by Kelsey Shea

The Saturday Light Brigade radio program and Northside community members celebrated the release of Crossing Fences, a neighborhood-based oral project, last night at Café and Creamery in Brightwood.

The project had African American men and boys in the Northside, as well as Beltzhover and McKeesport, record oral histories of their neighborhoods by interviewing prominent figures in their communities.

Completed oral histories include interviews with prominent local educators, mentors, business owners, veterans, musicians, religious figures, artists and public service professionals.

Interviewees included: Curtiss Porter, Chancellor of Penn State Greater Allegheny; Austin Davis, executive assistant to County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; Joe Kennedy, founder and CEO of Riverbends, Keith Giles, CEO of First Step Recovery Homes, Inc., sculptor Thad Mosely, Richard Carrington, executive director of Voices Against Violence; Kashif Henderson, history teacher at Brashear High School, Ocie Page, president of the NAACP’s McKeesport Chapter, and many others.

Click here to hear the interviews and completed project. A city wide celebration will be held November 20^th at the August Wilson Center Downtown.