She is best known as the first head resident of the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 1919 she relocated to Dayton, Ohio where she worked at the Linden Community Center.

She studied at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, the Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the Hampton Institute, and then earned a B.S.

[1] In 1924 Brown move to Minneapolis, Minnesota where she became the first Head Resident of the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House[2] The settlement house was founded in 1924 for the city's African American community.

[4][5] Brown was instrumental in growing the Settlement House as a place for the African American community at a time when both the city of Minneapolis was still segregated and the Harlem Renaissance movement was flourishing.