Search Interviews

Conversation with grandmother about the integration of elementary school

James Davis, age 16, interviews his neighbor, author Ralph Stokes, born in 1953, about his experiences as a football player and being one of the first African Americans to be integrated during the Civil Rights Movement.

Mentor and mentee Fr. Donal Godfrey (64) and Leandro Gonzalez (38) talk about their experiences as openly gay men in the Catholic Church. They reflect on their faith journeys, their lives in San Francisco, and their friendship.

Kiplyn Primus (62) talks with her friend Myrna Clayton [no age given] about their experiences growing up.

Carlissia, 21, interviews Sylverna, 57, about growing up in Virginia and Baltimore during the Civil Rights Movement, her interest in libraries, becoming Dean of Libraries at the University of Memphis, and the problems facing African Americans today.

Lois Larsen Walker (73) talks to her daughter, Donna Walker James (48), about living in Alexandria. She recounts saving bricks from demolished buildings, fighting for school integration, and contributing to the community.

Friends Gail Mondoux (77) and Tracy Shaughnessy (62) talk about Tracy's experience being bused to a predominantly Black school in Tacoma.

Steve Montgomery, the head pastor of Idlewild Presbyterian, takes a look back at his 18 years of service and shares his lessons learned and wisdom from ministry.

Colleagues Halima Ahmadi-Montecalvo (41) and Noura Bashshur [no age given] discuss their experiences as women of color in the United States and their work in health technology.

Chandra Blackwell, 40, interviews her mother Nadine Blackwell, 80, about her memory and involvement in Brown vs. the Board of Education, integrating the Topeka Fire Department, and integrating the downtown Topeka restaurants.

In the midst of the pandemic my family has been blessed with new life. I spoke with my Aunt Jewel about the experience of becoming a great-grandma during the outbreak. I thought I knew my aunt pretty well but this...

Anna Amesbury Pless Peel (38) has a conversation with her father, Larry [No Name Given] (71), about his maternal grandmother, Anna Laura.

Acclaimed international musician, William Foster McDaniel shares how his formative experiences with the YMCA of Central Ohio and seven years as a camper at YMCA Camp Willson changed his life.

Della Kostelnik Juarez (61) tells her daughter Julia Juarez-Kostelnik (22) about her experiences participating in a voluntary bussing/racial transfer program as an elementary school student in Seattle. Della describes how being the only white kid in a predominantly Black school...

Dennis Faherty (61) interviews his wife, Pat Faherty (62), about her childhood memories, and she shares her experiences growing up all over the country.

John Staley interviews his parents Carl and Julie Staley. The group talk about their careers, favorite family memories and proudest family moments.

Ed Hall and his sister Toni Baker talk about their earliest years in Mobile, Alabama. Toni talks about her education at diocesan schools--St. Peter Claver and Heart of Mary--and at Michigan State University in Lansing.

Diane "Dee" Kurtz (90) talks with her friends Jackie Berkelhamer (77) and Deborah Payne (73) about her childhood, her family, the places she has lived, and other life experiences.

My dad, Frank Fregoso, told me about the multiple elementary and middle schools he attended in Corpus Christi. We talked about their differences in location, facility, demographics, and what it was like to be a “neighborhood kid” in the 70s...

Andy Phelan (53) talks with his friend long time Civil and Human Rights Activist John Evans (86) about John's childhood, his education, and his career to include being Dekalb County's 1st African American Commissioner.

In this interview, conducted December 7, 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee, Isabella Brewer (15) interviews her grandmother Charlotte Brewer (63) about her life in multiple small towns in Arkansas in the Southern United States. Ms. Brewer describes her experience in school...

During this interview, we discuss my grandmother’s life experiences, focusing on segregation and the Civil Rights Movement.

Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law Tonia Reaves (51) and Robin Young (23) talk about their experiences in school. They reflect on the impact of racism on their educational upbringings, their experiences adapting to multi-racial school environments, and their hopes for future generations.

Julie Peck 72 and Bill Lynch 75 discussed the development of Bill's social justice philosophy from a Quaker high school, through law school at U of Chicago, becoming a conscientious objector after ROTC, teaching in a changing school system.

Brian Kuzel (49) and Genevieve Osayame (56) discuss Brian's career in the church, what brought him to Alaska, his work abroad, and what the future holds.