Elmer Evans, Kaitlyn Greenidge

Description

Elmer Evans was born in Laurens, South Carolina in 1938 and came to New York City in 1956. Two aunts were already living at the Field Houses, a housing complex for the working poor, when Ms. Evans moved to New York. She lived with them until urban renewal and the creation of Lincoln Center tore down the complex. Elmer Evans worked for a cosmetics factory, first in Manhattan and then in Freeport, NJ. In 1981, she moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant and purchased a brownstone on Arlington Place. She has been a member of her block association and the Brooklyn Brownstoners for over twenty years. She belongs to the Friendship Baptist Church in Brooklyn. In 2005, she worked on the election campaign of Civil Court Judge Geraldine Pickett. In this interview, Evans describes her childhood in South Carolina. Her father was first a farmer and later a janitor, and Evans grew up in a small town. She describes her impressions of life in the urban North versus life in the rural South. She also discusses gardening in Bedford-Stuyvesant and her perspectives on neighborhood gentrification in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Record Contributed By

Weeksville Heritage Center