Yale Psychiatry Grand Rounds: November 18, 2022

November 18, 2022

Information

"Highlights From the CMHC History Exploration Project"

Lucile Bruce, MFA, Communications Officer, CMHC; Karima Robinson, PhD, Coordinator of Medical and Professional Staff, CMHC; and Keith Calloway, Community Mental Health Fellow, CMHC

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00:00UN I think quote.
00:02it's so relevant that we're
00:04speaking at this at this moment of.
00:07All that's going on in the department
00:09but also in the wider world.
00:11So and I and I did want to just
00:14say thank you for your shout out to
00:17to the staff of the department and
00:19cream and I are both members of it
00:22and have been happy to have this
00:24opportunity to do special project.
00:28So we're really honored to be here
00:31and we appreciate your support.
00:34So Karima is going to do the
00:36first half of our presentation on
00:38urban renewal and Keith and I will
00:40present the second-half on what we
00:43call the CMHC controversy of 1969.
00:45We originally did these two presentations
00:48in longer form earlier this year and
00:51we're leaving out a lot of material today.
00:54We can share the links to the full
00:57presentations in the chat at the end.
00:59Today, our lens is purposefully somewhat
01:01wide and there's a lot more to say.
01:04About CMHC's early history including
01:06its various programs and services,
01:09our history work is continuing.
01:11So please feel free to get in touch if
01:13you have any questions or if you just
01:15want to talk about anything you hear today.
01:18The CMHC history exploration
01:20project is a component of CMHC's
01:23larger anti racism initiative.
01:25So one of the principles of anti racism is
01:28that it's important to know one's history.
01:30Since 2020,
01:31we've been working at CMHC toward
01:34becoming an anti racist organization.
01:36But we aren't the first CMHC people to
01:39struggle with questions about racism.
01:42As CMHC's early history shows,
01:44race and racism were decisive
01:46factors from the beginning.
01:48Staff and faculty today who are
01:51working on anti racism.
01:53Yeah,
01:53that's CMC and in the department
01:55are actually standing on the
01:57shoulders of some of the first people
02:00to walk the corridors of CMHC.
02:02Those people were struggling with many
02:04of the same issues and even at times
02:07using some of the exact same terms.
02:09I think CHC of the 60s embodied the
02:13deep contradictions that still exists
02:15in American Society more generally.
02:18There was great hope for the new
02:20Community Mental Health Center.
02:21Its people were forward-looking,
02:24optimistic, loquacious,
02:25even somewhat innocent,
02:26while at the same time trapped in
02:30historical patterns and assumptions,
02:32stumped by the same problems of structural,
02:35institutional, interpersonal,
02:37and individual racism.
02:39There still vexing us today.
02:42So this has been quite a journey for us
02:44and at times a very emotional one actually,
02:47as we have talked with people and wrestled
02:49with what we've learned in our research.
02:52But fortunately we haven't been alone.
02:54So on behalf of our history team,
02:56I just want to thank Mike Sarniak,
02:58Bob Cole, Maria Oliva,
03:00the restorative CMHC committee,
03:02Marco Ramos, Matt Jacobson,
03:05Crystal Feemster, Ellie Rubin,
03:07Karen Roffman, Daniel Hosang,
03:10Ronald Lewis,
03:11Britt Lewis.
03:12The family of the late Serena Spruel,
03:15the Greater New Haven African American
03:17Historical Society and the New Haven Museum.
03:20And the special shout out
03:22goes to fellow members of
03:23the history exploration project,
03:25Karima and Keith, Melissa Dennis,
03:28Erica Richard and Richard Ewens.
03:31And finally, we've been very deeply grateful
03:34and privileged to speak with some people,
03:38excuse me, whom we interviewed who
03:40were at CMHC in the late 1960s.
03:43Doctor Claude Thomas, Apostle Fred Harris,
03:46John Doctor John Seely,
03:49doctor Howard Zenana and the
03:51first historian of CMHC.
03:53Doctor Selby Jacobs.
03:55So on that note,
03:56I'm going to turn it over to
03:58Karima for the first half.
04:02Thank you, Lucille.
04:03Good morning everyone.
04:05I want to thank John Christow
04:07for the opportunity to
04:08present this material today.
04:10Our committee has been working
04:12hard over the last two years to
04:14mine the archives of CMHC and and
04:16other archives and I really we all
04:19appreciate the opportunity to share
04:21this material with the department today.
04:24I'm gonna share my screen.
04:34That.
04:40OK, can everyone see my screen? Just put
04:44it in your slideshow mode.
04:47OK, perfect. OK, great.
04:50So as Lucille said earlier,
04:53this is just an overview of our
04:55presentation that we did earlier.
04:57So this presentation was actually
04:59given in January of of this year
05:01and this is kind of a summary
05:03of that presentation in January.
05:05So some of it will look familiar,
05:08some of it is abbreviated and
05:09we encourage you to go back to
05:11the YouTube channel and look
05:12at the full presentation.
05:16So I want to start today with just what
05:18was our intention with this project
05:19and our approach to the project.
05:21So we wanted to humanize the
05:23concept of urban renewal.
05:24Urban renewal is certainly not new.
05:26It's been happening for
05:28decades in this country,
05:29and we've been studying it as scholars
05:32in this country for a long time.
05:33But our goal today is to
05:35really humanize that concept.
05:37What did it actually mean to the
05:39people who lived here and were forced
05:41to move to make way for a new city,
05:43essentially.
05:44So we want to work to do that today.
05:47We also want to situate CMHC within the
05:50geographical and social landscape of change.
05:53So we have a rapidly changing
05:55landscape across the city,
05:56and seeing HCC fits into that,
05:58and also a rapidly changing
06:01social landscape in the city of
06:03New Haven and across the country.
06:06CHC opened its doors in 1966,
06:08right in the middle of the
06:11civil rights movement.
06:12Lots of controversy,
06:13controversy about that issue as
06:16well as other issues around race
06:18and and later the war movement.
06:21So CMC sort of comes right in the middle
06:23of all this other things that are happening.
06:25So I wanted to make sure that we sort
06:27of ground ourselves and where we were
06:28and how we fit into this larger landscape.
06:31So I'm doing part one,
06:32which makes urban renewal,
06:34makes it possible for CMHC
06:37to exist at 34 Park St.
06:39There's no other way we could
06:41physically be here and if it weren't
06:43for urban renewal simultaneously,
06:45it is the thing that has impacted our
06:47clients and our community partners
06:49both positively and negatively.
06:51So we'll talk about that as we
06:53interact with our community around us.
06:55We have to know that they have been
06:57impacted by seeing by urban renewal
06:59even if it's decades removed.
07:01Still they are kind of the the
07:03recipients of that legacy of
07:05urban renewal and Part 2,
07:07which Lucille and Keith will
07:08bring to you later.
07:09Examines our early fumbles through
07:12this new and tense relationship
07:14between CHC and the Community,
07:16and that's the larger question I
07:18want people to hold inside them
07:19today as we think about this work,
07:21what is our relation to the to the
07:24Community given this history of
07:26urban renewal and this relocation
07:27of many people across the city?
07:29How do we relate to that community then?
07:31How did we begin that relationship
07:34and what is our relationship
07:36today with our community?
07:38So our methodology for this,
07:39we had a variety of ways
07:41of approaching this work.
07:43We started off with the oral
07:44histories of the displaced,
07:46so we have our guest speakers,
07:48which I'll get into in just a moment,
07:50and we did extensive interviews with them.
07:52We also borrowed some clips from
07:54the New Haven oral History project,
07:56which we played in the original presentation.
07:59So altogether we had a wide
08:00variety of voices that you heard
08:02of different people from different
08:04class backgrounds and
08:05cultural backgrounds talking about
08:07their own personal experience.
