This project consists of interviews about life and history in Indianapolis. The subjects include family migration patterns to Indianapolis, racial discrimination, school segregation, labor union activity, the quality of city services both past and present, and neighborhood security. Most people interviewed are senior citizens who have lived a majority of their adult lives in Indianapolis.
Anderson, Naomi
Birdsong, Elbert
Boshura, Lenora
Bradford, Georgann
Brooks, Clara Florence
Coney, Mattie
Dinkins, James Cecil
Downey, Virtea
Golder, Morris E.
Hardin, Boniface
Hawkins, Thomas Potter
Heilman, Helen Iris
Jamerson, Arbie
Johnson, Edna L.
Jones, Sam H., Sr.
Jordan, Merle
Lilly, Naomi
Monroe, Lois Aletha
Morgan, Cammie
Padilla, Hilda S.
Parker, Admiral Duarey
Pointer, Gladys Sadler
Price, Berniece
Ransom, Willard B. "Mike"
Richardson, Henry
Roark, Arkie
Schilling, Joann
Shadowens, Oma
Shobe, Frank
Shortridge, Al "Hubert"
Smith, Ethel
Smith, Ethel
Taylor, Annie L.
Thompson, George J.
Tookes, Thelma
Torres, Maria Catalina
Waldo, Winifred; Hyldan, Esther
Walker, Margaret Jane
Wilborn, Elnora
Williams, Carl Thomas
Williams, Eddie
Williams, O. D.
Womack, Robert Walter
Interviewee: | Anderson, Naomi |
Call number: | 83-049 |
Date(s) of Interview: | November 10, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Harrah-Conforth, Jeanne |
Naomi Anderson discusses her life history in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Interviewee: | Birdsong, Elbert |
Call number: | 83-026 |
Date(s) of Interview: | June 7, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 22 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 30 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Elbert Birdsong, born August 31, 1900 and died March 31, 1990. He was born in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, where his father worked in the phosphate mines. At the age of seventeen Mr. Birdsong moved to Kentucky to work in the coal mines. From there he travelled from place to place, working as a general laborer in Tennessee, Chicago, Illinois, and Florida. After he married his wife, Selonia Sloss, he moved to Indianapolis to be with her family. They built a home in Brightwood on Martindale Street where many of his friends and co-workers were living. While in Indianapolis Mr. Birdsong first worked for International Harvester where he belonged to the union. He then got a position driving a truck for the Indianapolis Parks and Recreation Department, where he worked until retirement in 1966. His wife worked for a housing finance company as a custodian until she was too ill to continue. He attended the Missionary Baptist church off and on for many years. Mr. Birdsong remembers some racial discrimination throughout the years, but does not feel it has affected him personally.
Indianapolis Department of Parks and
Recreation
International Harvester Company
Sloss, Selonia
Indianapolis, Indiana
Chicago, Illinois
Florida
Mount Pleasant, Tennessee
Providence, Kentucky
Pulaski, Tennessee
coal miner
contractor
laborer
coal mines
African-Americans
Great Depression
World War I
World War II
black lung disease
housing discrimination
phosphate mines
road construction
unions
Interviewee: | Boshura, Lenora |
Call number: | 83-025 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 15, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 38 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Restricted: permission of interviewee is required to use quotations in publications |
Interviewer: | Lopez, Consuelo |
Lenora Boshura, born in 1901, discussed her life history, family, and career.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Interviewee: | Bradford, Georgann |
Call number: | 83-010 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 15, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 72 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Georgann Bradford, born January 18, 1911, tells about her life in Mississippi, her migration to St. Louis, Missouri and finally to Indianapolis, Indiana.
Mississippi
St. Louis, Missouri
Interviewee: | Brooks, Clara Florence |
Call number: | 83-004 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 10, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 65 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 80 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Wolford, John |
Clara Florence Brooks, born March 25, 1916 and died July 2, 1999, discusses her early life with her family in Giles County, Tennessee as tenant cotton farmers. After her father died, her family moved to Indianapolis to join two older brothers who had already moved there. Her son, who died of appendicitis at the age of 9, was born shortly after she moved to Indianapolis in 1936. Over the years, Mrs. Brooks worked a variety of jobs including general labor and sewing. In order to raise her daughter, she sometimes had to work two jobs and seven days a week. Mrs. Brooks also speaks of the Brightwood neighborhood where she lived for many years. Although it was mostly a white neighborhood when she first arrived, more African- Americans have moved in. She comments on the race relations in her neighborhood, in her working life, and in the schools. Finally she discusses her love of Indianapolis, Indiana's culture, people and overall atmosphere.
