugs, he uncharacteristically tried to rob someone, resulting in felony charges. He describes aspects of the ensuing events: being held at the Bronx House of Detention, plea deal strategy, Sing Sing prison, Downstate Correctional Facility, and Otisville Correctional Facility. He describes activities while incarcerated, including firefighting, clerical work, religious studies, obtaining GED, and taking college courses. The session closes with memories of Billy, a close friend who died of AIDS.
The third session largely focuses on Barton's experiences with homelessness in the 1980s-1990s. He describes his introduction to crack cocaine in 1984, the birth of his third daughter, and family dynamics while he was addicted to crack and homeless. He discusses different aspects of homelessness: the dangers, collecting bottles, soup kitchens, and finding discarded food and goods for resale. He describes time spent in a Bronx community where people knew him as Moreno: helping supers clean for money, being allowed to sleep on rooftops, and people who helped him. He shares the story of his mother's funeral. In 1999 he was busted in a sting operation, and he discusses entering treatment at Bellevue Hospital and Men's Shelter. He describes his participation in the New York Catholic Charities' Education Outreach Program. He shares aspects of stabilizing his life including getting a phone and reconnecting with family, involvement with the Speakers Bureau of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, work at Middle Collegiate Church, and his path to housing
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by James Addison. The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York hold a non-exclusive license to enable library activities
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