08:09Urban renewal in New Haven.
08:11We also had secondary sources
08:12that we read as a community and
08:14talked about and brought that
08:16material into this presentation,
08:17as well as several interviews
08:19with early CMHC faculty.
08:21So all of that was our our
08:23background research or part of it.
08:24We also looked at our CMHC scrapbooks,
08:27which are pretty extensive and very
08:29detailed on this particular period,
08:31and the newsletters.
08:32We also borrowed several photographs
08:35from the New Haven Museum and
08:37we had a chance to look at
08:39several items out of the unit.
08:41Yale University Manuscripts and archives.
08:44And then there's a moment
08:45of experiential learning,
08:46which I will get into in just a minute,
08:48where we sort of got to learn in the
08:50moment as we were doing this work.
08:53So our big things for this portion are
08:56what was New Haven like before urban renewal?
08:59What was Old Oak Street like and old
09:02Dixwell Ave like before urban renewal.
09:05But I'll get into the origins of CHC.
09:07How did this physical space come
09:09to be and what is our legacy
09:11today of urban renewal?
09:15So this is our first guest speaker.
09:16He was with us in January.
09:18He might be on the call today.
09:19I'm not sure. Ronald Lewis,
09:21who was very gracious with his time with us
09:23and we interviewed him several times about
09:26his his lived experience as a young person,
09:28as a child in New Haven,
09:30when the city was going through all
09:32of this change with urban renewal.
09:33So he is a longtime educator
09:35and the New Haven School system,
09:37semi professional tennis player.
09:39He served in our nation's military,
09:41including active duty in Vietnam.
09:43And for us, it's CHC.
09:45He's the proud.
09:46Father of Brett Lewis,
09:47he's who's one of our amazing
09:49social workers at CMHC.
09:50So we're delighted that that
09:52Brit recommended him and it was
09:55great to know him and to include
09:57him in our larger CMC family.
09:59So Serena's rule?
10:02You know, I interviewed her quite a
10:04bit in January and she passed in July.
10:06So this was a big shock for
10:07all of us at CMHC.
10:09And it's a little sad.
10:11It was pretty sudden,
10:12but I am including her in
10:13this presentation today.
10:15She was a huge part of it in January.
10:17So you will see photographs of her,
10:19you'll see video clips of her,
10:21you'll hear her voice.
10:22I don't mean that to be upsetting to anyone.
10:25I want it to be a celebration.
10:27You know, this is part of the
10:28legacy that she left us at CMC,
10:30and I think she would want
10:31us to continue to tell her.
10:32Story so I've included her in that way.
10:34Today she was up here on
10:37recovery support specialist,
10:38a proud mother,
10:39grandmother and great grandmother.
10:41She earned her associates
10:42degree from Gateway Community
10:44College and was a gourmet chef,
10:46a vegetarian chef from the Natural
10:49Natural Gourmet Institute of New York.
10:51So she had a lot of great
10:52accomplishments and she was just
10:53an all around wonderful person and
10:55she added so much value to CNBC.
10:59OK. So this is what Oak Street looked like.
11:01This is a park on Oak Street before
11:04urban renewal, before the demolition and
11:06the the reorganization of this area.
11:08So I just wanted to show a little moment of
11:10what it looks like physically before then.
11:13So the other street neighborhood,
11:14just a little bit of background,
11:16in 19 the 1950s, Oak Street was the most
11:19densely populated neighborhood in New Haven.
11:21It was racially integrated with
11:23African American residents and
11:24Eastern European immigrants.
11:26It was mostly Eastern European
11:28immigrants in this particular area,
11:29with some African American
11:31residents also included.
11:33And again, there was no division.
11:34Everyone sort of kind of mixed
11:36together from different countries
11:37and different cultural backgrounds,
11:39very densely populated.
11:40We had open air markets.
11:42We had mom and pop shops.
11:43Restaurants,
11:43tenements and cultural organizations
11:45in the Oak Street neighborhood.
11:50The demolition began in the late 1950s.
11:53There were 900 households and 250 businesses
11:56that were forced out of the area.
11:59So just think of 900 families had to
12:01move and 250 businesses were closed,
12:04many of them not to ever reopen again.
12:0856% of those households were
12:10white households, and many of them
12:12moved to the nearby suburbs with.
12:14But it's a very different story for
12:17the African American residents.
12:19So I want to play a clip.
12:20This is from the January presentation,
12:22so I'm just going to play.
12:23I think it's about a minute long
12:25so you can hear some of our story.
12:28And I think this is Mr.
12:29Lewis talking about his life.
12:31He used to live on Oak St.
12:34My mother worked at Winchester
12:36where they made the list,
12:37guns and things like that,
12:38and she bring bullets home and what we would
12:41do is my brother a little bit older than me.
12:43It would take the bullets,
12:45put in a big garbage can in the back
12:47of the yard and we would duck the
12:49bullets firing through the trash cans.
12:51And when they weren't doing that,
12:53they were selling rat tails.
12:55The church had put out sort
12:56of a bounty on rat tails.
12:58I think it was $0.25.
13:00That's so many rats were in the
13:01community down on oak tree.
13:03You talked about the small businesses.
13:05I know it's a long time ago and I can't
13:07remember any black small businesses there.
13:09There were businesses there,
13:11but I don't remember any black
13:13store down in that Oak Street area.
13:15Maybe it's just my memory
13:16slipping at the point,
13:17but I'm not sure.
13:20And the rattails, just to explain
13:23to the audience that that was
13:25a form of extermination, right?
13:28Because to get an exterminator and they
13:30asked the children to go and kill the rats,
13:31essentially exterminator,
13:32that wasn't something we knew about that,
13:35which is something where the church
13:36had said to try to get rid of
13:38some of the rats that were there,
13:40you just had to put out a bounty
13:42on them and the bigger kids in the
13:44neighborhood would hit the tails,
13:45turn them in and get the money
13:48and probably go to the movies.
13:50Wow, that's amazing. Amazing.
13:52Thank you for sharing that with us.
13:57My mother worked at winter. OK,
13:59so that was Mr. Lewis talking
14:01about his childhood on Oak Street.
14:03And just you can just hear how terrible
14:06the conditions were for that area,
14:08which was deemed Islam
14:10and was later torn down.
14:1240% of African American households were
14:15assigned to relocation areas across the city.
14:18Many of them once they were assigned,
14:20some of them were reassigned later on
14:23as the project moved through the various
14:25phases of construction and demolition.
14:28But the for the White House,
14:29those many of them were able to
14:31save money and eventually move out
14:33to the suburbs and purchase homes.
14:34So it kind of forced them into
14:38this track of upward mobility.
14:39Whereas African Americans never
14:40quite many of them were not able to
14:43regain that putting in terms of home
14:45ownership and able to eventually
14:47move out of the relocation area.
14:49So they were sort of ended up kind of
14:51stuck in those areas for generations
14:54actually the Hill neighborhood
14:56was overcrowded.
14:57So you had an overcrowded hill neighborhood.
14:59You had people moving from
15:00Oak Street into the hill,
15:01which made it made it worse,
15:03and eventually large public housing projects,
15:06including the Elm Haven projects we're
15:09builds in the Dixwell neighborhood.
15:13So just a little background on old Dixwell.
15:15Dixwell was the 5th Urban
15:17Renewal Project area,
15:18so you had several areas across the city.
15:20Oak Street was first.
15:23Dixwell was 5070% of the
15:26neighborhood was African American.
15:281100 households were relocated.
15:29So on Oak Street we had 900
15:32households relocated on.
15:33In the Dixwell neighborhood we had 1100.
15:3630% of those home units were demolished.
