Oral history interview with Edna Humphrey, 2015

Biographical Note

Edna Humphrey was born in 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She and her two sisters spent their youngest years with her grandparents, Leah and Teddy. Her father worked for the gas company and her mother had moved to New York City and was working in the garment trade. Her grandparents each died of cancer months apart, which led to her being placed in her aunt Sarah's house. The aunt was pocketing money that her father provided for the sisters' care, so her father brought them to live with Humphrey's mother and brothers in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her father died shortly thereafter in a gas explosion. Her mother favored the sons over the daughters and locked Humphrey and her sisters in the basement. They were regularly chained to a pole there and frequently missed school. In addition to neglect, they were submitted to physical and sexual abuse by their mother's boyfriend. Her sister Beatrice died from injuries inflicted by the boyfriend. Ultimately, the state removed the two sisters and a brother from there, and they spent the rest of their youths living with their Aunt Ruth in Queens. In her late teens, Humphrey had a son and a daughter. The children lived with Aunt Ruth while Humphrey tried to go on her own to find housing for her family. She spent fourteen years in the shelter system including Brooklyn Women's Shelter and the 85 Lexington shelter of the Bowery Residents' Community (BRC). Ultimately, she got an apartment on Lefferts Avenue in Brooklyn and moved her children there. Tragedy struck when the apartment had an electrical fire. Her children were hospitalized. Two of her cousin's children were there at the time and died of smoke inhalation. After that, Humphrey went back to BRC. In 2005, she graduated from the Life-Skills Training and Empowerment Program (L-STEP), the life skills empowerment program at St. Francis Xavier Church. By the late 2010s, Humphrey was living in an SRO apartment in the Bronx. She was volunteering at the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing (IAHH) five days a week, with the IAHH's Speakers Bureau, at her church, and at the soup kitchen at Church of the Village

Scope and Contents

Edna Humphrey begins the interview describing volunteer work, including at her church and at the soup kitchen at Church of the Village, and the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing (IAHH). She gives a detailed account of the events of her youth in Louisiana, Crown Heights, and Queens. She shares fond memories of being raised by her grandparents in Louisiana, the deaths and funerals of her grandparents, education at a Catholic school, and memories of how she and her sisters supported each other. She discusses living with her aunt Sarah, who was stealing money meant for the sisters. She describes her father: his work for the gas company, his financial support, how he brought them to her mother in New York City, his death in an explosion, and his funeral. She describes the child abuse suffered while living with her mother including neglect, physical restraint, physical violence, and sexual violence. She describes her aunt Ruth, with whom she and siblings lived after being removed from her mother's home. She discusses her children, Teddy and Lea. She describes her experiences at the Brooklyn Women's Shelter and the 85 Lexington shelter of the Bowery Residents' Community (BRC). Details provided include the dangers faced at shelters and daytime spent at the library or computer classes. She describes getting an apartment on Lefferts Avenue and the electrical fire that took the lives of family members and rendered her homeless again. She describes the SRO where she lived at the time of the interview and notes issues with crime and its visitor policy. She describes her experiences in the Life-Skills Training and Empowerment Program (L-STEP) at St. Francis Xavier Church and her graduation from the program. At points throughout the interview, she shares her thoughts on God, faith, and resiliency

Subjects

• Church work with the homeless.
• Crown Heights (New York, N.Y.)
• Great Migration, ca. 1914-ca. 1970.
• Greenfield, Susan C., interviewer.
• Homelessness.
• Homeless persons--New York (State)--New York.
• Humphrey, Edna, 1954--Interviews.
• Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing.
• Interviews.
• New Orleans (La.)
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Psychic trauma--Social aspects.
• Shelters for the homeless--New York (State)--New York.
• Spiritual formation.

Access Conditions

Copyright by Edna Humphrey. The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York hold a non-exclusive license to enable library activities