Madeline Castellano

Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Madeline Castellano

Madeline Rotondo Castellano was born in Brooklyn in 1927. She was raised in the Fort Greene, Canarsie, and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Later, she resided in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. In her earliest years, she lived in a home that included three generations of her Italian American family. Castellano's childhood was spent running chores for family, seeing friends in Fort Greene Park, and attending school. While still a young girl, she was permanently injured in a hit-and-run incident. It left her without the full use of her legs. Castellano was one of seven siblings. She married, raised a daughter, and later divorced. After working in jobs at movie theaters and a shop, she became an advocate for improved social services for the physically challenged. In her late fifties, she returned to school at Adelphi University and held a long-term bookkeeping position with Citibank. As of 2009, she was residing at an assisted living facility in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn.

In the interview, Madeline Rontondo Castellano shares anecdotes that reflect her way of life in the Brooklyn of the Great Depression, Second World War, and post-war eras. She also formulates that society's issues of the 2000s grew out of those earlier periods. The three-generation family unit in which she grew up in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn is illustrated in vignettes about her running errands, taking part in Sunday dinners, and entertaining visiting neighbors. Castellano also discusses her times of taking responsibility for herself as a little girl and teenager, with Fort Greene Park, area social clubs, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard as backdrops. She recalls her family history and Italian heritage. In several segments throughout the interview, Castellano relates the story of her injury by hit-and-run driver at age nine, being hospitalized, then treated differently in school, and later in life becoming an advocate for those with physical disabilities. In the final half-hour, Castellano looks at her adult life as a mother and wife, and how she ended her marriage on her terms. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan.

The Voices of Brooklyn oral histories: Our neighbors series features a broad range of narrators. Most are not well-known public figures but are well-known to their neighbors. This ongoing, extensive series focuses on Brooklyn history and the experiences of these narrators document national and international history as well. The interviews include people from diverse backgrounds making observations or sharing recollections about the growth and condition of several neighborhoods within Brooklyn. Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, and Fort Greene were heavily represented as of 2017. The oldest narrator in this collection was born in 1927.

Citation

Castellano, Madeline, Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan, May 12, 2009, Voices of Brooklyn oral histories: Our neighbors, 2008.031.5.002; Brooklyn Historical Society.