15:40Many families from Oak Street
15:42landed in Dixwell and then some
15:43had to move a second time.
15:45And this is the original Q House,
15:46which is a major,
15:48very important Community Center for
15:50youth and the whole community on Dixwell,
15:53which was also later torn down.
15:57So **** Swell was a cultural hub in New
15:59Haven and for the Northeast region.
16:01You had many famous jazz clubs and jazz
16:06luminaries come through New Haven.
16:08We also had lots of programs like
16:09the dance school was well known
16:11to everyone's child had to go to
16:13the dance school and the annual
16:14recital was a big deal in New Haven.
16:17So there was a lot of culture
16:19that was shared in in old Dixwell.
16:23Is also, you also had small businesses,
16:25you had a vibrant small business economy.
16:28You had 200 businesses that were forced
16:30to close as a result of urban renewal.
16:32So again this also disenfranchised people
16:34lost their homes and also some of them
16:37also lost their small business as well.
16:41This is why this is so important
16:43with the small businesses of Dixwell.
16:45And this quote is from an old newspaper,
16:47but it talks about the Dixwell
16:49neighborhood being the cultural hub
16:52and shopping hub for the neighborhood.
16:54And also, I'll just read the part
16:56of it that says the fact that the
16:58downtown restaurants wouldn't serve
17:00******* wasn't too much of a problem.
17:03Because, and it goes on to talk
17:05about the restaurants that were on
17:06Dix Rd that would serve *******.
17:08So those small businesses and
17:10that cultural space in the Dixwell
17:12neighborhood was very important.
17:14It protected African Americans
17:16from having to go downtown,
17:18where they would shortly face
17:20different forms of racism.
17:21So they could avoid that by by going
17:23to their own cultural centers and
17:26restaurants in the Dixwell Ave neighborhood.
17:29When these are torn down,
17:30people are forced to confront
17:31racism in different ways.
17:33Were forced to go outside of their
17:35neighborhood for their basic needs.
17:36So that's another reason why those
17:38that space and those stores and
17:41that cultural space was so important
17:43to people in that neighborhood.
17:46Many African Americans work at the
17:48Winchester repeating arms factory.
17:50Earlier on in the century it was
17:53it provided jobs for many European
17:56immigrants and later on around the
17:5850s and 60s, many and even the 70s.
18:01Many African Americans who came up
18:03from North Carolina worked at the
18:06Winchester Repeating Arms factory
18:07and many of the workers also lived
18:10in the Dixwell area.
18:12OK, Freddie Fixer parade.
18:13This was a major tradition started
18:16in the 1960s.
18:17It was to a doctor.
18:19Fred Smith wanted people to get
18:20out to the neighborhood and clean
18:22up the neighborhood and take pride
18:23in their neighborhood.
18:24And at the end there was a big party,
18:26like a block party to celebrate.
18:27This became an annual tradition and
18:29a parade that is still a staple of
18:33of the African American community today.
18:35And that went up on Dixwell Ave.
18:38So this is a clip from Mr.
18:40Lewis.
18:43Could scramble,
18:44and that's what it was called,
18:45scramble and they would hurt each other.
18:49Going for these coins and it still
18:52maddens me now to think about
18:55these privileged young white
18:56yalies had the nerve to come into
18:59our neighborhood and throw coins
19:01at the young black kids there.
19:03I was too young at the time to participate,
19:05but my brother and my other brother,
19:07Edward Tio Lewis, would participate,
19:10and he'd get knocked about and beaten
19:11about for a little more than nothing.
19:17Thank you so much, Mr. Lewis.
19:18We've heard, I've heard about that
19:20scramble from other people in New
19:22Haven about being thrown pennies
19:23from the Yale students and the
19:25little kids would run after it,
19:27not realizing how, you know,
19:28some of them not didn't realize
19:30how demeaning it was.
19:31They have enough nerve.
19:32They didn't have enough nerve
19:34to send dollars change.
19:38Thank you so much.
19:40You're welcome. They could swim.
19:43So what are we talking about is the scramble
19:45which was kind of the Yale students sort
19:47of mocking the pretty fixer parades.
19:49You would have our African American
19:52celebration and and pride in our
19:54neighborhood and then you would have
19:56the yellow students would actually
19:57rent a float and ride the float up and
20:00down Dixwell Ave and throw pennies at
20:02the at the African American children.
20:04So this is a a very strong memory for
20:06lots of people people of that generation.
20:08I've heard many of them talk about
20:11the scramble and how.
20:12Degrading it was,
20:12once they got older and were able to
20:14realize what was happening that it was,
20:16it was insulting and it was making a
20:19mockery of the Freddie Fixer parade.
20:22So this is this is a clip from Serena,
20:24who talks about her childhood
20:26being moved from several different
20:27locations across the city.
20:31Way in 1956.
20:35I was around two years old and my
20:37baby brother was six months old.
20:39My father had some kind of
20:42agreement with the City of heaven.
20:45Where they would purchase the properties
20:48of land that they wanted to use for
20:52some future redevelopment development.
20:54Those inhabitants would move out in,
20:58my family would move in,
21:00and we would then stay in the
21:03property until the city of New
21:04Haven was ready to begin working on
21:06that particular renewal project.
21:08It was a way for the properties to remain
21:13occupied and not contribute to blight.
21:16The city didn't have to then worry about
21:19squatters or taking over the property,
21:21either.
21:22Our family would stay in a house,
21:25usually for one to two years at a time.
21:28I did get attached to the house
21:31on 432 Chapel Street.
21:33That was the only place where we
21:35live that was above a business.
21:40The way in 1950.
21:41OK, so I'm sorry.
21:42That was a little jarring for some people.
21:44I know the first time I watched it,
21:46it was a little upsetting.
21:48But again, I think she would want to be
21:50included in this and I think it's a great,
21:51great way to honor her memory.
21:54So that was her talking about her
21:56childhood where her father had
21:57to deal with the city to again,
21:59she had 1211 siblings and her
22:01father was a single dad and had
22:03to provide for his children.
22:04So he had a deal for housing.
22:06He took advantage of urban renewal in a
22:08way and said let's see if we can get.
22:11Housing for free and these empty
22:13spaces until construction starts.
22:15So you would find kind of a loophole
22:17in urban renewal and say I'm going to
22:19house my children in these empty homes
22:20until it's time for construction to start.
22:22So there was a year or two in between
22:25when people had to evacuate the space and
22:28when the construction actually started,
22:30and that's the moment he would step into
22:32this family and house them for years.
22:33So because of that,
22:35she moved quite a bit throughout
22:37her childhood and had lots of
22:40different experiences in New Haven.
22:43So this is a second clip from Serena
22:46Chain link fencing and see
22:48the park on the other,
22:50which was around the corner.
22:51And I absolutely love this
22:53house and I really, really was
22:55devastated when we had to leave it.
22:58But they changed it into Department
23:02of Transportation and you can see
23:04the highway going right through,
23:05right through the back of that building.
23:12This is 111 Winter St This is
23:14behind the Stetson Library in the
23:16parking lot and back of the Stetson
23:19Library on Dixwell Ave and where I'm
23:21standing at is where my house was.
23:23So they for my house down to be
23:26a part of parking lot and back of
23:28the Stetson Library on ****** lab.
23:31And yeah. That's me,
23:34and that's where my house was. Yeah.
23:37So this is not related to the highway at all.
23:40It's just part of the neighborhood.
23:43Was torn down, yeah, right.
23:44Part of the change that they wanted
23:46to make in the in the neighborhood.
23:51The chain link.
23:52Because I just want to go back a second.
23:54So what she was talking about is
23:56this space here behind Dixwell Ave.
23:58This was winter St the street no longer
24:00exists and it's been made into a parking lot.