Arsenal Technical High School
Indiana State Fairgrounds
International Harvester Company
Mouver Foundry
United States Army
Giles County, Tennessee
laborer
seamstress
African-Americans
Primitive Baptist church
World War II
appendicitis
baseball
basketball
divorce
epilepsy
race relations
racial discrimination
railroad workers
school integration
spousal abuse
tenant farming
welfare
Interviewee: | Coney, Mattie |
Call number: | 83-031 |
Date(s) of Interview: | June 30, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 81 minutes; no index; February 1982 copy of Citizen's Forum, Inc. newsletter; article by Elmo G. Coney; brochure about the Citizens Forum; article about interviewee and husband |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Mattie M. Coney, born May 30, 1909 and died August 1988, touches upon her childhood growing up in Tennessee and working her way through college. Her experiences as an Indianapolis, Indiana public school teacher led her to form the Citizens Forum, Inc., a neighborhood improvement program. Mrs. Coney discusses the goals of the Citizens Forum and her experiences as its director.
Citizens Forum, Incorporated
Lilly Endowment
Coney, Elmo G.
teacher
African-Americans
Civil Rights Movement
Sagamore of the Wabash
civic responsibility
neighborhood block clubs
Interviewee: | Dinkins, James Cecil |
Call number: | 83-011 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 24, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 37 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
James Cecil Dinkins, born August 31, 1913 and died September 1, 1998, discusses his life in Kentucky and Indianapolis, Indiana, working in factories and under unions.
Kentucky
factory worker
unions
Interviewee: | Downey, Virtea |
Call number: | 83-038 |
Date(s) of Interview: | July 15, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 45 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 70 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Virtea Downey, born in 1913 in Indianapolis, Indiana, attended Crispus Attucks High School and then A & I State College (later Tennessee State College) in Nashville, Tennessee. She then moved back to Indianapolis, Indiana and married. She worked in various factories during World War II after her husband was drafted. She then attended Butler University and the Jordan Conservatory of Music to receive a teaching degree honored by Indiana schools. She spent her teaching career in the Indianapolis Public School System, first teaching in elementary classrooms and then changing to special education. Throughout the interview she lists famous African- Americans from Indianapolis, including the Ink Spots, singer Dink Watson, race car driver Charles Wiggins, and Sam Cooke. She comments on the segregation and then integration of the Indianapolis school system during her tenure as a teacher. She mentions the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Muslims, and the Black Panthers, and their influence on politics during the Civil Rights Movement.
A & I State College
Butler University
Cato Tabernacle
Crispus Attucks High School
Fisk University
Ink Spots
Jordan Conservatory of Music
Ku Klux Klan
National Council of Negro Women
Cooke, Sam
Watson, Anna
Watson, Dink
Wiggins, Charles
Nashville, Tennessee
musician
teacher
African-Americans
Civil Rights Movement
World War II
car racing
land grant colleges
racial segregation
school integration
special education
Interviewee: | Golder, Morris E. |
Call number: | 83-028 |
Date(s) of Interview: | June 21, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 39 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 94 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Morris E. Golder, born January 23, 1913 and died July 22, 2000, was born in Indianapolis and attended Crispus Attucks High School. He then moved to St. Louis, Missouri to pastor a congregation for 13 years. When he returned to Indianapolis he founded the Grace Apostolic Church, of which he was still the pastor. Mr. Golder discusses his experiences with school segregation and housing discrimination in Indianapolis. Although Mr. Golder himself was not involved with the Civil Rights Movement in Indianapolis, he discusses some of the people he remembers as leaders. Mr. Golder also touches upon the political situation in Indianapolis, and the fact that many African-Americans in Indianapolis belong to the Republican Party in contrast to the rest of the nation. Mr. Golder ends the interview discussing the charismatic Christian movement, and the differences between apostolic Christians and Pentecostal Christians.
Crispus Attucks High School
Grace Apostolic Church
Republican Party
Brokenburr, Robert Lee
Richardson, Henry
St. Louis, Missouri
pastor
African-Americans
Civil Rights Movement
Indianapolis automobile manufacturing
Pentecostal church
apostolic church
charismatic Christian movement
housing discrimination
racial discrimination
racial segregation
Interviewee: | Hardin, Boniface |
Call number: | 83-037 |
Date(s) of Interview: | July 18, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 69 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 68 minutes; no index; article by interviewee; article about Martin Center College; flyer from Martin Center College; article about African-American Catholics; copy of Afro-American Journal |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Father Boniface Hardin, born November 18, 1933, grew up in Bardstown, Kentucky and Indianapolis, Indiana attending Catholic schools. He then attended St. Meinrad monastery and became a monk. In the nineteen sixties he requested a post working with a congregation. He worked in an Indianapolis Catholic church. After being involved in protesting a police shooting of an African-American youth and almost being recalled by St. Meinrad monastery, he founded the Martin Center College, a four-year institution for returning students, especially African- Americans. Father Hardin discusses the philosophy of the Martin Center College, where he is currently president. He touches upon segregation and then the desegregation of schools. He discusses racial discrimination in the clergy, both toward African-American parishioners and African-American clergymen. He talks about issues he is concerned about in Indianapolis, such as poverty, police brutality, and abortion. He also discusses the influence of African-Americans in Indianapolis politics.
