Skip to main content Skip to main navigation
Center for Brooklyn History Finding Aids
Guide to the Sarita Daftary-Steel collection of East New York oral histories 2015.011

Brown, Johanna, 2014 March 16, inclusive

Scope and Contents

In the interview, Johanna Brown discusses moving to a predominantly Jewish section of the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, White flight and the decline of services in the area, racism and resistance to integrating public schools, interracial friendships, life at the Linden Houses and Starrett City, United Community Centers, the devastating effect of drugs on the community, the rise of crime and violence (including the murder of a school friend), and the effect of gentrification on the future of the neighborhood. The interview was conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel at Brown's home in East New York.

Approximately twelve minutes of the interview has been removed for privacy reasons.

Biographical note

Johanna Brown was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1954. Her father was an African American who was born in Georgia, raised in Philadelphia, and moved to New York after serving in World War II. Her mother was the daughter of African immigrants from Cape Verde. In 1960, her family moved from the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn to Ashford Street in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. The family later moved to the Linden Houses, and finally to the Starrett City (Spring Creek) section of the neighborhood, where she continues to live with her son (as of 2015). She attended PS 108, Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School for Girls, and Thomas Jefferson High School, and now works for the New York City Transit Authority.

Subjects

Organizations

People

Topics

Places

Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
https://bklynlibrary.org/cbh