24:02So this, this brings the point of
24:05urban renewal was to to tear down
24:07these spaces to build the highway.
24:09Right. But you also have spaces
24:10that were just deemed slums and
24:12had nothing to do with the highway,
24:14but we're also torn down.
24:15So where she's standing is would
24:17have been the front door of the home
24:18that she lived in and one of the
24:20homes that she loved as a child.
24:22So it's. It's, you know,
24:23this is a kind of iconic picture
24:25of Serena and also.
24:27Her occupying this now essentially
24:28empty space.
24:29It's a parking lot with very
24:31few vehicles in it.
24:32So it almost sort of begs the question,
24:34what was the point of destroying
24:36that row of houses in that space?
24:38So it's a interesting moment.
24:41We got to talk about how long River
24:43renewal not only impacted the spaces
24:44for the construction of the highway,
24:46but also just other spaces
24:48that were designated as slums.
24:514. OK, so. Hope St CMH sort.
24:56It was born out of this idea
24:58of the Oak St Connector.
25:00So the goal was to have a highway,
25:02a short stretch of Hwy that would
25:04reconfigure the highway system to
25:06connect I91 with I-95 in the heart of
25:08the city by directing traffic to a
25:11downtown shopping and parking district.
25:13Secondary purpose of urban renewal
25:16was to eradicate existing slums,
25:18and that's sort of what Serena
25:19was saying in that earlier clip.
25:21Hundreds of families were removed
25:22to make way for the connector.
25:24We don't have in the hospital and our
25:28medical school campus including CMHC.
25:30So this is a map of what the
25:32neighborhood looked like before
25:34demolition and after construction.
25:36So you can see that this was
25:38very densely populated area,
25:39lots of homes, tenement buildings,
25:41small businesses,
25:42etcetera,
25:42all torn down and to make space
25:44for the highway coming through.
25:48So this is our block, CMHC's block.
25:51You can see here the housing that was
25:53here and some of the small businesses,
25:56you had 114 households that
25:57were forced to move to make way
26:00for CMHC and you had five small
26:02businesses that had to move as well.
26:04So this is what this is a,
26:06I think it's a fire map from 1961 and I
26:09added the names from the phone book of 1960.
26:12So you can actually see the names
26:13of people who lived here and the
26:15names of the businesses of people
26:17who who lived on this city block.
26:21You know, I've highlighted some of
26:23the major small businesses and some
26:25of the major apartment complexes.
26:27You had Howard's cleaning and pressing.
26:29You had Howard's shoe repair.
26:31You had Harry and Bernie's grill,
26:33American window and cleaning,
26:35and a doctor's office.
26:36You also had apartments
26:37and rooming houses here.
26:41So land acquisition,
26:4329 properties were purchased by the state,
26:4614 successfully negotiated with the owners,
26:4915 working were condemned,
26:52but courts were court awards
26:54were higher than the proposed,
26:56than the appraisals.
26:57These had to be renegotiated.
27:00And in the midst of construction you
27:01had one home owner who refused to move,
27:04who continue to haggle over the
27:06price and continue to renegotiate
27:08for a higher price with the state.
27:10So here you see.
27:11Actually the construction site of CMHC
27:13being built and that one homeowner in
27:15the corner who is is still negotiating
27:17with the state for a higher price.
27:20So it suggests also the deep attachment
27:23to the space and the pride and home
27:26ownership that this person refused
27:28to leave until until the bitter end,
27:30until he was able to negotiate something
27:33that he or she thought was fair.
27:36We had a terrible crane accident really
27:38quickly where a crane was toppled.
27:41And nearly killed.
27:42Two people were seriously injured
27:45with this crane crash that it fell
27:48across the length of Oak Street,
27:50which is now like S frontage Rd.
27:54And there was a person who was who was
27:57crushed underneath the crane and had to
27:59be sort of pulled out by first responders.
28:02And so he ended up writing a letter
28:04of thanks to the first responders
28:06who saved his life that day and
28:08we're able to pull him out of the
28:10crane and take it to the hospital.
28:12Once the two men who were on a
28:14scaffolding that was helping to
28:15construct the second floors CHC.
28:17They were also injured, but not seriously.
28:20Or just a little little bit of insight
28:23into the archives that we found.
28:25We also had a tree topping topping
28:27ceremony when the building was complete
28:29and had sort of this is a Scandinavian
28:32tradition and construction to place a
28:34tree and often a flag on the highest
28:36room of the building and have that have
28:38that sort of mounted onto the the building.
28:40It was sort of a a sign of a blessing
28:42of the building and all the people
28:45who would occupy it.
28:46So for those who work here,
28:47the building has been blessed,
28:48everybody, just to let you know.
28:51OK.
28:52So this is before and after.
28:53This is the fire map from 1961,
28:55you see the densely populated block.
28:57Then this is 1965 after
29:00construction where all those homes,
29:02apartment buildings,
29:03businesses have been removed and
29:05we have our building CMHC remains.
29:10And this is opening day.
29:11This is the Department of Psychiatry
29:14faculty opening the doors of CHC in 1966.
29:20OK, so just one more clip
29:22from Ronald, Mr Ronald Lewis.
29:26Freedom. We had clean running water.
29:29We had we had pets.
29:31Reminds me of one story.
29:32I had a dog named Rover,
29:34and because we let our dogs run free
29:36because of the open spaces there,
29:38the dog would come back to the house
29:40running wanted we'd go outside when
29:42he wanted to the maintenance man.
29:44Loved our dog away from us.
29:46What he did was he'd feed
29:48my dog and love my dog.
29:49And I see my dog somewhere down in the park.
29:52And I called him.
29:53I said come here.
29:53Rover and Rover would wag his tail
29:55and he come to me in a loving way.
29:58He'd roll on the ground,
29:59I pet his belly and then he
30:01would go back to this new owner.
30:03And we never tried to get Rover back
30:05because we think the man loved him
30:07and that's all that really matters.
30:09But I had a good experience in rocky
30:10premiere. I went on to the service.
30:14Thank you.
30:14So for you, it's a,
30:16it was a positive experience
30:17moving to Rock You at that time,
30:19away from the raps and living in the store.
30:21I'd say it was a very positive experience.
30:23I understand what you're saying
30:25about the army knowing a lot of
30:26people were pushed out and I don't
30:27know where a lot of them went,
30:29but a lot of people did come
30:31to Rockview and Brookside.
30:32And for a lot of people it was,
30:34it was moving on up and have the
30:37things that we had there that we
30:39really want accustomed to down on oak St.
30:41OK, perfect.
30:43Perfect.
30:43Thank you.
30:45Item.
30:46So this is an interesting point that Mr.
30:48Lewis is bringing up about.
30:49His experience was actually positive,
30:51moving away from the rats,
30:53moving into a much nicer housing situation
30:57where you had lots of green grass.
30:59It was very diverse group of
31:01people from all over the world and
31:03different cultural backgrounds.
31:05And he had the open spaces on the sort
31:07of over by Southern campus in that
31:09area and there were a lot of open
31:11space for him and his friends to play.
31:13So we talked a lot about playing with the
31:15different animals and putting his dog.
31:17Which is a sharp contrast to
31:18what he was doing before,
31:19which was being tasked with
31:21killing the rats on Oak Street.
31:23So for him it was a very positive experience
31:25and for some other people it was to it.
31:27It wasn't all terrible for everyone,
31:28but there for some people I think
31:30it depends on where you landed.
31:32If you landed in rock for you at the time,
31:34you had a good experience.
31:35If you landed in the hill,
31:36you didn't have a good experience
31:38because you experience overcrowding
31:40and probably more rats actually inhale.
31:42So just depends on where
31:44you were relocated to.
31:45So this is the last clip from serving.
31:47It's about 30 seconds.