Afro-American
Journal
Catholic Youth Organization
Ku Klux Klan
Martin Center College
St. Meinrad Monastery
Bardstown, Kentucky
college president
priest
Affirmative Action
African-American Catholics
African-Americans
Benedictine monks
abortion
police brutality
racial segregation
white supremacists
Interviewee: | Hawkins, Thomas Potter |
Call number: | 83-005 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 22, 1983 - March 23, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 37 pp.; 3 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 138 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Wolford, John |
Thomas Potter Hawkins, born December 5, 1898 and died November 29, 1989, was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He started working at the age of ten on farms as a general laborer. While in Kentucky he worked mostly on tobacco farms and lived in tenant farm houses. After a bad series of crops impoverished his family, they moved to Indianapolis, Indiana in search of better paying jobs. While in Indianapolis, Mr. Hawkins worked as a trackman on the railroad, handled muratic acid at a foundry, worked as a custodian at a bank, and finally as a bellhop at Stouffer's Inn. Mr. Hawkins comments on the difficulty in finding a house for his family when they first moved to Indianapolis. He discusses the consequences of crime, prison conditions, and prisoner quality of life as he observed it as a visitor. He also describes unemployment as being the most pressing problem facing Africa-Americans in Indianapolis today, especially when compared to the ease with which he was able to find work when he first moved to Indianapolis.
Stouffer's Inn
Bowling Green, Kentucky
bellhop
laborer
African-Americans
prison life
railroad workers
tenant farming
tobacco farming
unemployment
Interviewee: | Heilman, Helen Iris |
Call number: | 83-006 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 16, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 31 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Wolford, John |
Helen Iris Hull Heilman, born November 11, 1983 and died March 28, 1992, grew up in North Vernon, Indiana on a farm. As a child she suffered from rheumatic fever, which effected her health for the rest of her life. She moved to Indianapolis originally to gain independence from her family and to become a nurse. She did not finish the course work and instead became the caretaker of an older woman. She married in 1941 and moved into the house she still lives in. Mrs. Heilman discusses the racial makeup of the neighborhood and the gradual decline of the appearance of the neighborhood over the years. She discusses the more recent problems of high school dropouts and lack of steady work for them, which she feels contributed to the increase in vandalism and other crimes. She also discusses the death of her husband from a massive stroke.
North Vernon, Indiana
caretaker
high school dropouts
rheumatic fever
Interviewee: | Jamerson, Arbie |
Call number: | 83-044 |
Date(s) of Interview: | December 5, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 120 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Arbie Jamerson, born February 11, 1940, discusses his experiences as a young African-American growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana in the nineteen fifties and sixties.
factory worker
African-Americans
Interviewee: | Johnson, Edna L. |
Call number: | 83-042 |
Date(s) of Interview: | October 10, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 80 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 103 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Mrs. Edna L. Johnson, born March 1, 1918 and died October 15, 1999, discusses her involvement throughout her life in the Civil Rights Movement and the labor movement. She discusses her time at National Malleable and Steel Castings in Indianapolis, Indiana where she helped vote in the UAW-CIO labor union. Later she became president of the local chapter. The union combatted both racial and sex discrimination in the workplace, advocating equal pay for equal work and desegregation of the work areas. During this time Mrs. Johnson was also an active member of many different civil rights organizations in Indianapolis. She discusses her political involvement as a lobbyist and poll worker for many years. She touches upon her work as a real estate broker. She initially struggled to find a sponsor to get a license to become an agent. She also had to overcome discrimination from other real estate brokers and agents, banks, mortgage lenders, and house sellers and buyers. She describes the problems of unemployment and police brutality in Indianapolis. Mrs. Johnson closes the interview by summing up her lifelong struggle to gain equal rights for African-Americans.
National Malleable and Steel Castings
Crispus Attucks High School
Human Rights Commission
Indiana Civil Rights Commission
NAACP
National Labor Relations Board
Progressive Party
UAW-CIO, Local 761
Hayes, Earl C.
Jones, Jim
Ransom, Willard B. "Mike"
Wallace, Henry A.
