Brownsville, Brooklyn — Deep Roots, Preserved
For the last decade, Brownsville has been portrayed as a neighborhood with many challenges. Behind its tough exterior is a neighborhood with rich history and stories passed down for generations — preserved in the heart of its community.
Miriam Robertson recalls growing up in a harmonious neighborhood — a former hub of Italian, Irish, Jewish immigrants and people of her African-American heritage. For the past four years, she has protected this history at Brownsville Heritage House. The multicultural center is a place where local children come to study, learn African-American history, and get exhibition tours from neighborhood encyclopedia and Heritage House Executive Director, Ms. Robertson.
The heritage house occupies the second floor of Stone Avenue Library — supposedly the first children’s library in the world. When it first opened its doors in 1914, the library (formerly called Brownsville Children’s Library) enchanted the kids of Brownsville with its Alice in Wonderland-inspired aesthetic. A marble bunny atop the front door is replicated inside the library: the wooden benches have rabbit-head finials. The original fireplace has storybook tiles. The feeling of youth is omnipresent.
“As long as I can remember the library as a youngster, I can remember [the grand opening of] the Brownsville Heritage House,” said 55-year-old Erick Fischer, who grew up in the neighborhood. Many kids, like Fischer, remembered the Heritage House because of its founder, Rosetta “Mother” Gaston. As a scholar of black history and a longtime Brownsville resident, Mother Gaston had a dream to pass her knowledge onto children in the community, so she decided to start a cultural center in her home, with dreams of opening a museum.
“One Halloween when I was in the fifth grade…while everybody else was giving out candy, Mother Gaston was giving out pennies and wisdom,” said Robin Pugh-Perry, born-and-raised in Brownsville. “[She was] a true unsung hero.”
The Brownsville Heritage House opened on March 31, 1981, just one month before Gaston passed away at 96 years old. Shortly after, they renamed the street of the library: Mother Gaston Boulevard.
Upon walking up the chestnut-brown stained wooden staircase leads up to the second floor of the library, one enters a large room of collector’s items, arranged in a timeline fashion. On the left-hand side, there are artifacts from the turn-of-the-century; like a cotton gin and embroidery hoops. There are also pictures of Brownsville in black-and-white, showcasing what the neighborhood looked like when Robertson grew up there.
“People have said we even have the same things as the National Museum of African-American [History and Culture] in D.C.,” Robertson said. “Kids come to visit and learn that the African diaspora is part of all history.”
While the Heritage House does offer Brownsville’s own stories, it showcases a worldwide view — all in one big room. On the right, there are shelves of African artifacts, like murals and flags. A cardboard cutout of President Obama even occupies the corner of the room.
In the back room of the museum, over 100 dolls, like Barbies, Mattel, dolls of porcelain and yarn fill an entire cabinet. Most of them are black, which for their time, makes them especially rare.
Robertson has one artifact stored away for safe keeps: a letter to Mother Gaston from Langston Hughes.
Since Robertson has taken over responsibility of the Brownsville Heritage House, she works to put on weekly and monthly events.
Their ongoing popular event, the Pan African Experience, is held on the first Saturday of every month. The event entails playing games like Mancala and Charades, dancing and sometimes having fashion shows. The Heritage House also hosts a weekly writing workshop every Saturday morning. Currently Robertson is planning her next student tour with a local school in Brownsville, which takes time, considering it’s not easy fitting 60 kids into a small museum.
The Brownsville Heritage House is open seven days per week, and is open for tours upon request. Call 718–385–1111 or email brownsvilleheritagehouse@yahoo.com.
A History of Harmony, then Racial Divide
Brownsville was named after Charles Brown, a Dutch settler in the 1800s. It was mainly farmland until the turn-of-the-century. By the 1930s, tenement housing filled the neighborhood and so did a pouring in of immigrants; mostly Jewish, Italian, and Irish. By the 1950’s, tenements were replaced with public housing because of high-demand.
“When I grew up here, it was up-and-coming people,” Miriam Robertson, Executive Director of Brownsville Heritage House, said.
The Jewish population participated in civil rights movements, protesting segregation in schools and the Jim Crow laws.
“We learned about each other by going to each other’s homes to share a dinner or a board game,” said Stan Schwartz, who grew up as a Jewish kid in Brownsville.
After the infamous teachers strike of 1968, racial tension rose between the Jewish and African-American population of Brownsville, ultimately leading up to the fleet of Jews, and other immigrant groups.
Then the citywide blackout of 1977 hit. A looted, bruised and burned-down Brownsville remained. Landmarks like Loews Pitkin Movie Theatre, and mom-and-pop shops like Slavin and Son’s Fish Market, and Sal & Paul’s Pizzeria were either destroyed or demolished. Brownsville’s diverse history may be somewhat erased, but the stories are not forgotten.