31:51Kevin Carlile St and I had
31:54just made a new white friend.
31:57And then one day she came to me crying.
32:00And then when I asked her why she said that,
32:03her father said that they had to move away.
32:06And, you know, we had just become friends,
32:09you know, so we both were devastated.
32:11So, and I think, you know,
32:12that was like the beginning of white flight,
32:15you know, at that time in my life and
32:18in the neighborhood and everything.
32:21Most, you know, snowballed after that.
32:26Seven, Carlos OK, so just to
32:29to emphasize Serena's point
32:31again, many of the white households
32:33were able to eventually move out of the
32:36those relocation areas and find housing,
32:38homeownership and housing in the
32:40suburbs and so in a way urban renewal.
32:43Eventually ended up segregating the city.
32:46It didn't maybe intend to do that
32:48necessarily because everyone was moved.
32:49It was more segregated by class,
32:52but it gave, it prompted people,
32:56the white families,
32:56to seek more to try and get ownership of
32:59a home and to move outside of those areas.
33:01So then it became sort of people
33:03of color dominated areas in those
33:05relocation areas and the white
33:07families were able to eventually
33:08move out and move into the suburbs.
33:11So she talked about the white flight also.
33:13I just want to say.
33:14Before I leave this issue of Serena,
33:16she didn't have any photos of her
33:17childhood like Mr. Lewis did.
33:19Mr. Lewis had.
33:19Mr.
33:20Lewis had different photographs
33:21because she moved so many times and
33:23she experienced extreme poverty.
33:25There were no photos left of her
33:27as a as a child.
33:28And so she and I were tasked with
33:31driving across the city to get current
33:33photos of where she used to live.
33:35And so this is part of the bond with
33:37Serena that we had this this whole
33:39Sunday together and we took lots.
33:41So I'll just go back quickly to see
33:43some of the photographs that we had.
33:44So we she shared a lot with me that
33:47particular day about her life,
33:48which was really interesting.
33:49And so the photos you see of about
33:52her story are current photos of what
33:53the space looks like now as opposed
33:55to what it looked like at that point.
33:57So that's kind of the experiential
33:59learning for me,
34:00learning about the city and seeing
34:02the city through the eyes of Serena,
34:05who was a child at the time.
34:06So that was a really interesting
34:08way of of doing this for me.
34:11It was research,
34:12but also building a really
34:13nice friendship between us.
34:16I lived that way.
34:17OK, so this is just I'm finishing up here.
34:20This is the past and the present.
34:21So this is Winchester repeating
34:23arms factory earlier in the century,
34:281950s and earlier.
34:29And then this is Winchester building
34:31today which is now been turned into
34:33really I'm sure expensive condos.
34:35So, so Winchester is still exists
34:37but it's in a different form.
34:39This is the Freddie Fixer parade
34:41in the in the 60s and 70s,
34:44and this is the credit Fixer parade today.
34:45So it still exists.
34:46It had several years where it
34:47didn't happen and then people had
34:49to raise money to bring it back,
34:50but it's still an important tradition
34:53in the Dixwell neighborhood.
34:55This is the old Q House which is a
34:58much loved Community Center in Dixwell
35:00that was eventually torn down again.
35:03Nothing was in its place for about 15 years.
35:05And then this is the brand new Q House
35:07which just which just opened last year.
35:09So that idea of a Community Center in
35:12the Dixwell area has been restored.
35:15And this is, this is ours, this is Sean.
35:17We've seen in 1966 and it's a CMHC today.
35:20So again,
35:21I just want us to think about our
35:23relationship to community as we
35:25continue this conversation and I
35:26want to turn it back over to Lucille.
35:30Thank you so much, Karima,
35:32for providing that really crucial context.
35:36Keith and I are going to just jump right into
35:39civil rights now and the 691969 controversy.
35:42And I just want you to know we're probably
35:44going to go toward the bitter end here today.
35:46And I I, I'm sorry, we're not going
35:48to have a lot of time for questions,
35:50but unless people want to stay on after,
35:53we can definitely be here.
35:54So Umm, so CMHC's birth coincided
35:57with the civil rights movement.
36:01And was made possible by new funding
36:03streams that opened up during civil rights.
36:05During this time in New Haven,
36:07residents of The Hill neighborhood
36:09where CMHC is located,
36:10and you just learned a lot about it,
36:13we're fighting back against the
36:15many forms of injustice they faced.
36:18The Hill Coalition,
36:19what we call today the community,
36:21included primarily black residents,
36:23but also Puerto Ricans and poor whites.
36:26At CMHC,
36:27the staff and faculty both embodied the
36:30progressive activist spirit of the time,
36:32standing in solidarity with the community
36:34and acted in opposition to that.
36:37Community creating walls and
36:39reinforcing boundaries.
36:40They embraced a new vision,
36:42yet they also resisted that vision.
36:45And one of the core issues they wrestled
36:48with was what is CMHC's relationship
36:50with and accountability to the community.
36:53What is community mental health anyway?
36:55Who is it for?
37:02In 1963, a mental health had taken
37:04a giant leap with the passage of
37:07the community Mental Health Act.
37:09This legislation reduced the
37:11patient populations inside asylums
37:13through deinstitutionalization
37:14and made funds available for
37:16community based mental healthcare.
37:18And two years later in 1965,
37:20landmark legislation came with the
37:22passage of Medicare and Medicaid.
37:24And so before Medicare and Medicaid in
37:27the South, black patients and doctors
37:30experience complete medical segregation.
37:32In the north we had de facto segregation,
37:35and due to poverty and racism,
37:36if Black, Puerto Rican and poor people,
37:39poor white people, received any care,
37:41they were treated in charity hospitals,
37:43publicly run hospitals or state asylums
37:45where many people stayed for their lives.
37:48And this picture here shows a
37:49doctor's office in Merigold,
37:51Ms in 1939.
37:53And so suddenly,
37:54with the passage of Medicare and Medicaid,
37:56a huge influx of federal dollars
37:58began to enter the healthcare system
38:00while also creating incentives for
38:03hospitals to desegregate and respond
38:05to respond better to community needs.
38:07This was very important for the
38:09proposed CHC because it meant that the
38:11organization would need to quickly adapt
38:13to the demands of medical civil rights
38:16or risk not receiving federal funds.
38:18And so a quote from the book Medicare and
38:21Medicaid at 50 says Medicare in its essence,
38:23was the gift of the civil rights struggle.
38:26The civil rights movement's gift
38:27forced the racial and economic
38:29segregation of American hospitals.
38:31Desegregation of American hospitals and
38:33American hospitals went from being the
38:36nation's most racially and economically.
38:38Segregated institutions to
38:40its most integrated.
38:42And so now we're going to introduce you
38:44to the two main characters of our story,
38:47Doctor Fritz Redlich and Mr Fred Harris.
38:50Mr.
38:51Harris, today known as Apostle Harris,
38:53was born and grew up in New Haven.
38:55His father was a native new havener.
38:57His mother's family descended to slaves,
38:59left North Carolina during the Great
39:01Migration and resettled in New Haven.
39:03As a young man he was smart,
39:05handsome and, by his own description,
39:07well dressed and a great dancer.
39:09Fred Harris was just being born
39:12when Doctor Frederick Fritz Redlich,
39:13a young psychoanalytic psychiatrist,
39:15left his native Vienna in 1939 following
39:18the annexation of Austria by the Nazis.
39:21And Doctor Redlich had grown up Catholic,
39:23but he learned of his family's Jewish
39:25origins when he was a young adult.
39:27He came to the Yale Psychiatry
39:30Department in 1942,
39:31and he became the chair in 1960.
39:34Fred Harris, meanwhile,
39:35he grew up in New Haven and settled
39:38in the hill with his young family.
