Themes:
Subjects:
Kathleen Lynne Mercer, Barbara Mouton, Cooley Market, David Mercer, Oakwood Market, Affordable Housing Task Force, Gertrude Wilks, Nairobi Shopping Center, Larry Graves
Date of Creation or Publication:
4/29/2024
Creator
Meda Okelo
Donor
Kathleen Lynne Mercer
Language
English
Copyright Statement:
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Interview of Kathleen Lynne Mercer by Meda Okelo. Topics include: migration with her husband, David Mercer, a Stanford grad student, from Toronto, Canada to Light Tree Apartments in EPA in 1972; culture shock of living in a predominately Black city; working at SRI; buying home in 1974; community in the 1970’s; local businesses and neighbors; getting remarried to Larry Graves; obtaining real estate license in 1980; moving out of EPA in 1990 because of drugs on her street; why drugs changed the community; supporting incorporation; participating in the EPA Affordable Housing Task Force; influencers Barbara Mouton and Gertrude Wilks; impressions of and reasons for the changes to East Palo Alto; and her vision for East Palo Alto.
Collections that feature this oral-history
EPACA Oral History Collection
Oral history interviews conducted by volunteers of the East Palo Alto Community Archive to captur...