AACHM Oral History: Jennifer and Hershal Brown

Mon, 09/12/2022 - 10:41am

Hershal Brown was born in 1946. He lived off and on with his parents in Gary, Indiana, but he was raised primarily by his grandparents in Ann Arbor. He remembers having many role models at Bethel AME Church. After graduating from Ann Arbor High School, Brown served in the military in Spain. He worked at Ford Motor Company in pre-prototype coordination for 31 years. He also worked and volunteered for the Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s department. He married his longtime sweetheart Jennifer Benton in 1968 and they have two daughters, Charisse and Heather. 

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Jennifer Brown was born in 1948 in Ann Arbor to Charles and Laurel Benton. She recalls learning to fish with her father and attending Jones School. Her mother encouraged her to take advanced classes in high school. Brown worked in banking and bank management for the first half of her career while her children were young. Later in life she got her master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan and became a social worker. She has been married to her husband Hershal Brown for 53 years. They have two daughters, Charisse and Heather, and three grandchildren.

AACHM Oral History: Thekla Mitchell

Sun, 11/08/2020 - 9:27am

Thekla Mitchell: Thekla White was born in 1921 in Newport, Arkansas, the youngest of nine siblings. At age 22, she traveled to Ann Arbor to visit her sister. After getting a job at Cunningham’s Drug Store, she decided to stay. She worked at the University of Michigan Hospital as a nurses’ aid and laboratory assistant in the Pathology Department for 24 years. Known as “Dimples” to friends and family, Mrs. Mitchell was active in community organizations including the Ann Arbor Civic Club and the Order of the Eastern Stars.

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