Haughville, Indiana
factory worker
real estate broker
union president
African-Americans
Civil Rights Movement
Great Depression
housing discrimination
labor movement
police brutality
racial discrimination
racial segregation
unemployment
unions
Interviewee: | Jones, Sam H., Sr. |
Call number: | 84-034 |
Date(s) of Interview: | July 7, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 84 minutes; no index; brochure about Indianapolis Urban League; resumé of interviewee; issue of June/July 1981 Dollars & Sense magazine |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Sam H. Jones, Sr., born March 3, 1928, discusses his experiences as an African-American professional. He discusses his career as a social worker and his involvement as president of the Indianapolis Urban League.
Indianapolis Urban League
social worker
African-Americans
Interviewee: | Jordan, Merle |
Call number: | 83-050 |
Date(s) of Interview: | November 20, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 46 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Harrah-Conforth, Jeanne |
Merle Jordan, born September 16, 1920 and died July 31, 1999, was born and raised in Indianapolis as an only child. He discovered at an early age he was proficient at mathematics and decided after high school to become an accountant. He attended Butler University through a special program allowing him to work as a groundskeeper in exchange for free tuition. He finished a few semesters but was unable to continue for financial reasons and so got a full time job while finishing up the degree part time. Mr. Jordan worked a variety of jobs over the years as a taxi cab driver, an accountant at RCA, and an agent for the Internal Revenue Service. He took an early retirement from RCA and spends his days socializing with friends, taking long walks with his dog, reading, and occasionally doing some accounting work for friends and neighbors.
Butler University
Internal Revenue Service
RCA
accountant
Interviewee: | Lilly, Naomi |
Call number: | 83-051 |
Date(s) of Interview: | November 22, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 43 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Harrah-Conforth, Jeanne |
Naomi Lilly, born March 7, 1924, was born and raised in Kentucky, where her father worked in coal mines. In the nineteen fifties she and her husband came to Indianapolis, Indiana in search of better paying jobs. She first worked in a laundry, but then got a position in a nursing home as a nurse's aide. She worked there for about ten years before retiring. Three years after the death of her first husband, Mrs. Lilly met and married Arnold Lilly. Mrs. Lilly quilts and does applique and fabric painting on shirts. Mr. Lilly enjoys oil paint-by-numbers.
Lilly, Arnold
Kentucky
nurse's aide
coal mines
nursing homes
quilting
Interviewee: | Monroe, Lois Aletha |
Call number: | 83-023 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 20, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 25 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 25 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Lois Aletha Monroe, born September 3, 1911 and died December 19, 1995, discusses her life in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was born in Columbus, Indiana, but she moved to Indianapolis at an early age with her family. She left high school at the age of 16 to find work to help support her family. She worked at Blocks Department Store in various positions for over forty years. She met her husband there, and stayed with him even through a bout with alcoholism until he died of a stroke at the age of 61. Her two sons finished high school and are living in different states. As a retired woman, Mrs. Monroe took care of her mother until her death. Currently Mrs. Monroe enjoys reading and visiting the senior citizen's center.
Block's Department Store
alcoholism
Interviewee: | Morgan, Cammie |
Call number: | 83-019 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 13, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 19 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 23 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Cammie Morgan, born November 14, 1983 and died September 12, 1993, grew up in Kentucky where her family worked as tenant farmers. She married at the age of 16. She and her family moved to Indianapolis before the Great Depression in search of better paying jobs. Her husband worked a variety of jobs including with the light company, with the Works Progress Administration, and with a canning factory. Mrs. Morgan got a job at Goodwill Industries after her husband died in 1942, where she stayed until she retired. Although Mrs. Morgan initially did not like Indianapolis, she has become settled in her home and enjoys visiting Fletcher Place, a community center for senior citizens.
Fletcher Place
Goodwill Industries
Kentucky
senior citizens
tenant farming
Interviewee: | Padilla, Hilda S. |
Call number: | 83-020 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 20, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 34 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Lopez, Consuelo |
Hilda S. Padilla, born June 1, 1958, was born in the Honduras and immigrated to Indianapolis, Indiana. Mrs. Padilla currently works as a secretary and is enrolled in an English as a second language (ESL) class. She enjoys interior decorating.
Honduras
secretary
ESL class
interior decorating
Interviewee: | Parker, Admiral Duarey |
Call number: | 83-007 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 15, 1983 - March 16, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 59 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 65 minutes; index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Wolford, John |
Admiral Duarey Parker, born February 14, 1904, was born in Georgia where his parents owned a farm. He and his family moved to Indianapolis in search of better work after boll weevils destroyed their cotton crop. Over the years Mr. Parker has held a variety of jobs in construction, in saw mills, and on farms. Mr. Parker currently lives with his niece.
