The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown
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| Repository: | The HistoryMakers |
| 1900 S. Michigan Avenue |
| Chicago, Illinois 60616 |
| (312) 674-1900 |
| info@thehistorymakers.com |
| http://www.thehistorymakers.com |
| Interviewer: | Larry Crowe |
| Videographer: | |
| Title: | Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown |
| Dates: | September 24, 2003 |
| Abstract: | (ABSTRACT) |
| Quantity: | 5 Betacam SP videocassettes, 1 half-Hollinger box containing (NUMBER) folders of accompanying materials. |
| Identification: | A2003.238 |
| Language: | The interviews and records are in English |
Widow of the late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, Alma Arrington Brown was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 14, 1940. After high school, she attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she received her B.A., and then later attended Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, where she earned a master's degree.
Brown and her husband Ron were married after he completed his Army basic training in 1962. In 1963 he was called up to active duty, sent first to Germany and later to South Korea. After he completed his service in 1967, the Browns returned to New York, and in 1973 relocated to Washington, D.C., where Ron headed the offices of the National Urban League. In 1975, Alma began working for the National Black Child Development Institute as a program specialist, and from there she became the program director of the National Council of Negro Women. Brown moved into the public sector in 1984, serving as executive assistant to the acting director of the Office of International Business in Washington, D.C., a post she later assumed.
Brown became involved in broadcasting in 1989 when she took over as director of public affairs and public relations for WKYS-FM. She remained there for six years before joining Chevy Chase Bank as a vice president. Later, when Chevy Chase Bank and Black Entertainment Television joined to form BET Financial Services, she became vice chairperson of the venture. After the bank severed the relationship in 1999, Brown stayed on with Chevy Chase, where she presently serves as senior vice president.
With the death of her husband in a plane crash in 1996, Brown remained strong, and together with her children established the Ronald H. Brown Foundation, which established a policy center for domestic and international commercial growth, as well as the Ron Brown Scholars Program. She was also named to serve as an honorary co-chairperson of President Bill Clinton's reelection campaign in 1996. She remains active with the National Urban League, the United Negro College Fund and the Girl Scouts of America. The Ford Foundation, the National Council of Negro Women and the National Association of Broadcasters have all honored her for her work. Brown has also been active in keeping the memory of her husband alive, participating in the christening of the U.S.S. Research Vessel Ron Brown and presenting awards in his honor. Brown has two children, Tracy and Michael, and two grandchildren. She lives in Maryland.
Biographical Note by The HistoryMakers®
This life oral history interview with Alma Brown was conducted by Larry Crowe on 2003-09-24 in Chevy Chase Bank, 7501 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland and is recorded on 5 30-minute Betacam SP videocassettes. Access copies exist on Betacam SP, VHS, DVD and MPEG-1. The interview contains information on (COMPLETE ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION OF INTERVIEW). Accompanying materials in the collection include Alma Brown's correspondence with The HistoryMakers® related to the interview; a copy of the signed release form and the production report; the biographical information used by the interviewer to prepare for the interview (DETAILS); paper copies of the interview transcripts, 3 1/2" floppy disks with electronic copies of the transcripts; selected quotes for video clips; photocopies of photographs captured on video; XML files with metadata created in editing and cataloguing the interview for The HistoryMakers Digital Video Library; and paper copies of these XML files.
Restrictions on Access
Access to paper records is restricted. Other restrictions may be applied on a case-by-case basis.
Restrictions on Use
All use of materials must be pre-approved by The HistoryMakers® and appropriate credit must be given. All use credits must be pre-approved by The HistoryMakers®. Copyright is held by The HistoryMakers®.
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| This record series is indexed under the following controlled access terms. |
| Contributors: |
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| | Brown, Alma |
| | Crowe, Larry |
| Persons: |
| | (PERSONS) |
| Corporate Bodies: |
| | (CORPORATE BODIES) |
| Family Names: |
| | Brown |
| Places: |
| | (PLACES) |
| Subjects: |
| | (SUBJECTS) |
| Document Types: |
| | Video oral history interview |
| Titles: |
| | The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown |
Accompanying materials: Accompanying materials are filed in (NUMBER) folders in a half-Hollinger box and shelved at The HistoryMakers® Archives and Collection Library by accession number, separately from the videos.
Betacam, VHS, DVD and MPEG-1 access copies are held for in-house use at The HistoryMakers®; Betacam SP, VHS and DVD playback hardware is provided for in-house viewing of the access copies; MPEG-1 copies are searchable and viewable via a digital video database.
