Oral history interview with Nellie Bailey, 2016

Biographical Note

Nellie Hester Bailey, originally from Chicago, moved to New York City in 1968. She married Bruce Bailey, a housing activist and head of the Columbia Tenants' Union. She had her first son in 1975, and they moved into the Blennerhasset in 1976. They had a second son in 1979. The Baileys bought her apartment in the 1970s, when Blennerhasset tenants banded together to purchase the building from its landlords. Bruce was murdered in 1989. While the case remains unsolved, a slumlord remains a prime suspect. Bailey sold her apartment in the Blennerhasset in 2016

Scope and Contents

Nellie Bailey starts the interview on Blennerhasset apartments by describing her arrival at the apartments. She then reflects on Columbia University's involvement in the Morningside Heights neighborhood since the 1940s. She notes a planned campus expansion, displacement of residents, and the university's general approach of a FIRE economy (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate). She briefly mentions activities of the Columbia Tenants' Union. Bailey then describes the Blennerhasset tenants' activities to save the building as a co-op and purchase it from the landlord. Bailey recalls that many people of color who could not afford to buy into the co-op left the building. She describes financial and community aspects of maintaining the building; her husband saw to the boiler. She elaborates on life in the building, describing many personalities and families who lived in the Blennerhasset apartments over time. Bailey concludes by describing changes to the neighborhood and building residents from poor, people of color and families to white, more well-to-do tenants, and and she discusses her decision to sell her apartment and leave Blennerhasset

Subjects

• Bailey, Nellie--Interviews.
• Columbia University--History.
• Gentrification--United States--20th century.
• Home ownership--Social aspects.
• Interviews.
• Morningside Heights (New York, N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.
• Morningside Heights (New York, N.Y.)--History.
• New York (N.Y.)--History.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Phillips, Tom, interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2018