John Murphy shares his memories of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, also known as Second Ward, and his career as a dentist in Charlotte. He describes his experience attending school in Brooklyn, including the importance of reading and access to books, teachers and their relationships with students and students' families, and classes taught. He discusses his parents' professions and his mother's involvement on the stewardess board at Little Rock AME Zion church. Mr. Murphy recounts his role in the founding of the Metrolina Health Center, later known as the C.W. Williams Community Health Center, in 1979 and his own church involvement after returning to Charlotte as an adult in 1973. He also talks about urban renewal and the destruction of the Second Ward community, which took place while Mr. Murphy was attending college in Washington, D.C.