SummaryThree teenagers standing outside public housing, Brooklyn. From left to right: Gloria Smith, Ralph and Faye Howell. The boy is wearing a zoot suit, the girls are in jackets and skirts.
RightsDaniel Evans owns all rights, title and interest in this photograph by Laura Fitzpatrick. For more information contact the Center for Brooklyn History at Brooklyn Public Library.
Copyright OwnerEvans, Daniel
TitleGloria, Ralph and Faye.
Biographical NoteLaura Fitzpatrick was born in Mount Meigs, Montgomery, Alabama in 1927. In 1937 she and her mother Elizabeth moved to Brooklyn and lived with Elizabeth’s aunt, Winnie Pegues, for about one year. They then moved to their own apartment at 635 Broadway in Williamsburg. When Laura was eleven years old, Elizabeth bought her an Agfa Billy camera. This collection consists of photographs Laura took of the people and neighborhood around her, mainly in Brooklyn, between 1938-1948. After arriving in Brooklyn, Elizabeth went to school at night to become a dressmaker and made woman’s coats. During the day she worked as a domestic worker in Manhattan, and at night she sewed the suits and coats we see on Winnie, Laura, Elizabeth, family members and neighbors in this photograph collection. Laura often photographed people on Sunday when they were dressed up for church, and we see many photographs on the roof of her building where she could find ample light for her subjects. Laura sought opportunities to become a professional photographer but, finding none, enrolled in the YWCA School of Practical Nursing at 30 Third Avenue, Brooklyn. She graduated around 1948, married Ernest Evans in 1951, and had four children. She later studied to become a registered nurse at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, graduating in 1970. She was a nurse at Brooklyn’s Brookdale Hospital for 33 years, and retired to Fayetteville, NC where she died in 1987.