Mr. Charles Jones was born in Chester, South Carolina in 1937. His family moved to the Biddleville neighborhood of Charlotte when he was young and he has remained in the area since. He received his Bachelors from Johnson C. Smith University in 1958 and his law degree from Howard University in 1966. During the sixties, Mr. Jones was involved with the NAACP, helping to orchestrate various sit ins at Charlotte lunch counters. He now practices law, an occupation he has held for thirty years. Mr. Jones recalls various times he spent as a young man in Brooklyn, visiting such places as the Lincoln Theatre and Second Ward High School. He also has many fond memories of various individuals and groups who lived in and around the old neighborhood.Read more…

Ms. Ida James was born and raised in the Brooklyn community of Charlotte. She attended both Myers Street Elementary and Second Ward High Schools. She attended Friendship Missionary Baptist Church from an early age and became a member with her family at age eleven. Ms. James was a member of the Usher Board of the church where she was in close contact with Reverend Kerry. She maintained close friendships with this group. She feels the church’s move from Brooklyn allowed her to be appreciative of the things she has, and she tried to instill this in her children so that they would not overlook their many blessings. Ms. James participated in a group interview with other members of Friendship Baptist Church.Read more…

Mr. Wright Hunter lived in Brooklyn until the age of nine years old, but continued to attend the schools in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Mr. Hunter discussed many fond memories of the different areas around Brooklyn, such as the Cherry neighborhood and Third Ward. Most interesting is a story he tells about a tragedy in the Brooklyn neighborhood involving the drowning of several children. Mr. Hunter also talks extensively about losing his home to Urban Renewal and the settlement after the Federal Government became involved. Mr. Hunter participated in a group interview with other alumni of Second Ward.

Mr. Wright Hunter is included of the Second Ward Alumni Interview.

Johnny Holloway, born in Durham, NC, relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina after finishing both his time in the US Army and graduate school. He was instrumental in bringing both Jazz appreciation and marching band orchestration to West Charlotte High School. A thorough participant in the 1950’s Charlotte jazz scene, he brought that same appreciation to the High Schools in which he taught. Many of the Jazz instrumentalists that dealt with him on a professional basis agreed to perform in Charlotte area high Schools. This brought about an educated core of band members that marked superior performance in Charlotte area bands throughout Mr. Holloway’s tenure.Read more…

Ms. Bettye Golden Holloway was born in the Cherry neighborhood of Charlotte in 1933, and remained there for seven years before moving to the Brooklyn neighborhood in 1940. After a move to Maryland in the early forties, Mrs. Holloway’s family returned to Brooklyn, where she attended Second Ward High School and took part in several of the many extracurricular activities that the school offered to its students. Mrs. Holloway cites the close-knit community spirit of Brooklyn as its greatest strength as she remembers growing up in the neighborhood. This sense of community extended from the teachers and administrators at Second Ward High School to her neighbors and the families of her friends, and bound all of the residents together. This conversation with Mrs. Holloway also includes illuminating information about the Queen City Classic, the Brevard Street library and various businesses and personalities that survive in the memories of former Brooklyn residents. Read more…