Episode 50: Sandi Brewster-walker and North Amityville

Today we talk with Sandi Brewster-walker about her life and her family's history. Not only do the Brewsters have deep ties to North Amityville and the Native American community on Long Island but their story is intertwined with American history on multiple levels. 

You'll hear about early slavery on Long Island, letters from John Brown, spying in West Africa for the OSS during World War II, the peculiar fad for Tom Thumb's wedding and more. Sandi is also a practiced genealogist and we go over some of the challenges of researching Native American and African American ancestors.

Beyond family research, her current efforts are directed at establishing a North Amityville Historic District and a Long Island Indigenous People & Research Center. For more details, you can check out her book, The Colored Girl From Long Island, and her columns in the Amityville Record.

Further Research

• The Colored Girl From Long Island
• The Autobiography of Willis Augustus Hodges [PDF]
• Long Island Indigenous People Museum & Research Institute
• North of the Village Green (Amityville Record)
• Bicentenial Moment: Irving W. Underhill
• 71st Annual Shinnecock Indian Powwow
• Who Were the Harlem Hellfighters
• America on the Move: Pullman Porter
• The Wondrous World of Tom Thumb Weddings