Rosetta Gaston

Rosetta Gaston (January 29, 1885 – February, 1981) was a Black historian and community advocate in Brownsville, Brooklyn.[1] She organized the Brooklyn Branch of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History.[2]

Early life

Rosetta Gaston was born in New York City. Her father was Andrew J. Gaston, a pastor at the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church in Yorkville, Manhattan. Her mother was Emma H. (Lane) Gaston. They came to New York from Raleigh, North Carolina in 1866.[2] Her father and brothers died by the time she was a teenager and she left school to support her family.[1][2]

Organizing and professional work

Rosetta Gaston began teaching Sunday school when she was 12 years old. As a young person, she raised money to buy Christmas presents for children, organized a choir, and a young people's association. She volunteered with the YWCA for seven years.[2]

She organized a Negro History study group, and after meeting Carter G. Woodson in 1943 she established a Brooklyn chapter of his Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History in Brownsville.[1]

Professionally, Ms. Gaston started out working at department stores such as Wannamaker's and Gimbels. She also worked at a private sanatorium before taking a job at Bergdorf-Goodman, where she worked from 1916 to 1956, where she was able to leverage her professional connections to raise money for her neighborhood-based Black studies work.[2]

Recognition

Rosetta Gaston was known as Mother Gaston for the maternal care she took with her students.[1] In the 1980's a local chapter of the Afro-American History Association raised money to erect a statue in her honor at a center which also bears her name at 460 Dumont Ave. The monument, by local sculptor Bo Walker, was unveiled in 1986.[3] Stone Avenue was renamed Mother Gaston Boulevard.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 McKinley, Jesse (January 8, 1995). "FYI About Mother Gaston". New York Times.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Brooks, Albert N. D. (January 1957). "Dedicated Little Lady". The Negro History Bulletin. JSTOR 44215222.
  3. ↑ "Program for Mother Gaston Statue Unveiling". Canarsie Courier. February 20, 1986.
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