Her father was Joseph Arthur Brown, a real-estate broker and the NAACP president in Charleston and South Carolina.
[2] During their time at the school, Brown and Ford would have to endure racism and bullying from their white peers, causing emotional trauma.
[6] She then went on to work at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University for a year until she later began teaching at the College of Charleston in 2002.
She is a consultant for race relations and diversity issues and speaks at public schools with the College of Charleston's Avery Research Center.
[2] In 2006, Brown created the Somebody Had to Do It Project with the intent to share the story of other "first children" who integrated schools in the US,[2] focusing on their physical and emotional experiences.