Jamecia Forscythe Ramona Kearns

Description

Jamecia begins by talking about growing up in Crown Heights. She lived with her mom, who is from Jamaica, and her 4 siblings. Jamecia has fond memories of growing up, mostly playing outside. She played basketball a lot as a kid, and was on a team starting in elementary school going through to high school and at John Jay College. She went to P.S. 167 and M.S. 394 in the neighborhood and James Madison High School in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. She talks about the difference between her elementary and middle schools, where the student body and teachers were mostly Black and James Madison, which was almost all white and it was the first time she had been in the minority. Jamecia says this was an eye-opening experience and that it was good to meet people from other cultures. Ramona also grew up in Crown Heights, on Bergen Street. She comes from a large family—she was the youngest of 16, most of who are now deceased. She speaks about the schools she went to—P.S. 191, P.S. 83 and I.S. 55, the first intermediate school in Ocean Hill/Brownsville. Ramona said they used to call that school a jail because of its narrow windows. For high school, she first went to Fashion Industries in Manhattan but had a hard time adjusting because she says she was a “rebel.” Ramona then speaks about how she chose to finish high school in Bay Ridge rather than in Prospect Heights, and why. Her school...

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