This was a terrific portrait of Bob Humber leader of Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition (formerly RCCR, now SaraRPCC).
This is a history about Bob Humber of Sara Roosevelt Park. Written for the Tenement Museum with Oral history interviews of Bob Humber by Jason Eisner.
Along the western edge of the Lower East Side, bound by Chrystie and Forsyth Streets there currently stands a seven block stretch of open park space. Surrounded by a fence in the very heart of that park, between Delancey and Rivington Streets, a lush community garden rises up from the surrounding brick and cement. And on most fair-weather days, beside the gate sits an older African American man with watchful knowing eyes look out from under the visor of a Yankees baseball cap. The name of the park is Sara Delano Roosevelt, the name of the garden is M’Finda Kalunga, and the name of the man is Robert Humber- though he is known far and wide as Bob. From the garden gate Bob spends his time catching up with friends, making arrangements to attend community meetings, offering food and clothes to the homeless of Lower East Side, and listening to (alongside sharing) on-going concerns about the Park. Bob’s roots as an activist stretch back nearly 50 years. Indeed, he was the catalyst for both creating M’Finda Kalunga Garden and transforming Sarah D.
