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Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Yvonne Smith
Oral history interview conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel
September 08, 2014
Call number: 2015.011.19
0:00 - Moving to Linden Houses, White flight, and safety concerns
11:23 - Residences growing up, family history, meeting her husband, work
15:06 - Presentation Catholic Church and neighborhood crime
22:47 - Sending children to Catholic school instead of public school
28:02 - White flight and leaving Linden Houses
33:51 - Teenagers, Brownsville projects, mismanagement of Linden Houses, integrated community
42:36 - Decline of integration in Rochdale Village (Queens) and Linden Houses
49:04 - Parenting and raising children
56:22 - Prejudice and community
66:04 - Neighbors and leaving the Linden Houses
72:32 - Moving to Rochdale Village and Mitchell-Lama Housing Program
81:10 - Businesses near the Linden Houses and damage after death of MLK
88:50 - Causes of the decline of Linden Houses and racism
102:53 - Employment problems today
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Yvonne Smith
Yvonne (Nelson) Smith was born in 1944 in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem to African American parents. She would later live in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn and Queens. Smith moved with her husband to the Linden Houses in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1966, where they resided until 1975. She attended Central Commercial High School and worked for the Federal Treasury Department for thirty two years, while her husband worked for the New York Police Department. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Rochdale Village, Queens, New York.
In the interview, Yvonne Smith discusses moving to the Linden Houses in 1966, the decline of the housing development and moving to Rochdale Village in Queens, sending her children to Catholic schools instead of public schools, the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, the decline of integration in the communities where she has resided, parenting, and racism in society. The interview was conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel at Smith's home in Rochdale Village, Queens, New York.
The collection consists of twenty oral history interviews (with nineteen narrators) conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel with residents (past and present) of the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. The interviews were conducted between January 2014 and February 2015. The project was designed to capture the experiences of East New York residents who lived in the neighborhood during the period when families of color (African American, West Indian, and Puerto Rican) moved in and White families moved out, and the resulting decline of services and quality of life that followed. This process began as early as the 1950s and continued through the rest of the twentieth century. Sarita Daftary-Steel is a community organizer who worked for United Community Centers from 2003 to 2013, most of those years as the East New York Farms! Project Director.
Citation
Smith, Yvonne, Oral history interview conducted by Sarita Daftary-Steel, September 08, 2014, Sarita Daftary-Steel collection of East New York oral histories, 2015.011.19; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Linden Houses (Housing complex)
- Smith, Yvonne
Topics
- African Americans
- Catholic schools
- Education
- Parenting
- Public housing
- Race relations
- Racism
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Brownsville (New York, N.Y.)
- East New York (New York, N.Y.)
- Rochdale Village (New York, N.Y.)
Finding Aid
Sarita Daftary-Steel collection of East New York oral histories