Acknowledgments

Website developers:

Tania Dean (she/her) is a freelancer from Central New York. Her interests include history, writing, and art. Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/tania-dean

Yahkeef Davis (he/him/his) is a software engineer, community organizer and jewelry designer. He loves working on meaningful projects that work towards improving the material conditions for marginalized people. During the project, he led the technical development and focused on programming the Mapbox integration.

Benesemon Simmons, Tania Dean, and Torian Clarke assisted with searching non-digitized, 500-page property record books by hand at the county clerk’s office.

Benesemon, Tania, Michelle Manos, Chris Kelly, David Dubos, and Kevin Sexton read over commentary, gave advice, made contributions, asked the right questions, or entertained and supported the project.

Andre Ortega, Jonnell Robinson, and Matt Huber offered support, direction, and encouragement for the project in various ways.

This project received $3,000 through the Mark Monmonier Graduate Student Research Award. The funding compensated website developers and allows for hosting the site independently.

This site memorializes two family members of web developer Tania Dean:

Gladys Juanita Smith, who passed away in February 2023, lived and worked in Syracuse most of her life. A community activist with public housing, she was a member of the James Geddes Tenant Association. She served four terms as chair with the Citywide Council of Syracuse Low Income Housing Residents. She was a member of Tucker Missionary Baptist Church. She advocated for the halt of sewage treatment plants in oppressed neighborhoods and was involved in community organizations on the Westside. She is remembered as an advocate for the people.

Mildred Alexander, Gladys’ mother and Tania’s great aunt, was born in Siluria, Alabama in the 1920s. She came to Syracuse as part of the Great Migration and became a homeowner on Midland Ave. She worked as a poll watcher. She was a matriarch, and her house was where everyone would meet when they visited.