Oral history interview with Gloria Primm Brown, 1997

Biographical Note

Senior Program Officer.

Scope and Contents

Background: born October 30, 1941, Williamson, West Virginia; coal mining industry; parents' divorce, move to aunt's house in Washington D.C., aunt's focus on early childhood development; early interest in literature, life in black working/middle class neighborhood, minimum interaction with whites, internal discrimination among African Americans, public school system, segregation and desegregation; involvement in African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; family history: Southern roots, migration to the North, value of family oral tradition, history of slave grandfather; education: Howard University B.A., Columbia University School of Library Service M.A.; college experiences: SNCC [Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee], Civil Rights Movement, sorority life, community service; career: desegregation in job market, librarian; Washington D.C. Public Library: Children Services Division, implementation of early childhood education programs, neighborhood outreach, involvement in the Poor People's Campaign, move to Los Angeles, move to New York City, father's death; work at Carnegie Corporation of New York: staff, inner workings, job in archives, description of numerous projects, work atmosphere, personal experiences with discrimination, involvement in the creation of Sesame Street; new position as program assistant at-large, early childhood projects: logistics of grantmaking, Council on Children, Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama (FOCAL), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); reproductive issues: teenage pregnancy prevention programs, discussion of Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health programs, focus on male reproductive education, adolescent pregnancy prevention, male sexual responsibility, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) education, teenage metal health issues; black churches: promotion of grantmaking program, major religious groups in African American community, need more church-based youth programs, discussion of church and sexual health issues in black community, Congress of National Black Churches, Project SPIRIT (Strength, Perseverance, Imagination, Responsibility, Integrity and Talent ); importance of Carnegie, focus on international woman's health, vital link to policy makers, experiences of people of color at Carnegie, personal relationship with Alex Haley (Roots), African American community-based grant workshops, colleague reminiscences.

Subjects

• African American librarians--Interviews.
• Brown, Gloria Primm--Interviews.
• Carnegie Corporation of New York.
• Early childhood education.
• Endowments--Officials and employees--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories.
• Reproductive health services.
• Zane, Sharon interviewer.