39:40In 1965,
39:40when he and his wife discovered that
39:42their children's elementary school had
39:44no toilet paper, they took action.
39:46They got a group of parents together,
39:48protested, and eventually won.
39:50The Hill Parents Association,
39:52a legendary activist group in New Haven,
39:54was born, and its members chose Mr.
39:56Harris as their leader.
39:58The Hill Parents Association picked up,
40:00fixed up a neighborhood park,
40:02opened a summer camp for kids,
40:04started a freedom school,
40:05raised money,
40:06and most of all, they spoke out when they
40:09decided to go to the welfare commissioners.
40:11Was in Hartford to protest the
40:13welfare departments disrespect
40:14towards people in the community. Mr.
40:16Harris, along with his fellow protesters were
40:19violently beaten by police and by 1967 Mr.
40:22Harris was locked in a pitch
40:24battle with New Haven mayors,
40:26with the New Haven Mayor ****
40:27Lees and his city government.
40:30The Hill Parents Association had
40:32exposed the lie of Lee's quote
40:35Model City and Lee was furious.
40:37He'll activists jumped aboard tour buses
40:39and redirected them around the city.
40:41Going towards the wreckage of urban renewal.
40:48By now, it's well documented that the
40:51police were sowing discord and confusion in
40:54active and activist communities nationwide.
40:57An escalation of violence began in
41:001967 with the outbreak of rebellions
41:02in black and brown communities
41:04across the US and law enforcement's
41:07increasingly militarized response.
41:08This was just one year after CMHC opened.
41:13Here in New Haven on August 19th,
41:161967 when a white restaurant
41:18owner shot a Puerto Rican man
41:20who came toward him with a knife,
41:22a four day rebellion broke out in the hill.
41:25The state declared martial law in the
41:27hill and state police were sent in,
41:29much to the disgust of Mr.
41:31Harris and others.
41:32And here you can see if you
41:34headlines from the Hill rebellion.
41:41Buses left from CMHC to take women
41:44and children to the suburbs.
41:52And then on April 14, I'm sorry,
41:55April 4th, 1968, Doctor Martin
41:57Luther King Junior was assassinated.
42:00The next day, a memorial service for
42:02Doctor King was held in the CHC Auditorium.
42:05And just two months later,
42:06Robert F Kennedy was assassinated.
42:09It was a very, very violent time.
42:12So at this point,
42:13you might be imagining that CMHC staff
42:16and patients looked in those days like
42:18the diverse CMHC community of today.
42:20But in the 1960s,
42:22CMHC was a heavily white institution,
42:25attracting mostly white patients into care.
42:28And here again,
42:29you see the Yale Department of
42:32Psychiatry photo of CMHC faculty
42:34and staff with Rachel Robinson,
42:36the first director of nursing
42:38and one of CMHC's only black
42:40leaders on the left hand side.
42:42The front row.
42:45And we know from this and other photos
42:47that the staff was overwhelmingly white.
42:49We looked at census information and we
42:51saw that the the New Haven population had
42:54actually shifted during the 50s and 60s,
42:56with a growing black population or
42:59burgeoning Puerto Rican population
43:01and declining numbers of white people
43:03due to white flight to the suburbs.
43:06So in 1966 in terms of race.
43:09The heavily white composition of CMC
43:12faculty and staff at this point really
43:15didn't reflect the community it served.
43:17So this is a report of
43:21the 1st 100 days of CMHC.
43:2420% of patients were seen were
43:27young people ages 16 to 20.
43:29And during that window of time,
43:3120% of patients were adolescents
43:34ages 16 to 20.
43:35Overall,
43:3686% of patients were white,
43:39only 14% were black and there is no
43:42reference to Puerto Rican patients.
43:45So by 1969,
43:46the demographics had slightly shifted.
43:49And CMHC knew that it had a problem.
43:52It was working to diversify its
43:54patient population and its workforce,
43:56especially in the hill West Haven Division.
44:02CMHC's largest service was
44:04the Hill West Haven Division.
44:06It was headquartered on the
44:075th floor of 34 Park St,
44:09and it was separate from CMHC's
44:11General Clinical service and
44:13different for a couple of reasons.
44:15It serves 2 geographical areas,
44:17the Hill neighborhood and
44:19also the town of West Haven,
44:20offering clinical services,
44:22community organizing,
44:23research and training.
44:25And importantly,
44:25the division partnered with
44:27two community advisory boards,
44:29The Hill Health Board and the Community
44:31Services Association of West Haven.
44:34And so the hill West Haven Division is
44:36where CMHC's most activist community
44:38oriented staff members worked.
44:40And it was federally funded and
44:42brought in extra state dollars
44:44through required matching funds.
44:46And so this chart shows that in 1969,
44:50the division accounted for 61% of
44:52grant funding awarded to the center
44:56and 20% of CMHC's overall budget.
45:04This next chart shows in green
45:06that the hall West Haven Division
45:08employed the largest number of staff
45:10of any unit at CMHC with 118 people,
45:13or 27% of the total staff. Let's CMHC.
45:17And then here you can see a breakdown
45:19of different staff positions within
45:21the Hill West Haven Division in 1969,
45:23with the largest group being
45:25mental health workers and AIDS,
45:27second largest being nurses.
45:29Nurses and tied for third are social
45:32workers and psychiatrists with 11 each.
45:35And in 1969,
45:36the hill West Haven Division won
45:38its second grant in part to support
45:41the creation of field stations
45:43in the Hill and West Haven.
45:45And so in West Haven,
45:46the field station was located in
45:48the First Congregational Church,
45:50which is shown here.
45:53And in the hill, the Hill Field
45:55station was based in the newly
45:58established Field Hill Health Center.
46:00And by embedding themselves in
46:02the neighborhoods, the staff,
46:04they were really able to meet the
46:07Community people literally where they were.
46:09And the hill West Haven Division saw mental
46:11health as being connected to social problems.
46:14And we're to address both.
46:17And so still at this point.
46:22CMT's relationship with the hill explicit,
46:23especially with the black community,
46:25was mixed.
46:27Community members complained about,
46:29quote, red tape. At CMHC.
46:31There was a huge concern about drugs
46:33across all communities in the region,
46:35and CMHC struggled to meet
46:37the demand for drug treatment.
46:39Mr.
46:39Harris himself felt that the staff
46:41didn't know how to interact with people
46:43from the neighborhood and community.
46:44People wanted jobs.
46:45They felt that the center should contribute
46:47to the neighborhood economy through hiring,
46:49and that it should have staff
46:50members who were part of the.
46:51Community.
46:52Many staff and faculty also
46:53cared about these issues as well,
46:55and the division responded to these
46:58employment concerns by creating
46:59a robust training and employment
47:01program that launched in 1969.
47:03Jobs available as CMC gets funds,
47:07read a headline in the crow,
47:09which was new heaven's African
47:11American newspaper at the time.
47:14And this photo shows the house where
47:16the hill West Haven Division Training
47:18Center was located at 122 Davenport Ave,
47:20just down the street from
47:22Yale New Haven Hospital.
47:25Perhaps in a sincere effort
47:28to be more community minded,
47:30perhaps as a public relations move,
47:32or perhaps it was both, on April 10th 1969,
47:36Doctor Gerald Clareman,
47:38the new CMHC director,
47:39announced the appointment of Fred Harris,
47:42a special assistant to the director of CMHC.
47:45In this press release,
47:47Doctor Clareman acknowledged season CHC's
47:49concern over its relationship with, quote,
47:53the Black and the poor of New Haven.
47:56And he explained that he was hiring Mr.
47:58Harris to help CHC become a more
48:01meaningful and useful institution
48:03to the New Haven community.
