Kayah Payton

This interview was conducted with Kayah Payton at the office of Promise Neighborhood in Hudson, New York the morning of July 1, 2017.  Kayah was born and raised in Hudson and is currently an Americorps worker at Promise Neighborhood, an educational support program for at-risk youth.  She has lived in Hudson most of her life, departing for college in Alabama, and later living in Albany, New York for eight years before returning to Hudson two years ago.  Kayah discusses the changes that she has noted in Hudson especially since her return, including the lack of affordable housing and food. She talks about what it was like to grow up in Hudson, her experiences in the public schools, and her relationships with her mother and her grandmother. Kayah has worked with children most of her life, as an educator and child-care worker, and she reflects on that experience, the difficulties children and their parents face today, and issues of school discipline and curriculum. She also discusses national and local politics, including voter apathy. She was a resident of the high-rise (Bliss Tower) as a child and as an adult and briefly reflects on that experience, as well.

This interview would be of interest to those concerned with the experiences of African Americans in Hudson over the past forty years; changing patterns of racial and ethnic diversity in Hudson; public education, including school discipline; public housing in Hudson; impacts of gentrification; social justice efforts in Hudson; and foodways.