Oral history interview with Gretchen Jefferson, 2020
Abstract
Gretchen Jefferson discusses the New Life Tabernacle Church's transition to virtual services and reflects on how the city responded to shelters and pantries. Jefferson is a cancer survivor and explains how she navigated the early pandemic as a person who is high-risk. She describes sanitization routines for visitors to her house in the early pandemic, including spraying people with Lysol and asking them to wash their hands while singing "Happy Birthday" twice. She also discusses adapted social activities in the age of social distancing and pandemic pastimes
Church employees; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-; COVID-19 (Disease)--Social Aspects; Epidemics--Social Aspects; Social distancing (Public health); COVID-19 (Disease)--Religious aspects; Pentecostal churches; Church work with the poor--United States; Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.); Jefferson, Gretchen, 1963-
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2020
Physical Description
40 pages
Note (Biographical)
Gretchen Jefferson was born in New York City. She works as an administrative assistant at New Life Tabernacle Church, and was considered an essential worker during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of this interview, her son was about to turn twenty and was also working as an essential worker (delivery driver for Meals on Wheels). Jefferson lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn
Note
Interviewed by Janée Moses on May 13, 2020
Note (Provenance)
Gretchen Jefferson, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023