48:05He acknowledged that this
48:06would not be an easy process.
48:08And he stated, quote, we are aware that Mr.
48:12Harris, as one of the most militant and
48:15outspoken leaders of the black community,
48:17is a controversial person.
48:18That is one reason why we hired him.
48:22His evaluations of our practices
48:23here in the center have been.
48:26And will doubtless continue to be
48:28painful and upsetting, but useful to us.
48:33So Mr. Harris accepted the position,
48:35he said,
48:36because he wanted to try making
48:39change from within.
48:40He began A6 month contract at CMHC and
48:43the news was reported in the press.
48:49So just a few weeks later,
48:51an unfortunate episode occurred at CMHC.
48:54Mr. Harris and the Hill Board had
48:56worked out an agreement whereby
48:57the CMHC would accept young people
48:59in need of drug treatment. Mr.
49:01Harris told us that he would simply
49:03walk these young people into the
49:05center where they'd be cared for.
49:07On April 24th, 1969,
49:08police entered CMHC in search of a
49:11teenage patient who was receiving drug
49:13treatment and they who they were to arrest.
49:16Doctor Clareman was at a conference
49:19in Washington and the hospital
49:21administrator faced a decision.
49:23He called the state attorney
49:24general's office who advised him to
49:26allow the police to arrest the man.
49:28They did arrest the patient inside
49:31CMHC and charged him with two counts
49:34of possession and sale of drugs.
49:36Everyone at CMHC was very upset over this.
49:39Doctors, staff,
49:40community members and the news
49:42also hit the press.
49:44And here we would like to play for
49:46you the the first of two audio clips.
49:48By the 1st audio clip of a by actors
49:51from CMHC Theater group comprised of
49:53people in recovery who are reading
49:56aloud primary source documents.
49:58So listen to the voices of
50:00leadership expressed their outrage
50:02over the patients arrest.
50:05Excerpts from drug patients arrest angers,
50:07doctors here, April 1969.
50:11Commissioner Wilford, Bloomberg.
50:13It seems to me to be elemental medicine
50:17that a patient not be moved from a hospital.
50:21When medical judgment decides that
50:23the patient is too sick to be moved.
50:27Dean Fritz. Relic.
50:30Tradiction cannot be solved
50:32by primitive procedures.
50:34Drug addicts are sick people and need
50:37skilled treatment and education,
50:40and we have abilitation.
50:42To interfere with such treatment and
50:45replace it with jailing
50:47of drug addicts without any
50:50communication with the therapist
50:52is a most unfortunate act.
50:57Joint statement by Doctor Relic
51:00Dr Liz at CMC Executive Committee
51:03under arrest of Jimmy Jones at CMHC.
51:06We wish to protest such disruption of
51:09therapy and interference with CMHC's
51:11efforts to cooperate with the serious
51:13and intensive efforts of the hill
51:15community to combat the addiction problem.
51:21And after the patients arrest,
51:23150 protesters occupied a recently closed
51:26City Hospital building to dramatize the
51:29need for a narcotics facility quote,
51:32where people could receive drug treatment.
51:3522 people were arrested and later
51:37found guilty of trespassing,
51:38and we cross checked their names against an
51:40internal list of Hill West Haven Division
51:42staff members and discovered that Mr.
51:44Harris, plus four Hill West
51:46Haven Division staff members,
51:48two mental health aides,
51:49one nurse and one psychiatry
51:52resident were one were among those
51:54who were arrested at the protest.
51:56So what was Mr Harris's experience
51:59like in the CHC? CHC gave Mr.
52:02Harris an uneasy feeling.
52:03He was cynical about the
52:05organization's mission,
52:06which he saw as being mostly self-serving.
52:09Mr.
52:09Harris was deliberately provocative
52:11in the workplace,
52:12and in the short clip from our
52:14interview with him that we had last May,
52:16he offers a few vivid details.
52:21It was crazy.
52:24And I treated them like that, too.
52:26I bring my German shepherd to to work
52:28with me. I'd come with no shirt.
52:32I'd come with my hair.
52:34I had big axle wire hanging on my ear,
52:38warping, no shoes. But I
52:41get to work. Hmm.
52:43That either either they were afraid
52:45of me or they thought I was crazy.
52:48But I would get the work done.
52:50The projects that that they were doing,
52:53that I was involved in, they were done.
52:56You know, and they were able to
52:58be utilized to make them look
53:00good and and make it look like,
53:02look like they're doing all this
53:03for the community and all that.
53:07Some of them were doing
53:09their best they could.
53:11But they weren't knowledgeable of
53:12the people they were working with,
53:15and they weren't aware of
53:17the political influence.
53:22Despite the challenges, Mr.
53:23Harris continued his work with the CMHC
53:26and the Hill Health Board to help
53:28determine how CMHC would provide
53:29services and what the nature of its
53:32relationship to the Community would be.
53:35On September 2nd, 1969,
53:38a private meeting took place between Mr.
53:41Harris, members of the Hill Health Board,
53:43and doctor Fritz Redlich,
53:44who was now the Dean of Yale Medical School.
53:48Doctor Clareman, who hired Fred Harris,
53:50had left CMC, and a new CMHC
53:53director in Psychiatry Department
53:55chair doctor Mort Reiser had begun.
53:58We don't exactly know what
53:59the meeting between Mr.
54:00Harris, the Hill representatives
54:02and Doctor Redlich was about.
54:04There's a reference to problems with
54:06the treatment of a black patient at CMHC
54:08and mention of the communities demand to
54:11have more power in in determining care.
54:13Mr.
54:13Harris said they were asking Dean
54:15Redlick to sign an agreement with the
54:18community and that Redlich repeatedly
54:19held up his pen as if he were going to sign.
54:22But then you didn't sign for Mr.
54:25Harris.
54:25Dr Redlich's attitude was condescending.
54:28He didn't understand why Redlick
54:30wouldn't sign the agreement and
54:32felt his community was being used.
54:33He told us that in his anger and frustration,
54:36as was reported in the papers,
54:38he put his hands on Dean
54:40Redlick's neck as if to choke him.
54:44A joint statement from Redlick
54:46and Riser aligns with Mr Harris's
54:49description of what happened.
54:51They wrote quote when Dean Redlich
54:53was requested to sign a statement,
54:55he asked for 24 hours to
54:57consider the statement,
54:58declaring that he would not sign documents
55:00or act in an atmosphere of direct coercion.
55:03And interestingly, in our interview with Mr.
55:06Harris, this is like,
55:07you know, 50 years later,
55:08he told us that he later learned that
55:11the experience had reminded Doctor
55:13Redlich of being interrogated by the
55:16Nazis in Austria in the 1930s. But Mr.
55:19Harris said that as a young man,
55:21he didn't know or understand
55:23anything about this,
55:24and that Doctor Redlich had
55:26not mentioned it to him.
55:28Frederick and Riser stated that due to
55:30Mr Harris's actions in the meeting,
55:32which they said violated HR rules,
55:35they would not renew his six
55:37month contract with CMHC.
55:39The state also declined to hire Mr.
55:42Harris.
55:45This situation hit the newspapers and
55:47thus began a round of public protest that
55:50demonstrated widespread support for Mr.
55:53Harris. And one article printed Mr Harris's
55:56list of community complaints about CMHC,
55:59which I will read right now
56:00in the interest of time.
56:02So the complaints are as follows.
56:04The staff is not responsive to Black and
56:06Puerto Rican people and the inpatient units.
56:08There are not enough black people accepted
56:10for treatment in the mental Health Center.
56:11Too many black and Puerto Rican
56:13people are sent to the Connecticut.
56:14The hospital CMC does not deal with
56:16the majority of problems presented by
56:18poor black and Puerto Rican people.