Georgia
laborer
African-Americans
adultery
boll weevils
cotton farming
Interviewee: | Pointer, Gladys Sadler |
Call number: | 83-015 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 30, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 30 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 75 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Wolford, John |
Gladys Sadler Pointer, born March 10, 1917 and died April 11, 2001, speaks of her life growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was born in Kentucky where her father was a farmer. She, her mother, and siblings moved to Indianapolis to live with a grandmother in 1923 after her father died. Mrs. Pointer's mother got a job as a laundress for the Boatright family, who were connected to the Ankrun Ice Cream Company. The entire family worked as janitors in the offices during the Depression. Eventually Mrs. Pointer's mother made enough money to purchase property on the west side of Indianapolis, where Mrs. Pointer and her sister still live today. Mrs. Pointer never had children, but she was the foster mother of three children who were removed from abusive homes. Mrs. Pointer's husband, Casey Green, was a cement contractor who belonged to Cement Workers Local #532 for many years. In the nineteen sixties, Mr. Green felt the calling to go into the ministry and started the New Life Baptist Church. Mrs. Pointer has been active in a few different churches over the years through music, signing in choirs, and playing the organ. She also has strong religious beliefs that guide her in her everyday life. When Mrs. Pointer was younger she was employed in the foundry at International Harvester. She was an active member of the union there and was the union's secretary for five years. Mrs. Pointer touches upon the racial make-up of the neighborhoods in Indianapolis, which she feels has gone from mostly segregated to integrated. She also comments on the quality of the public school system, which she feels has not improved over the years. She talks about the Indianapolis Police Department, which she feel protects her area pretty well. She does not think police brutality is a big problem. Mrs. Pointer discusses housing discrimination, especially about the eviction notice that was given to her foster daughter in 1982, which she feels was due to discrimination.
Ankrum Ice Cream Company
Crispus Attucks High School
International Brotherhood of Cement Workers Local
532
International Harvester Company
Magnolia Baptist Church
New Life Missionary Baptist Church
Shiloh Baptist Church
Village Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church
Boatright
Green, Casey
Pointer, Howard
Detroit, Michigan
Prospect, Kentucky
factory worker
organist
African-Americans
Great Depression
cement masons
child abuse
foster parents
housing discrimination
police brutality
school segregation
unions
Interviewee: | Price, Berniece |
Call number: | 83-022 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 6, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 25 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 28 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Berniece Price, born January 6, 1900, discusses her life history. Her family moved to Indianapolis from a small farming community in southern Indiana in 1910 in search of better paying jobs. Mrs. Price left school at thirteen and began work at a glove factory. She worked until she married at the age of seventeen. After a few years she divorced her first husband and went back to work. When she married a second time she quit work and became a full-time mother. After her second husband's heart attack, she worked at the Murat Shrine as a caterer until she retired. Mrs. Price is a member of the Baptist church, has eight children, and enjoys quilting.
homemaker
quilting
Interviewee: | Ransom, Willard B. "Mike" |
Call number: | 83-036 |
Date(s) of Interview: | July 18, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 61 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 97 minutes; index; biographical data of interviewee; article in July 26, 1982 Indianapolis Magazine about interviewee |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Willard B. "Mike" Ransom, born May 17. 1916 and died November 7, 1995, was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, attended Crispus Attucks High School, and then Talladega College. In the late nineteen thirties he attended Harvard Law School. After graduating he returned to Indianapolis to practice law with his father, but instead was drafted into the United States Army during World War II. During the war he was first an Army pilot at the Edgewood Arsenal. He was then moved to the Tuskeegee Airbase to the chemical warfare division. He finished out the war in France and Belgium in the judge advocate general's office. Upon returning to Indianapolis in 1946 he joined his father's law firm once again and became involved in the early Civil Rights Movement and left-wing politics. Mr. Ransom was heavily involved with the Progressive Party, and even ran for Congress on the Progressive Party's ticket, earning him the distinction of being the first African-American to run for Congress in Marion County. He was also a member of the NAACP, serving as the president for the Indiana chapter for five years. As an attorney Mr. Ransom and his father handled the accounts of the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Mr. Ransom also worked on many bills dealing with civil rights issues for the Indiana legislature. He helped try a case of racial discrimination involving a mortgage loan denied to an African-American couple by the Railroad Federal Savings and Loan Association. Mr. Ransom touches upon the issues of housing discrimination and school segregation in Indianapolis over the years. He talk about the history of his family and speaks of his father's work as an African- American lawyer in Indianapolis. He also discusses his idea for an organization for African-Americans that promotes economic development . He sees the widening gap between the African-American upper middle class and lower classes as one of the biggest problems facing African-Americans today.
