Brownsville Heritage House Inc.

Brownsville History

Before the 1700s, the first people of what is now Brownsville were the Native American Lenape tribe, colonized by the Dutch then forcibly removed by the British in the 1800’s. Russians, Italians, and Polish people occupied Brownsville before the Jewish working-class people populated the neighborhood in the 1930s. During the exodus of the Great Migration from the South, Brownsville was populated by African-Americans. The Black population continued to grow well into the 1950s as they fled from the Jim Crow South. During the late 1960’s and 70’s, an influx of Puerto-Rican and other Caribbean families joined the community.

Brownsville was often left out of community development opportunities by corporations and government systems until the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s and 70’s. America and the entire globe learned of Brownsville’s fight for equality during the first New York City Teachers Strike in 1968. Community control had been granted to Brownsville by Mayor Lindsey, to which the predominantly white teachers union objected.

Parents and pious community leaders fought for the integration of schools in the face of boycotting teachers who organized to remove the new and first Black superintendent and principal. These events impacted many parents and inspired a surge of community activists like our founder, Rosetta Gaston, to dream of founding BHH as a space for the community to intergenerationally learn and support each other through creativity.

The Founder

Rosetta Gaston is the founder and visionary of Brownsville Heritage House Inc. Although small in stature, she had a big vision for an educational and cultural center for young and old that would spark individual and community achievements by focusing on a common heritage.

Mother Gaston, as she was affectionately known, realized early on that the one element missing in our community was the knowledge of our culture. She decided to do something about it. In 1969 she started the Children's Cultural Corner out of her home, where she taught young minds about their culture and history. This laid the foundation for the Brownsville Heritage House.

Our Beginnings

The second-floor space above the Stone Avenue Branch Library was acquired with the help of U.S. Congressmen Edolphus Towns and Major Owens, a former Stone Ave Branch librarian. It was the fruition of a 50-year dream. Mother Gaston, at age 96, passed a month before BHH opened its doors in March 1981.

Moving forward, BHH continued as an extension of the community, a place that provides a platform for the arts, entertainment, culture, and a resource to enhance life choices. While promoting historical significance that aligns 21st-century history with today's technology, we want BHH always to be a beacon paving the way for future generations.