In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Radical History Review 81 (2001) 137-151



[Access article in PDF]

Reflections

The Making of a "Practical Radical":
An Interview with Debra E. Bernhardt

Excerpted and edited by Janet Wells Greene

[Figures]

IMAGE LINK= IMAGE LINK= IMAGE LINK= IMAGE LINK=

Before her untimely death in March 2001 at the age of forty-seven, Debra Bernhardt was the head of archival collections at New York University's Tamiment Institute Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. In her more than twenty years of gathering the records and photographs of organizations that represent working people in New York City, Debra also conducted and collected hundreds of oral history interviews with working people and their allies. These interviews constitute an important part of the oral history collections at the Wagner Labon Archives.

When she was diagnosed with cancer in 1998, Debra considered sitting for her own oral history interview. However, she had many other priorities, which she alternated with her cancer treatments. Her book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: A Pictorial History of Working People in New York City, written with her colleague and friend Rachel Bernstein, was published by NYU Press in April 2000. Debra fought hard to continue living her life completely despite her cancer; consequently, she preferred to look ahead, not back.

The following interview was recorded at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City during the last week of her life. It was a gracious and generous act on her part, and one that required an enormous amount of courage and effort. The interview is brief (fewer than four hours of tape) and was recorded over a two-day period. It was interrupted many times by doctors, nurses, treatments, sleep, and visitors. In it, she addresses many audiences. At times she spoke only to me, a colleague and friend of twelve years. At other times, we were joined by a changing roster of friends and relatives, [End Page 137] who had come to visit but who found themselves consigned at times to the status of "audience." For their patience and their willingness to share their last visit, I am grateful.

For their encouragement at all phases of this effort, I am grateful to Jon Bloom, Rachel Bernstein, Adina Back, Ellen Noonan, Pat Logan, and Gail Malmgreen for their help and advice. The transcript and tapes of this interview are in the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.

Debra was known for her ability to honor many points of view. Her work as an archivist reflects this quality. Debra helped foster the Tamiment Library as what has been called the "Switzerland of the Left," where all points of view are welcome, and the Wagner Labor Archives as a repository for documents related to all aspects of working people's lives. During her career she collected the records from groups as varied as Actor's Equity, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Jewish Labor Committee, the Communication Workers of America International Union, the New York State AFL-CIO, and the New York City Building Trades Employers' Association. For the depth and breadth of her work, she was awarded honors from groups as diverse as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Public History Association, and the New York City Central Labor Council.

The edited excerpts below focus on her life before she came to New York in 1979. Debra recalls the many influences in her life that produced her own commitment to creating a better world, and the many people who influenced her efforts to understand the history of working people in America.

In this interview, Debra is characteristically modest. She does not dwell on her own achievements and awards, but instead honors and remembers the people she encountered and the ideas they shared with her as she developed her own unique approach to life. A reflection such as hers reminds us of the importance of our own interactions with young people in our roles as teachers, mentors, colleagues, neighbors, and friends in developing the consciousness of the next generation.

. . . . .

I was born on May 9, 1953--the year the Rosenbergs were put to death--in an...

pdf

Share