56:20No Spanish speaking spat staff,
56:22not enough community staff,
56:24poor training of professionals who
56:25need to understand urban problems,
56:27research problems undertaking with
56:29patients without informing patients,
56:31not enough fully trained people
56:33seeing the white, poor,
56:34black and Puerto Rican people.
56:36And lastly,
56:36the Community has no official voice in
56:38the setting of the priorities of the
56:40CMHC and so in a large meeting with
56:43members of the Community doctor Riser.
56:45The new CMC director reiterated that
56:47although he would not rehire Mr.
56:49Harris,
56:49he wanted to work with the Community to
56:51hire the representative of their choosing,
56:54and in turn, the community chose Fred Harris.
56:57And then the negotiations stalled again.
56:59For two months,
57:00there was a great deal of publicity,
57:02mostly unfavorable to Yale and CMHC,
57:04and multiple emergency meetings were called.
57:07Throughout all of this,
57:09doctor Redlich and Doctor Reiser were
57:11communicating with Yale President
57:12Kingman Brewster about the negotiation
57:14over the rehiring of Fred Harris.
57:16Brewster stated in a letter to
57:18doctor Riser that the university is
57:20quote first and foremost in academic
57:22institution quote and that he did not
57:25want the university to fall quote to
57:27second rate academic quality quote by
57:30shifting its focus to community concerns.
57:33He urged Doctor Roger to find a
57:35balance between service teaching.
57:37Had to research.
57:41So inside the CMHC,
57:43many staff members were upset and
57:45questioned CMHC's values and commitments.
57:48On October 16th, Doctor Reiser held a center
57:52wide staff meeting that became very tense,
57:54with doctors and others asking
57:56pointed questions about Fred Harris,
57:58the controversy, and the relationship
58:00between CMHC and the community.
58:02From the transcript we have of this meeting,
58:05we can tell that it was long and difficult.
58:07During one especially heated exchange,
58:10Doctor Reiser asked a doctor are
58:12you calling me a racist or what?
58:15Clearly something needed to give.
58:18A few weeks later,
58:19CMHC reached an agreement to rehire Mr.
58:21Harris as Community advocate.
58:23They worked out a deal whereby Mr.
58:25Harris would be rehired not by CMHC or Yale,
58:29but by 7 together,
58:32a collective organization representing
58:347 inner city neighborhoods.
58:37So this deal left a lot of
58:40people with mixed feelings.
58:42One doctor stated that the
58:43controversy had left, quote,
58:45psychological scarring on both sides.
58:48And you can see here the quote
58:50Doctor Riser was quoted as saying.
58:52We consider this agreement an
58:54important breakthrough in the whole
58:55area of Community involvement
58:57with the treatment facility.
58:58But in contrast,
59:00missus Patricia Galliot,
59:02the secretary treasurer of seven together,
59:04said the whole process shows the kind of
59:07institutional racism that exists at the CMHC.
59:10They don't really care about the community
59:12and they don't want Freddie there either.
59:14But we made them take him.
59:15Freddy's just going to have to
59:17be on his toes.
59:18All the time.
59:21Unfortunately, things didn't calm down
59:23for the hill West Haven Division staff.
59:26In December 1969,
59:27Doctor Reiser wrote a proposal for the
59:30reorganization of services at CMHC.
59:33He proposed moving clinical
59:34services out of the Hill West Haven
59:36Division into the in-house general
59:38clinical service at 34 Park St,
59:40in effect to isolate the Division,
59:42Social and community
59:44aspect from clinical care.
59:47He also proposed a new position of
59:50psychiatrist and chief to oversee all
59:52clinical care and the establishment
59:54of a Community relations office.
59:57In January 1970,
59:58the staff of the Hill West Haven
60:00Division sent a memo to Doctor
01:00:02Reiser expressing their concern
01:00:03about the proposed reorganization.
01:00:05Riser shared their memo with
01:00:07staff and faculty and sent a copy
01:00:10to President Kingman Brewster.
01:00:11Doctor Reiser enclosed this note
01:00:14to President Brewster saying I've
01:00:16underlined the statements that I
01:00:18feel point up the major sources of
01:00:20serious disagreement, conflict,
01:00:21and tension.
01:00:22On the left you can see some
01:00:24of doctor risers, underlinings,
01:00:26and exclamation points.
01:00:27It's clear that he didn't
01:00:29appreciate the memo,
01:00:29although more than 50 years later we
01:00:31think it's one of the most compelling
01:00:33documents in the CMHC archive.
01:00:34Riser particularly did not like
01:00:36the suggestions that CMHC should
01:00:38address the Community, social,
01:00:40economic and institutional problems.
01:00:43Nor did he like the idea that
01:00:45CMHC should share decision making
01:00:46power with the Hill West Haven
01:00:48divisions to community boards.
01:00:50Tensions were still very high within CMC.
01:00:53The crisis of 1969 was winding down.
01:00:56But what price had been paid and by whom?
01:01:00On January 27th, 1970,
01:01:03Doctor Redlich wrote to President
01:01:06Brewster's trouble again in psychiatry.
01:01:09Evidently, Mr. Harris had accused Dr Reiser
01:01:12of hiring an aide who was a police agent.
01:01:16Quote This story turned out not to be true,
01:01:19Dean Redlich noted,
01:01:20but added that something needed to
01:01:22change within the CMHC, he wrote.
01:01:25Quote many things at the Mental Health
01:01:27Center have deteriorated even further.
01:01:30There is no discipline and people from
01:01:33the community and confused and radical
01:01:36staff are doing just about what they
01:01:39want in the hill West Haven service.
01:01:42And this is a drawing of hospital
01:01:45administrators with butterfly Nets
01:01:47trying to capture the community based
01:01:49staff in the hill West Haven Division.
01:01:52And this is from one of the articles
01:01:54that appeared in the aftermath
01:01:56of the Fred Harris controversy.
01:01:58So this is where we'll end
01:02:01our story for today.
01:02:02Doctor Riser left the CHC
01:02:04directorship soon after,
01:02:06but remained for years as chair of
01:02:08the Yale Department of Psychiatry.
01:02:10Dean Redlick left the deanship in 1972
01:02:12and retired from Yale five years later.
01:02:15Mr.
01:02:16Harris,
01:02:16after serving for the second time as CHC's
01:02:19community advocate for a brief period,
01:02:22left New Haven in 1970.
01:02:25And As for the hill West Haven division?
01:02:28The West Haven Mental Health Clinic
01:02:30today remains as home to CMHC's
01:02:32Young Adult and child services.
01:02:35But the field stations and the vision
01:02:38they represented ended long ago.
01:02:40As Doctor Selby Jacobs wrote in
01:02:42his book Inside Public Psychiatry,
01:02:44by 1982,
01:02:44with the start of block grants to
01:02:47states under President Reagan,
01:02:49The Hill West Haven Division
01:02:51was folded entirely into CMHC.
01:02:53The CMHC lost a division that for
01:02:5515 years had provided a vision
01:02:57of community mental health and
01:02:58had been a key agent of change.
01:03:02And in closing, we liked we'd like to
01:03:05give the final words to James Baldwin,
01:03:07who in 1966 wrote this.
01:03:10For history, as nearly no one seems to know,
01:03:14is not merely something to be read.
01:03:16And it does not refer merely,
01:03:18or even principally to the past.
01:03:20On the contrary,
01:03:21the great forces of history comes from
01:03:23the fact that we carry it within us,
01:03:25are unconsciously controlled
01:03:26by it in many ways,
01:03:28and history is literally
01:03:29present in all that we do.
01:03:31It could scarcely be otherwise,
01:03:33since it is to history that we
01:03:35owe our frames of reference,
01:03:36our identities and our aspirations.
01:03:40Thank you for listening.