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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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Judith Lovell
Oral history interview conducted by Alex Kelly
March 04, 2010
Call number: 2010.020.028
0:05 - Moving to Crown Heights and describing family and where they settled
5:29 - High school and commuting there, first job as bookkeeper and meeting husband
7:58 - First date, getting married and becoming a mother
12:28 - Occupations of her husband, herself, her daughter and granddaughter
20:24 - Shifting demographics in neighborhood and recalling a blackout
23:23 - Block parties, block associations, and her local churches
26:38 - Advice to young people and noting change on Franklin Avenue
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Judith Lovell
Judith M. Lovell was born in 1933 and raised in Brooklyn. Her early years were spent living on Putnam Avenue and Decatur Avenue in Brooklyn, and circa 1950, the family home became 1381 Union Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. Lovell commuted to Franklin K. Lane High School, where she majored in bookkeeping. She took her first job as an assistant bookkeeper in Manhattan's garment district. She met her husband, another Crown Heights resident, in 1953. They married at St. Gregory's Church in 1958, and parented two children (Judith C. Lovell is her daughter), living on Lincoln Place. Lovell balanced motherhood with a job as a school crossing guard on Nostrand Avenue. She also went to night school at Brooklyn College to study teaching. Lovell taught at P.S. 138, in a special education setting. At the time of the interview in 2010, she was volunteering as a literacy tutor at Brooklyn Public Library. Lovell and her family are longtime members of the Lincoln Civic Block Association and she attended St. Mark's and St. Gregory's churches.
In the interview, Judith Lovell talks about moving from downtown Brooklyn to the neighborhood of Crown Heights. She cites the addresses of family residences then and in 2010 and recalls growing up in Crown Heights and commuting to her high school outside of the neighborhood. She relates the details of her first job as a bookkeeper, how she met her husband and their wedding. Lovell remembers her time as a school crossing guard on Nostrand Avenue, teaching at P.S. 138 and going to night school at Brooklyn College. She describes her current volunteer work as a literacy tutor at the Eastern Parkway Learning Center of the Brooklyn Public Library. Lovell remarks on the shifting demographics of her neighborhood, recalls a blackout that led to violence, and lists the family's participation in block parties, the Lincoln Civic Block Association, St. Mark's Church and St. Gregory's Church. She notes the change in Franklin Avenue over the years. Interview conducted by Alex Kelly.
Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History includes interview audio and summaries created and collected within the context of a community project undertaken by project director Alex Kelly and Paul J. Robeson High School interns Treverlyn Dehaarte, Ansie Montilus, Monica Parfait, Quanaisha Phillips and Floyya Richardson. These interviewers recorded conversations with forty-three narrators. In addition to the educational experience for the student interns, the oral histories were conducted as life history and community anthropology interviews. Topics of discussion include family and parenting, migration, cultural and racial relations, occupations and business, education and religion, housing and gentrification, civil unrest and reconciliation, and community activism.
Citation
Lovell, Judith, Oral history interview conducted by Alex Kelly, March 04, 2010, Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History collection, 2010.020.028; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Brooklyn College
- Brooklyn Public Library
- Church of St. Mark (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Lincoln Civic Block Association (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Lovell, Judith
- Saint Gregory's Roman Catholic Church (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Topics
- African American neighborhoods
- Crime
- Education
- Gentrification
- Home ownership
- Multiculturalism
- Older people
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Crown Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- Franklin Avenue (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
- Nostrand Avenue (New York, N.Y.)
Finding Aid
Listen to This: Crown Heights Oral History collection