Interview with Ina Johnson, September 23, 2018

Partial Transcript: So, um, I pushed the record button

Segment Synopsis: Ina Johnson is 97 years old and lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Johnson was born in Havana, Cuba and moved to New York City at the age of three. She lived mostly in Befdord-Stuyvesant, but also in Harlem. In 1943, she got married to a Brooklynite and moved back to Bedford-Stuyvesant. In the 1940s, Bedford-Stuyvesant was a quiet neighborhood, with mostly white homeowners. Johnson's father owned a property on Halsey Street, which he later rented to Johnson and her two siblings. Johnson's neighbors were mostly Caribbean.

Keywords: 1940s; Bed-Stuy; Black homeowners; Caribbean population; Cuba; Halsey Street

Subjects: African American children.; Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.); Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.); Harlem (New York, N.Y.); Havana (Cuba); Home ownership; Neighborhoods; Nineteen forties

Partial Transcript: Can you tell me, um, we mentioned your father, but can you tell me more about your parents

Segment Synopsis: Johnson's mother was from Panama and her father was from Barbados. Her parents met in Panama, where her father was working on the Panama Canal. After they got married, they moved first to Cuba, where Johnson was born, and then to New Orleans, LA, where her sister was born. After Johnson's mother died, her father moved to New York with his three children.

Subjects: Barbados; Children of immigrants; Children, Black; Cuba; Families; Fathers; Havana (Cuba); Immigrants; Mothers; New Orleans (La.); New York (N.Y.); Panama; Panama Canal (Panama); Parents; Single fathers; Widowers

Partial Transcript: And you said your father owned a home

Segment Synopsis: In 1939-1940, Johnson's father was able to buy a property on Halsey by saving money from his job with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and part of the money that his son made for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Keywords: 1930s; Black homeowners; CCC; Halsey Street; Remittances; Saving money; WPA

Subjects: Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.); Great Depression; Great Depression and the New Deal; House buying; Money; Nineteen thirties.; Single fathers; United States. Works Progress Administration (N.Y.)

Partial Transcript: Did you go to school in Brooklyn?

Segment Synopsis: Johnson attended PS 3, an integrated elementary school on Jefferson Avenue in Brooklyn. Later, she moved with her aunt and uncle's and attended high school in Manhattan. At 15, she moved back to Brooklyn, but continued going to school in Manhattan. Johnson talks about her two best friends, Maude and Irene, with whom she would dance lindy hop. When World War II broke out, Johnson - like many young people - moved to Washington, DC to work.

Keywords: Bikes; Biking; Brownsville; Friends; Hancock Street; Jefferson Avenue; Junior High; Lindy Hop; P.S. 003 The Bedford Village; PS 3; PS3; Public School 3; Recess Games; Schoolyard; WW2; WWII; World War 2; World War II; World War Two

Subjects: African American; African American children; Best friends; Bicycles; Children, White; Dance; Dance parties; Elementary schools; Female friendship; Friendship; Harlem (New York, N.Y.); High school; Jump ropes; Lindy (Dance); Outdoor games; Parties; Public schools; Race; School integration; Skating; Washington (D.C.); World War II; Youth and death

Partial Transcript: I'm curious, how did you meet your husband?

Segment Synopsis: After working as a stenographer in Washingston, DC, Johnson moved back to Manhattan. She met her husband, a mechanic, while working as a toolroom worker at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. After getting married, they first lived in Manhattan and then moved to Brooklyn. They had ten children, including two sets of twins.

Keywords: Brooklyn Navy Yard; Dating

Subjects: African American children; Brothers and sisters; Courtship; Families; Marriage; Motherhood; New York Naval Shipyard; Twins

Partial Transcript: Did you find your neighbors to be communal?

Segment Synopsis: Johnson and her family moved to the Marcy Projects, where they were part of a community of families. Initially, they lived in five rooms; later, the Housing Authority combined two apartments into one to make space for their large family.

Keywords: Housing projects; Marcy Projects; NYCHA

Subjects: Apartments.; Families; Marcy Houses (New York, N.Y.); New York City Housing Authority; Public housing

Partial Transcript: And after you left Marcy, where did you move to?

Segment Synopsis: In 1967, Johnson and her husband bought a house on Decatur Street, where she still lives. She had a cabinet that she and her children used to store food to send to her son in Vietnam. She became the secretary of the Block Association.

Keywords: Black homeowners; Block Associations

Subjects: Decatur Street; Families; Home ownership; House buying; Neighbors; Vietnam War, 1961-1975

Partial Transcript: Do you mind if I ask your daughters some questions?

Segment Synopsis: Johnson's daughters talk about growing up in Bed-Stuy. Moving out of the Marcy Projects was a transition for them, because they lost the sense of community they had in the projects.

Keywords: 1970s; 1980s; Bed-Stuy; Bishop McDonnell High School; Brevoort Houses; Brevoort Projects; Community; Friends; Housing Projects

Subjects: Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.); Communities; Families; Fathers; Female friendship; Friendship; High school; Neighborhoods.; Neighbors; Nineteen eighties; Nineteen seventies; Public housing

Partial Transcript: You all have been here for a really long time

Segment Synopsis: Johnson talks about gentrification in Bed-Stuy. Many long-time homeowners sold their houses and moved out. Johnson's daughters remember many light-skinned black people moving out of the neighborhood, before white people started moving in. They reflect on how their mother became a pillar of the community once she joined the Democratic Club.

Keywords: Block Associations; Democratic Club; Displacement; Light-skinned

Subjects: Communities; Gentrification; Neighbors; Our Lady of Good Counsel (Church : New York, N.Y.); Race; Social classes; Whites

Partial Transcript: I wanna go back again to the Seventies, Eighties in Bed-Stuy

Segment Synopsis: Johnson's daughters reflect on the socio-economic differences in their neighborhood. They remember when their mother got mugged while walking home from the subway stop in the Seventies. Johnson talks about the people who lived in the Marcy Projects: they were working class people who respected the buildings and kept them clean.

Keywords: 1970s; Brevoort Houses; Brevoort Projects; Howard Avenue

Subjects: Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District (New York, N.Y.); Crime; Mugging; Nineteen seventies; Working class.

Partial Transcript: I think we had a period where drugs seemed to be a bit of an issue

Segment Synopsis: Johnson's daughter feels like the neighborhood has been steadily improving over time, which made her realize that gentrification had started Bed-Stuy. They reflect on when they noticed that the neighborhood had changed and more white people had moved in.

Keywords: Black Community; Block Parties; Displacement; J Train

Subjects: Communities; Gentrification; Race; Subways; Whites