Growing Up Kingsborough

By Carrol Arnold

Growing up Kingsborough (KB) is a non-fictional work that chronicles the early lives of a few former residents who grew up in a Brooklyn, New York Public Housing Project – The Kingsborough Houses. Told from a first-person perspective of the author and friends, the work focuses on two decades – the mid-1960s and 1970s – and the impact the two decades had on our young lives. Beginning with the 1965 first-grade picture, the project ties together our conversations, pictures, and reflections of our adolescent and teenage lives shared during four reunions that took place between 2016 through 2019.  The ten book chapters unfold a lifetime of friendship, how we re-connected again, our KB history and Bedford Stuyvesant community, adolescence and young adulthood love, classic R&B music, visiting KB, how we socialized in a project community, and where we are now. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carrol Arnold
• Release date: Dec 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223431756

Carrol Arnold

Carrol E. Arnold was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in the thriving black community of Bedford Stuyvesant. As a young adult, drawn to African American short stories and autobiographies she left New York after graduating from Pace University with a B.A. in English Literature to attend graduate school.  She completed her dissertation in 2001, "Oral Narratives of African American Women's Experience of Church, Culture and Community in Brooklyn, New York.   Growing Up Kingsborough is her first book project. Ms. Arnold can be contacted at [e-mail].

Book preview

Growing Up Kingsborough

Cooper, G. Photographer. 2023. Book cover photo, Kingsborough 3rd walk Block Party, with friends, Coachman, R., and others. Circa 1971-1973. Personal Picture. Permission granted by author for use as the book cover and in book, Growing Up Kingsborough.

By Carrol E. Arnold

GROWING UP KINGSBOROUGH

Copyright © 2023 by Carrol E. Arnold

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

For permission requests, contact Ms. Arnold at

[e-mail].

For privacy reasons, some names, locations, and dates may have been changed.

Book Cover and Editorial by Kianna Alexander

[e-mail]

Cover Image by Glen Cooper

First edition 2023

This work is dedicated to all our friends who grew up in the Kingsborough Houses

from the front to the back.

Introduction

What happens when a group of childhood friends raised in a Brooklyn, New York City Housing Project during the 1960s and 1970s reunite after a 45+ year absence?!  You can’t imagine how wonderful it was to discover that the same familiar ties of our youth resurfaced and bonded us instantly. Between the four reunions that took place from 2016 – 2020, we recaptured the people, culture, music, and community memories of what it was like to grow up in the tightly knitted Black community of the Kingsborough Houses in Brooklyn, New York. Every time we met; the same sentiment remained.

Despite everything we went through, we had the best time growing up in Kingsborough.  We would not have traded this experience for anything in the world.

Acknowledgments

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,

Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope...Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you...

(NIV) Jeremiah 29-11-13

Thank you Lord for your divine order and wisdom with this project.

It is still unimaginable that my childhood friends and I have reconnected after a 45+ year absence. Linda, you know our reconnection would not have happened without you. You searched for us all and never gave up. We love you girl.

To my beloved KB family: Francella, Charlie (Red), Linda, Ronald, George, Kevin, Cynthia, Mark, Ann, Jackie, June Darlene, Billy, Harry, Marsha, Sylvia, Peter (Dooney), DeWayne, Gregory, Michael (Mikey), etc. Thank you so much for your encouragement, instant messenger notes, interviews, zoom calls, pictures and support. As said often at our gatherings, the pictures drive the work.

My thanks to Ms. Millie Molina, Director, NYCHA Media and Images, and the Legal offices of the New York City Housing Authority. They patiently answered my e-mails for information regarding the images and representation of the Kingsborough Houses.

Like many writers, the hardest part is putting in writing the ideas and organizing of a work. To my former co-worker, Terri Hutchinson, who listened to me go on and on about this project. As calmly as she could, she would give me the look, and say, I need you to write an outline! Thank you, Terri for your encouragement and support.

Last but not least, finding an editor is one of the most challenging aspects of any writing project. As soon as I heard her speak at a 2023 writing conference, and had my first consultation, I knew I had struck gold. Thank you, Kianna Alexander, for your professionalism, and belief in this project.

Glossary

Boroughs

The five administrative divisions of New York City (NYC), was created and consolidated in 1898. All five boroughs elect their own borough president, and each borough contains a county: Manhattan (New York County), the Bronx (Bronx County), Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens (Queens County), and Staten Island (Richmond County).

The Kingsborough Houses (KB). Located in North Brooklyn, in the neighborhood of Crown Heights (formerly in the neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant) KB is a New York City Housing Authority Complex.

The middle.

A walkway that runs through the center of the KB housing complex. Each walk is anchored by 4-8 buildings. The middle begins with the second walk (after the wall) and ends with the sixth walk (Ralph Ave).

New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)

Public Housing properties are often referred as the projects. While an outdated negative reference, the word projects refers to housing occupied by low to moderate income residents.

Stoop

An architectural feature credited to 17th century  New York Dutch Settlers, a stoop is a stairway  attached to a platform that leads to the entrance of  a building. In KB, each building contains  a stoop that functioned back in the day, as a social gathering spot for residences and neighbors.  

The front. 

Refers to the first walk or the beginning of KB on Rochester Ave.  Pacific and Bergen Streets  borders this section.

The back.  

The 7th walk is the last walk of the Kingsborough Houses. The back is located on Ralph Ave, and is bordered by Pacific and Bergen Streets.

Walk (s)

The structure of the 15.97-16 acres of