Karen Flint

Ms. Daisy Stroud was born in Charlotte on October 12, 1921. She grew up on Seventh Street in First Ward and attended the Alexander Street School. Her mother was a teacher and her father worked in the insurance business. She went to Second Ward High School, graduating at the age of 15 in a class of 137 students. Mrs. Stroud has many fond memories of attending Second Ward High School, of the teachers, and of singing in the school’s choral group. She speaks about Brooklyn being an exciting place that was reminiscent of New York’s Harlem. After high school, Mrs. Stroud attended Fayetteville State College and became a teacher. She is the founder of the Daisy Spears and Gerson L. Stroud Foundation, a non-profit organization which provides scholarship funds to deserving students wishing to attend Johnson C. Smith University or Fayetteville State College. Read more…

Mr. Vernon Sawyer was brought in to help lead the urban renewal program in Charlotte’s inner city.Read more…

Mrs. Barbara C. Steele is the daughter of Alice Hart and Buster Crawford. She was born and raised in Charlotte and has lived in only two homes her entire life, her present home and her home in Brooklyn. She is 72 years of age and a retired schoolteacher of thirty years. Mrs. Steele attended Myers Street Elementary School and Second Ward High School. Upon graduation from Second Ward, Mrs. Steele attended Johnson C. Smith and received a Bachelor of Arts degree. She and her husband James have been married for 48 years and have no children of their own. Mrs. Steele spoke fondly of her love for Second Ward High School and briefly mentioned Blue Heaven, as that is where her husband grew up. She then focuses attention to urban renewal and how the citizens felt and what kind of actions they took to speak out against their homes being demolished. Mrs. Steele is an important addition to the project as she gives good insight about the feelings of Brooklyn residents in response to urban renewal and she speaks of her love for the cherished community.Read more…

Mrs. Curtina Simmons was born in 1941, and soon after her family re-located to Brooklyn. As a former Brooklyn resident, Mrs. Simmons has close ties with the community, especially due to her educational upbringing at Myers Street Elementary School and Second Ward High School. Teachers at these schools helped to inspire her, enabling her to eventually become a professor at Johnson C. Smith University. She is able to shed light on certain details of the former Brooklyn community, including its origins and its businesses. Mrs. Simmons is useful in exploring the fabric of the former Brooklyn community, and examining why it was a thriving interdependent black community.Read more…

Ms. Dorothy Shipman grew up in the Brooklyn community and was originally a member of The House of Prayer Church. She joined Friendship Baptist Church in 1946 after she was married. Sister Shipman was very soft-spoken during the group interview but made a definite statement from the start. She recounted, “When you’re talking about Brooklyn, you are really talking about a section that was made up of the ‘have’ and the ‘have nots’.” She related stories of her father working for the theatre and re-selling day-old popcorn at the Lincoln theatre. Sister Shipman was active in the women’s choir and tells of how her husband was active at Friendship as well. Ms. Shipman participated in a small group interview with other members of Friendship Baptist Church.

Ms. Dorothy Shipman is included in the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church Interview