Efforts to keep the soul of Brooklyn alive began as urban renewal ended. In 1977, James Jeeter, Director of the Afro-American Cultural and Service Center, and Rev. DeGrandval Burke, produced a 50-page pictorial essay called The Brooklyn Story.
In 1983, Cecilia J. Wilson worked with the Second Ward Alumni Association to install a historical marker at the site of the school. Brooklyn’s history hit the stage in 1996 when playwright Ruth Sloane and the director and choreographer Barbara Howse-Meadows produced “The Second City,” an 80-minute play about Brooklyn.
In addition to the annual picnics and commemorative events held by the National Second Ward Alumni Association, former resident Frank Manago organized the Brooklyn Heritage Reunion to include residents of the neighborhood who may not have attended Second Ward.
Fifty years after the buildings fell, Brooklyn continues to live on in the hearts of those who called it home.
