In Remembrance of Dr. Albert Vann

Dr. Albert Vann, a legendary figure in the annals of Brooklyn community politics and activism starting in the 1960’s, passed on July 15, 2022. For three decades, photographer Barry L. Mason and writer/community activist Bernice Elizabeth Green, former CBS executives, covered community-based activities and grassroots events outside the corporate world. Over the past two decades, Dr. Vann appeared in many of the activities photographed and captured in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Shared here are images taken at two recent memorials hosted by the former NYS Assemblyman and NYC Councilman’s family and core circle of friends. The tributes were held, respectively, at institutions the Hon. Vann established in his home neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant: a semi-private event on Friday, August 12 at Boys & Girls High School, and on Saturday, August 13 a public community celebration at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. Mason, a special assignments photographer for Our Time Press, the community newspaper co-founded by Ms. Green with her husband David Greaves, gifted the images to the Vann family in response to Dr. Vann’s specific “Call to Action” for his friends and family to continue the quest to empower, inform and enlighten the community. (BG)