The Brownsville Historic Survey is an ongoing project and this website was created to present draft work products. Please let us know what you think!
Share Your Memories About Brownsville!
Oral history is a method of conducting historical research through recorded interviews between a narrator with personal experience of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of adding to the historical record. In November 2020, Dr. Enid Pinkney organized a series of oral history interviews with Dr. Shedrick Boren of Florida International University Honors College. Together they connected students with Brownsville community members and created around 20 oral histories.
Trained staff from Plusurbia will be conducting additional oral history interviews with Brownsville community members from February 2022 through November 2022. Interviews may be conducted in person or virtually via Zoom, and will be recorded.
Plusurbia staff will create a written transcript of the interview, which will be shared with the Historic Hampton House and The Black Archives. Information from the oral history interviews may be used in the Brownsville Historic Survey report, and the interview may be published on the Brownsville Historic Survey website.
Historical Perspectives of Brownsville, c.1993
By Dr. Enid Pinkney
Click here to see the Video
In the early 1990s Dr. Enid Pinkney brought attention to Brownsville’s history through a twelve-part series of televised interviews on Miami local channel 17, titled “Historical Perspectives on Brownsville.” Individuals interviewed on her program included Brownsville residents such as State Representative James Bush III, Dr. Dorothy Fields, founder of the Black Archives, and William Sawyer Jr., son of Dr. William Sawyer, a prominent Black doctor and real estate developer. Individuals interviewed on her program had first-hand accounts of life in Brownsville dating back to the 1930s.
Sign up for an Oral History Interview
If you would like to sign up for an oral history interview, please email us at historicbrownsvillesurvey@plusurbia.com. A staff member will contact you to schedule the interview.
