In the first session, Akemi Kazadi talks about attending Lehman College, the store where she worked shutting down due to the pandemic, and her experience with giving birth and becoming a parent. She also discusses her experience with the Black Lives Matter movement and hopes for a more reasonable work culture after the pandemic. In the second session, Kazadi discusses her family's plans to leave Ne w York City for Congo or the South. Following up on themes from the first session, she is still furloughed from her job, but about to finish college, and her husband is about to begin teaching middle school in-person again. She is engaging politically through social media and connecting deeply with family
College students; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-; COVID-19 (Disease)--Social Aspects; Epidemics--Social Aspects; Social distancing (Public health); Social distancing (Public health) and education; Work-life balance; Jewelry stores; Black lives matter movement; United States Race relations 21st century; Kazadi, Akemi, 1992-
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
78 pages
Note (Biographical)
At the time of this interview, Akemi Kazadi was a senior at Lehman College and sales manager at a Times Square jewelry store. Akemi was born in Okinawa, Japan and lived around the United States as a youth, as her military family moved about. She lives in the Bronx
Note
Interviewed by Amy Starecheski on June 30 and September 29, 2020
Note (Provenance)
Akemi Kazadi, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023