Emily F. Keller: Journalist

Freed House to be Cut, Reassembled

    The city will slice an old pioneer farmhouse from the 1890s in half in order to preserve it. The City Council will pay BOLA Architecture and Planning up to $25,000 to cut the city-owned Freed House in half and then move and re-connect it. The company will also build the foundation for the house.

    The council voted to sign a contract with the company at a July 21 meeting. The money will come from a $238,600 fund that was set aside in the 2007-2008 budget for the house’s relocation.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Underground Railroad Came Through Here, Duffield Street Advocates Say

    Joy Chatel (right) and other property owners on Duffield Street are asking the city to cancel plans to demolish their homes for a development, saying the buildings were part of the Underground Railroad that African American slaves traversed to freedom.

    The homes could be seized by eminent domain and turned into an underground parking lot and public open space as part of the Downtown Brooklyn redevelopment plan. City Council Members Letitia James (above) and Charles Barron have joined the preservationists fight, along with the activist organization Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE).

    Chatel says sub-basement structures, described in a press release as “several unexplainable architectural abnormalities in the sub-basements” prove that her building, which is between Willoughby and Fulton streets, was part of the Underground Railroad.

    Published in Courier-Life Publications. Read the story. Read a related story.

Holocaust Survivor Publishes ‘Bitter’ Memories

    Jafa Wallach tells the story of how she survived the Holocaust in the book "Bitter Freedom: Memoirs of a Holocaust Survivor," nearly half a centry after she wrote it. Published in Courier-Life Publications. Read the story.

Duffield Advocates Stick to Underground Railroad Claim

    Brooklyn residents who believe their Duffield Street basements were once part of the Underground Railroad, which African-American slaves traversed to freedom before the Civil War, are asking the city to take another look at their claims. Published in Courier-Life Publications. Read the story.

    View a related story with photos.