Black Business League
Columbia Law School
Communist Party
Crispus Attucks High School
Democratic Party
Edgewood Arsenal
Eli Lilly and Company
Galyans
Harvard Law School
Indiana Civil Rights Commission
Ku Klux Klan
Madame C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company
Marion County Bar Association
NAACP
People United to Serve Humanity
Progressive Party
Socialist Worker's Party
Talladega College
Tuskegee Army Air Base
UAW-CIO
United States Army
United States Army Judge Advocate General
Corps
Brokenburr, Robert Lee
King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Ransom, Freeman B.
Richardson, Henry
Walker, Madame C. J.
Wallace, Henry A.
attorney
African-American economic development
African-American upper middle class
African-Americans
Civil Rights Movement
Great Depression
McCarthyism
United States Army pilots
World War II
chemical warfare
civil rights legislation
congressional candidacy
football
housing discrimination
military discrimination
racial discrimination
school segregation
Interviewee: | Richardson, Henry |
Call number: | 83-033 |
Date(s) of Interview: | July 6, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 4 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 217 minutes; no index; issue of Summer 1970 Urban News; copy of protest against defeat of House Bill 114 presented by interviewee; newspaper article about interviewee; article from Indianapolis News about interviewee; letter to the editor from interviewee in December 23, 1982 Indianapolis News; Congressional Record proceedings from 93rd Congress session; booklet from ceremony honoring interviewee |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Henry Richardson, born June 21, 1902 and died December 1983, was an Indianapolis, Indiana attorney. He discusses African-American history to 1926, segregation in the South, and the Civil Rights Movement.
attorney
African-American history
African-Americans
Civil Rights Movement
racial segregation
Interviewee: | Roark, Arkie |
Call number: | 83-027 |
Date(s) of Interview: | June 7, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Arkie Roark, born April 14, 1914 and died July 6, 1998, discusses life in Indianapolis, especially regarding unemployment.
unemployment
Interviewee: | Schilling, Joann |
Call number: | 83-017 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 13, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 32 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 45 minutes; index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Joann Schilling, born July 8, 1911 and died October 15, 1998, was put into a foster home at the age of three after her birth mother died. At the age of 17 her foster parents died, and she moved to Indianapolis to be with her birth family. She married soon after and raised three stepchildren. She divorced her first husband after 25 years due to his alcoholism. She married another man, whom she left after six weeks, again due to alcoholism. Mrs. Schilling thinks the police department does not do a good job of protecting her neighborhood, but she feels that the fire department is wonderful. They called an ambulance for her when she fell on the street and broke her hip a few years ago. Currently Mrs. Schilling enjoys her cat, quilting, crocheting and visiting and acquaintance in Brown County, Indiana.
Columbia Cleaners
Fletcher Place
Lane Bryant
U.S. Rubber Company
Patton, Billy
Brown County, Indiana
Lagrange, Indiana
Shelbyville, Indiana
nurse's aide
Great Depression
Korean War
World War II
alcoholism
church revivals
crocheting
divorce
foster children
quilting
Interviewee: | Shadowens, Oma |
Call number: | 83-009 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 23, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 40 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Oma Shadowens, born January 30 ,1907, discusses her life on a small farm in Kentucky and her move to Indianapolis, Indiana.
Kentucky
Interviewee: | Shobe, Frank |
Call number: | 83-043 |
Date(s) of Interview: | October 24, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 120 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Frank Shobe, born December 1, 1913 and died June 12, 1988, discusses his job at International Harvester, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 226, and race relations in Indianapolis, Indiana.
International Harvester Company
United Auto Workers, Local 226
factory worker
racial discrimination
Interviewee: | Shortridge, Al "Hubert" |
Call number: | 83-018 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 13, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 13 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 22 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Al "Hubert" Shortridge, born June 6, 1906, in Southport, Kentucky and moved to Indianapolis at the age of four with his family who were searching for better paying jobs. His father left the family a few years later, leaving his mother to raise twelve children on her own. Mr. Shortridge left school at fourteen to find a job to support his family. He eventually got a job as an electrician and started singing in nightclubs in the evenings and weekends. Eventually he saved enough money from his singing career to purchase a Dairy Queen franchise. Mr. Shortridge comments on the Urbington neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana where he has lived for many years. He also describes the achievements of some the younger members of his immediate and extended family.
Dairy Queen
Jolsen, Al
Southport, Kentucky
Urbington, Indianapolis, Indiana
electrician
singer
blackface performance
nineteen twenties
singing
Interviewee: | Smith, Ethel |
Call number: | 83-012 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 24, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 46 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Ethel Smith, born July 20, 1899 and died October 1986, discusses her move from Kentucky to Indianapolis, Indiana. She also discusses African-American life in Indianapolis.
