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Transcript of full Dorothy Goosby interview

BY OLIVIA WINSLOW | olivia.winslow@newsday.com

My name is Councilwoman Dorothy L. Goosby. I was born in a small town in Florida called Apalachicola and I am 60-plus years old.

Q. What did you do that led to your being called an activist, if activist is the term you would like to use?

Goosby: I became an activist because I was born and raised in the segregated South. In the South I was not made to feel like a human being. If I walked on the sidewalk a white person would say to me, 'Blackbird, get off the sidewalk.'

And of course down there, it was very, very warm. The sun was hot. The sand was hot and I did not like that. I did not like the way we were treated. I did not like the fact that we did not have good books, that we were not taught subjects because I was told I was too dumb to learn them. I've never been dumb.

I wanted to have what everyone else had, so I became an activist because I realized that in order to change things I had to be involved. So that's why I became an activistWe were not treated like people. We were treated like animals and I did not like that.

And I became involved in the Goosby vs. Town of Hempstead case for the same reason. The fact was in the district where I live, African Americans comprise more than 12 percent of the population along with Latinos. We were not allowed to vote for and have anyone who represented us within our area.

We had bad streets in our area. We had poor schools. We had bad parks. All that we paid for as taxpayers, we were not a part of it. So in order to become a part of it, we filed the Goosby vs. Town of Hempstead lawsuit in 1988, Aug. 8, 1988 to change from at-large voting to councilmanic districts so that we could play a role in our own destiny.

Q. Was there any fear in getting involved, and were there moments of doubt?

Goosby: There were moments sometimes when I doubted. But it was more important for me to continue with the case. I had two positions that I was terminated from [BECAUSE OF]this case. In addition, I was coerced by many to try to get off of the case-I was offered money, I was offered various positions.

And not only that, I was called the N-word. I was called other. My kids were threatened. I was called many things, my home and my husband. I went ahead with it because my family agreed. And we knew that in order to accomplish anything in this life, we had to continue. So I did, as well as some others.

There were others who did not continue because of the pressure that was put on them. But it was more important to me to be able to get the rights that we had, that all people should have, to continue with this. So I was able to do it because of the support that I had from my family, as well as many friends, and certainly from my attorney, Fred K. Brewington.

Q. What was your proudest moment, greatest accomplishment and how would you like to be remembered?

Goosby: I would like to be remembered as one who has worked to change the lives of many, to make it better for all of us so that we become a part of and all-encompassed into the society rather than being outcasts. And that is my main purpose here, to make sure that we have a better community for all, all participate as one.

Q. Ms. Goosby, tell us when you came North?

Goosby: I came North in 1959 after completing a B.S. degree at Florida A&M University. I happened to go to school because of the fact that two scholarships were offered to 500 black students throughout the state of Florida. I was fortunate enough to have won one of those scholarships from the Tallahassee Democrat. And that's how I started out in school. My parents were poor, so to speak.

We had plenty of food. We had shelter. But there wasn't money for me to go to college, but because of that scholarship and because my father worked for the railroad at that time, they gave me a small scholarship. I worked my way through college, so that's how I was able to do that.

But even in college, I had \[difficulty in\]college because I've always been dark and I've always been heavy. And even in black colleges at that time, if you were dark and you did not have the straight, curly hair you were ostracized it was a caste-type of situation in black schools. That, too, was a problem for me, but I fought it.

I remember walking to the capital of Florida because of the fact that the jobs that I had were jobs that were in the kitchen. I could not get a job in the library, things of that sort. So I went to protest that. In addition there was a black student who was raped by a white student. This young lady was raped a black girl being raped by a white guy and absolutely nothing was done about it.

Q. When did your activism begin?

Goosby: It began in Florida. Because if you lived in segregated communities all the schools were segregated. All the books that we got were second-hand books that had first been used by white students that were torn. I was not taught math because I was told I was too dumb to learn it.