The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown, September 24, 2003. The HistoryMakers® African American Video Oral History Collection, 1900 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois.
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Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown, Tape 1, September 24, 2003, TRT: 00:28:21:10.
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| Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Alma Arrington Brown is the only child of Dorothy Ann and Martin Luther Arrington. One recurring family story describes the marriage of her maternal great-grandparents, a white blacksmith and a black woman in Greenville, South Carolina. Her great-grandfather was subsequently run out of town. Brown's father attended an all black college in West Virginia and her mother attended a mostly white university in New York City. The two then enjoyed a middle class lifestyle with their daughter in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Brown attended New York City public schools throughout her early education. When her mother, a public school teacher, discovered the overcrowded conditions of the schools, she enrolled Brown in a private high school in downtown Brooklyn. Brown describes the Brooklyn of her youth as an ethnically diverse place. Brown's father died in 1986 and her mother still lives in Brooklyn, New York. |
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Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown, Tape 2, September 23, 2003, TRT: 00:29:12:20.
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| Educated at various New York City schools--private and public--Alma Brown describes that she was not involved in extracurricular activities. In applying to colleges, she was not interested in integrating an all-white college. Instead she followed her father's lead and attended a historically black university. Alma Brown was acquainted with many Fisk University students who would go on to be important historical figures. She describes that though many of them were particularly active in the Civil Rights Movement, she had a more timid personality and preferred to stay behind in a supportive capacity. Brown did not pursue sorority life at Fisk. Instead, the self-professed "party girl" spent time with her friends. During a college break, she met Ron Brown, her future husband. At the time he was also a student--at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. The two spent time together during holiday breaks and summer vacations and eventually married upon graduation. Alma Brown describes that they lived in Harlem, New York for a time and eventually moved to Germany for three years, as Ron Brown was stationed there with the United States Army. Alma Brown gave birth to their first child, son, Michael, in a German hospital. |
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Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown, Tape 3, September 24, 2003, TRT: 00:30:20:23.
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| Alma Brown describes that she and her husband, Ron Brown enjoyed their time in Germany during his tour with the United States Army. They were not aware of the extent of the Civil Rights Movement that had developed in the United States. Brown recognized the impact of the Movement when she saw a picture of the March on Washington in a copy of 'Ebony' magazine. The couple decided to move back to the United States in order for Ron Brown to complete law school. Alma Brown took on a teaching job and became pregnant with her second child. She pursued her Master's degree and the couple moved to Washington, DC, as Ron Brown was offered an executive position with the National Urban League. Alma Brown took on positions with a number of non-profit organizations in Washington, including the National Council of Negro Women and the National Black Child Development Institute. She then began a career in communications, hosting her own weekly public affairs show on a Washington, DC radio station. |
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Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown, Tape 4, September 24, 2003, TRT: 00:28:01:26.
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| Alma Brown describes that her husband, Ron Brown, became involved in party politics in 1980, working on Senator Edward 'Teddy' Kennedy's campaign. He subsequently worked with Reverend Jesse Jackson on his presidential campaigns. Following the 1988 presidential election, Ron Brown left the Washington, DC law firm where he had been a partner and decided to run for the position of Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Ron Brown won some favor; nevertheless there was some opposition from southern leaders who thought that it wasn't the right time to appoint him. He was successfully elected. Ron Brown then met then-Arkansas Governor, William 'Bill' Clinton, prior to his 1992 election to the United States presidency. Clinton later appointed Ron Brown as the United States Secretary of Commerce. Ron Brown was part of a well-respected economics team, those responsible for creating the 1993 tax structure. Alma Brown discusses that as the wife of the Secretary of Commerce, she did not enjoy the same privileges as she had when Ron Brown was the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Alma Brown then discusses the circumstances of Ron Brown's 1996 death in a plane crash while on business in Croatia. |
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Video Oral History Interview with Alma Brown, Tape 5, September 24, 2003, TRT: 00:14:10:25.
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| Alma Brown discusses the conspiracy theories that surfaced around the death of her husband, United States Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown. Her daughter wrote Ron Brown's biography. Alma Brown concurs with its conclusion: rumors of foul play were started by those of the right wing and do not deserve further attention. Brown then chronicles her career changes. She has spent a longer time at Chevy Chase Bank than she has with any employer in her career. She envisions self-sufficiency to be crucial for the future successes of black people. She describes that more black people need to become entrepreneurs and leave their enterprises as their legacies. She describes her own legacy to be an emphasis on the closeness of family. Her husband's legacy, she describes, is having been a supportive and empathic boss. |