Kentucky
Interviewee: | Smith, Ethel |
Call number: | 83-047 |
Date(s) of Interview: | November 7, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 32 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Harrah-Conforth, Jeanne |
Ethel Smith, born July 20, 1899 and died October 1986, was born and raised in the Louisville, Kentucky area on farms. As a young adult she moved to Indianapolis in search of better work. Later, her daughter and mother joined her. Mrs. Smith held a variety of jobs through the years, most recently as a supervisor at a juvenile center. She describes her duties there and the situations of some of the girls she supervised. Even though Mrs. Smith is retired, she continues to volunteer her time taking care of elderly neighbors and friends. Mrs. Smith also talks about her daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Indiana State Library
Wishard Memorial Hospital
caretaker
nurse's aide
juvenile centers
Interviewee: | Taylor, Annie L. |
Call number: | 83-052 |
Date(s) of Interview: | November 30, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Harrah-Conforth, Jeanne |
Annie L. Taylor describes her life in Indianapolis, Indiana.
local history
Interviewee: | Thompson, George J. |
Call number: | 83-032 |
Date(s) of Interview: | July 7, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
George J. Thompson, born September 9, 1922, talks about growing up and living in Indianapolis, Indiana. He also describes the history of the , where he currently works as the business manager.
Indianapolis
Recorder
business manager
Interviewee: | Tookes, Thelma |
Call number: | 83-008 |
Date(s) of Interview: | March 23, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 24 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 51 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Thelma Tookes, born February 10, 1905 and died May 12, 1983, was born and raised in Oklahoma and grew up moving around Oklahoma and Texas, following the various jobs her father had. His work included tenant farming, oil drilling, and grocery store owner. Mrs. Tookes married an insurance salesman at the age of nineteen and moved to the Louisville, Kentucky area to live near his family. During the Great Depression the couple moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at the request of Mr. Tookes' company to train more insurance salesmen. She discusses her two children, a boy and a girl, and her stepsons. She touches upon the places she has lived in Indianapolis. Mrs. Tooke also talks about her hobbies, quilting and crocheting. She mentions her love of her job at Fletcher Place in the thrift store where she can interact with many different kinds of people.
Fletcher Place
Louisville, Kentucky
Oklahoma
Texas
thrift store manager
Great Depression
Methodist church
boarding houses
crocheting
hoboes
midwifery
oil drilling
oil fields
quilting
stepchildren
streetcars
tenant farming
Interviewee: | Torres, Maria Catalina |
Call number: | 83-021 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 15, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 37 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Restricted: permission of interviewee to be granted prior to any use of quotations |
Interviewer: | Lopez, Consuelo |
Maria Catalina Torres discusses growing up in Cuba and living in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Cuba
Interviewee: | Waldo, Winifred; Hyldan, Esther |
Call number: | 83-048 |
Date(s) of Interview: | November 10, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 45 pp.; 1 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 105 minutes |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Harrah-Conforth, Jeanne |
Winifred Waldo, born May 18, 1922, discusses her life in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was born in northern Indiana but she moved to Indianapolis at the age of nine months. Before she was married Mrs. Waldo was able to complete two years of college at Butler University. She has been married three times and has two daughters and a son, whose accomplishments she describes. Mrs. Waldo's caseworker at Fletcher Place, Ethel Hyldan, speaks for the latter part of the interview. She describes her relationship with Mrs. Waldo and her other clients. Ms. Hyldan also discusses the history of Fletcher Place and the services it provides today. She also talks about the history of Fountain Square, the neighborhood where Fletcher Place is located.
Butler University
Clowes Hall
Emmanuel Baptist Church
Fletcher Place
Indianapolis, Indiana
Asheville, North Carolina
caterer
social worker
Great Depression
alcoholism
mental illness
printing business
railroad workers
senior citizens
transient population
Interviewee: | Walker, Margaret Jane |
Call number: | 83-046 |
Date(s) of Interview: | November 7, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette. 1 7/8 ips, 60 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Harrah-Conforth, Jeanne |
Margaret Jane Walker, born October 3, 1919 and died November 1986, discusses living in Indianapolis, Indiana.
railroad workers
Interviewee: | Wilborn, Elnora |
Call number: | 83-024 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 20, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 30 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 30 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Cornish, Erin |
Elnora Wilborn, born May 10, 1915, has lived most of her life in Arkansas. She grew up on a tenant farm. She left school after third grade to help take care of her siblings. She married another farmer at the age of twenty. Mrs. Wilborn talks about cotton farming and harvesting. She also worked as a nurse's aide in a nursing home for many years. Mrs. Wilborn discusses midwifery, and her experiences delivering babies to friends and neighbors in their homes. Mrs. Wilborn only recently moved to Indianapolis to live with her brother after her husband died. She discusses her difficulty in learning to read and write her own name.
