St. Catharine Academy celebrates Black History Month
(L-r) Cyndee Welburn Rafferty, Brenda Lilienthal Welburn ’67, Alone Lilienthal, and Marsha Lilienthal Boddie
’63. Photo courtesy of St. Catharine Academy
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M BTR ARCH 8-14, 2019 71
BY SANDI LUSK
There has been a lot of controversy
about the proposed
affordable housing projects
slated for Lot 6, next to St. Peter’s
Cemetery. We have written
about this in our last column,
and here is a follow-up to
help clarify the issue.
To-date the Ad Hoc Committee
for the Preservation
of the Friends Cemetery in
Westchester Square, who, for
the record, consists of Dorothy
Krynicki, associate director,
Advocacy, Westchester
Square-Zerega Improvement
Organization, Woody
Brundage, associate director,
Children’s Programming,
Westchester Square-Zerega
Improvement Organization,
Inc; the East Bronx History Forum
board members: Richard
Vitacco, president, Tom Vasti,
vice president and treasurer,
Thomas X. Casey, secretary,
Nilka Martell, marketing/
community affairs liaison,
Jorge Santiago, archivist, Anthony
Pisciotta, Aavisor; and
the Huntington Free Library
and Reading Room: board
members: Thomas X. Casey,
president, Richard Vitacco,
Tom Vasti, Anthony Pisciotta,
Jorge Santiago; Waterbury La-
Salle Community Association;
Pelham Bay Taxpayers Association,
has reached out to
the City and State Landmark
Preservation Commissions for
a site visit and clarifi cation of
the Lot 6 landmark boundary,
the Historic Districts Council,
and has done research on our
own.
Our research turned up a
1976 NYC LPC map showing
part of Lot 6 as being landmarked,
3 mid-19th century
maps clearly showing the build
area to be a Friend’s Cemetery,
and photos showing a recent
mausoleum and possible cemetery
boundary marker in the
build area. The LPC response
so far has been unhelpful, but
we are hoping for a meeting
with them.
Last week this paper ran
an article with a headline:
St. Peter’s: No Bodies Found.
This stems from the claims of
lawyers hired by St. Peter’s
church who stated that they
have evidence that there are
no remains from test borings
and/or radar. At the end of the
above article, the lawyers mentioned
that they will do an independent
archeological survey
before construction begins, so
it doesn’t seem as if they know
for sure who may or may not be
buried there. And herein lies
the crux of the matter. We had
previously asked the LPC for
just such a survey to be done of
the entire Lot 6, because that is
the only way to know what remains/
artifacts are there. We
believe that there are important
historical remains there,
but this needs to be confi rmed
objectively. There are other
reasons why this project is inappropriate
for the location,
among them it’s massive scale,
its proximity to the also historically
landmarked St. Peter’s
churchyard, the impact it will
have on the community (an additional
1,000?) people and
the homeowners in the immediate
area. I have written about
this before, so will not go into
depth here.
Now, worst case scenario:
Construction begins and the
excavations reveal it is indeed
an historical cemetery. There
has been erroneous information
circulating about this too,
so I thought I would quote from
documents that we turned up
in our research.
From: the State Historic
Preservation Offi ce/NYS Offi
ce of Parks, Recreation and
Historic Preservation Human
Remains Discovery Protocol:
• At all times human remains
must be treated with the
utmost dignity and respect.
Should human remains be encountered
work in the general
area of the discovery will stop
immediately and the location
will be immediately secured
and protected from damage
and disturbance.
• Human remains or associated
artifacts will be left in
place and not disturbed. No
skeletal remains or materials
associated with the remains
will be collected or removed
until appropriate consultation
has taken place and a plan of
action has been developed.
• If human remains are determined
to be non-Native
American, the remains will
be left in place and protected
from further disturbance until
a plan for their avoidance
or removal and reburial can
be generated. Please note that
avoidance is the preferred
choice of the SHPO.
Consultation with the
SHPO and other appropriate
parties will be required to determine
a plan of action.
We hope it does not come to
this, and that is the goal of our
committee.
Now a word about the
Blondell Commons project.
This was unanimously approved
by the City Planning
Commission; no surprise
there. Next step is a hearing
and vote by the City Council.
Suffi ce to say, this will go
through no doubt, despite community
concerns. To be clear:
we are not against affordable
housing, which is sorely
needed in this city. In fact
there are already numerous affordable
housing buildings in
the community. (Did you know
that? Well, maybe not, because
they look like any other apartment
buildings in the neighborhood
for the most part, except
for the Blondell Commons
and proposed St. Peter’s projects,
which are both on a massive
scale totally out of context
with their surroundings, but, I
digress.)
Which leads me to this:
Why? Why do we fi ght City
Hall?
Multiple millions of dollars
of taxpayers’ money will
be spent on these two projects.
These have been true David
and Goliath situations. Do we
know the odds are not in our
favor? That the powers that be
are for these projects? Yes we
know. But the city has to see
that the community is watching,
that some will speak up.
We have been called windmill
tilters. Yes, we are proud to
be windmill tilters, because it
means that despite the odds,
we stand up for what we believe
in. And always will.
TTFN
Marsha Lilienthal Boddie
graduated from St. Catharine
Academy in 1963, the only African
American in her class.
Her sister, Brenda, graduated
in 1967, also the only African
American in her class. On
February 20, 2019, Marsha
and Brenda returned to St.
Catharine Academy as part of
the celebration of Black History
Month to speak to the entire
and very diverse student
body.
They did not come alone.
Four generations of the Lilienthal
family attended including
Brenda and Marsha’s
mother, Alone Lilienthal, age
96; Cyndee Welburn Rafferty,
daughter of Brenda and granddaughter
of Alone; and Leo
Henry Rafferty, age 5 months,
grandson of Brenda and great
grandson of Alone.
Brenda and Marsha returned
to share their search
for their family history which
is descended from slavery, and
to encourage SCA students to
research their family histories.
They recounted that
much of their written and pic-
torial family history was lost
in a fi re, but through DNA
testing discovered that they
are descended from a person
of the Bamilike people, now
Cameroon in West Africa,
brought to the United States
as part of the slave trade. The
family refers to this person
as the “Unknown Ancestor”.
Brenda and Marsha’s greatgreat
grandfather, Laverne
“Fox” McElmurray, was born
enslaved in Virginia and sold
to a slave master in Georgia.
After emancipation in 1865
he was the fi rst person in the
family to vote in 1867.
Anxious to preserve the
family history in a way that
records context and what really
happened to their ancestors,
Brenda authored a triology,
“The Time Travels of
Annie Sesstry.” The fi rst book
was published in April 2018.
“Black History Month is
very personal to me,” Brenda
says. “Having the opportunity
to return to St. Catharine
Academy after so many years
to present a little of my family’s
story and the history of
our people was a stirring experience.
To share the experience
with my sister, while my
mother and daughter were in
the audience made it all the
more special.” Marsha added,
“I was so touched by the warm
welcome I received on my return
to SCA. I was delighted
that Brenda and I were asked
to share the story of our family
with the students, and honored
by their response to our
story. The education that we
received from the Sisters of
Mercy is a big part of why I
am a woman of deep faith and
boundless curiosity.”