Arkansas
farmer
nurse's aide
cotton farming
granny women
literacy
midwifery
miscarriages
nursing homes
racial segregation
soap making
tenant farming
Interviewee: | Williams, Carl Thomas |
Call number: | 83-016 |
Date(s) of Interview: | April 21, 1983 |
Physical Description: | 53 pp.; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 57 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Wolford, John |
Carl Thomas "Nookey" Williams, born July 17, 1920 and died October 30, 1991, discusses his life in Indianapolis, Indiana. Although he was born in Kentucky, he moved to Indianapolis at the age of six months. He finished high school and immediately went to work as a cook in various hotels across the city to support his ailing mother. After marrying young, he divorced his first wife Sarah Lee Laskey, and roamed the Midwest, supporting himself by gambling on poker games and picking up odd jobs. After the Great Depression he came back to Indianapolis to take care of his mother and worked a number of different jobs in the defense industry. During this time he also had six children by his live-in girlfriend, Hazel Woodford. They lived in Lochfield Gardens. Eventually he was able to buy a house and plot of land in Indianapolis. Mr. Williams discusses the medical conditions that kept him from being drafted during World War II. He talks about all his children. He also discusses housing discrimination and police brutality in Indianapolis.
Bethany Baptist Church
Laskey, Sarah Lee
Woodford, Hazel
Indianapolis, Indiana
Louisville, Kentucky
cook
custodian
Baptist church
Great Depression
Underground Railroad
World War II
alcoholism
gambling
heart disease
homemade butter
housing discrimination
motorcycles
oil painting
poker
police brutality
slavery
tenant farming
Interviewee: | Williams, Eddie |
Call number: | 83-045 |
Date(s) of Interview: | December 5, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 48 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Eddie Williams, born February 1, 1942, speaks of his involvement with United Auto Workers (UAW), Local 1111 at the Ford Motor Company.
Ford Motor Company
United Auto Workers, Local 1111
Interviewee: | Williams, O. D. |
Call number: | 83-029 |
Date(s) of Interview: | June 21, 1983 |
Physical Description: | untranscribed; 1 cassette, 1 7/8 ips, 31 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Reverend O. D. Williams, born September 4, 1905, discusses his life in Mississippi, and his moving to Indianapolis, Indiana and Akron, Ohio.
Akron, Ohio
Mississippi
minister
Interviewee: | Womack, Robert Walter |
Call number: | 83-030 |
Date(s) of Interview: | June 29 ,1983 |
Physical Description: | 56 pp.; 2 cassettes, 1 7/8 ips, 90 minutes; no index |
Physical Location: | Interviews are housed in Weatherly Hall North, Room 122. Copies are also housed at the Indiana University Archives in Herman B Wells Library E460. For other locations housing the interviews from this project, please contact the Center for the Study of History and Memory office. |
Access Status: | Open |
Interviewer: | Stone, Greg |
Robert Walter Womack, born July 10, 1916 and died December 1984, moved around a lot during his childhood, following his father who was a Methodist minister. During high school and college Mr. Womack became interested in music and started performing in marching bands, big bands, jazz bands, and swing bands. After graduation from college he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and formed a series of big band groups that performed across the country. Mr. Womack discusses the music scene in Indianapolis, mentioning many famous jazz musicians that he had the opportunity to work with. He discusses the problem of racial discrimination and how it affected his travels with the bands he performed with. He also discusses the Lockefield riot in Indianapolis. He talks about the depressed economic status of the African-American community and school violence. Mr. Womack also speaks of his family's history, including his father's participation in the NAACP and the National Council of Churches. He participated in civil rights marches in Washington, DC, and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Womack and his father are both mentioned in . Mr. Womack was employed as the music editor at the .
Black Panthers
Boy Scouts of America Bugle Corps
Charlotte High School
Crispus Attucks High School
Indianapolis
Recorder
Indianapolis Musicians Local 3
NAACP
National Council of Churches
Southern Railroad
Spellman College
University of Illinois
Baker, David
Basie, Count
Blake, Clinton
Calloway, Cap
Carter, Benny
Cole, Nat King
Ellington, Duke
Goodman, Benny
Hampton, Lionel
Hike, Ernie
Johnson, J. J.
Smith, Floyd
Womack, Arthur Walter
Bricknell Hill, Indiana
Charlotte, North Carolina
Indianapolis, Indiana
St. Louis, Missouri
Tennessee
Washington, DC
journalist
musician
1966 Lockefield Riot
Civil Rights Movement
Methodist church
Vietnam War
Who's Who Among African
Americans
World War II
big band music
blues music
crime rates
jazz music
police brutality
racial discrimination
racial segregation
school violence
swing music
unemployment