Introduction to Oral History

Ecology of the Mississippi Delta I. Delta mystique II. Geography a. Delta of the Yazoo river not MS River III. Environment a. Rivers b. Wilderness IV. Cultural-Social Meanings V. Settlement VI. Civil War and Emancipation a. African American VII. Moderation of The delta 1865-1920 a. Building of levees to control flooding b. Outside corporations VIII. Cotton culture IX. Frustration of African American delta dream X. African American Culture a. Blues b. Religion XI. Great Migration a. Movement into urban areas XII. Diversity of Delta population a. Chinese to work on railroad XIII. Mississippi River Flood 1927 a. Flood control act- built worlds largest system of lakes XIV. Civil rights Movements a. Emmet Till b. Citizens Council c. KKK d. Civil Rights Activists XV. Global Delta a. Global companies Guest Speaker Date, Name of interviewee, your name, subject of interview, Interview #, - Be careful of background noise - Have a flow chart of where the interview should go - Be aware of audience - Find someone who will talk enough - Want the interview to flow like a conversation - Find someone who wont ramble - Inqscribe- Website for transcription Midterm - Blue Book - 2 sections - Short answer q’s 50 pts -7 questions and you choose 5 - Longer essay section 50 pts - connect the 2 books -2 q’s and choose 1 A Turn in the South -Naipaul Travel Book -Journeying through the south * Europeans * Northerners * Contemporary -Themes * Multicultural Societies * History * Social Class -Aristocracy -“Rednecks” * Leaders * Religion -Caribbean in the South *Geography -Region 1. Deep South - Haitian Revolution (1790’s) - Atlantic World 1. Economics 2. Christianity * Environment -Southern Colony * World Capitalist System 1. Centers and Periphery 2. Dependency * Multi Racial Societies 1. White Southerners 2. Black Southerners - South & Empire * Manifest Destiny * Purple dream- South’s version * Emancipation * Confederates * Spanish American War

SST | 560 | Introduction to Oral History | study guides | Ecology of the Mississippi Del

Part 2 extended answer question 1 of 2  Broad question that asks you to connect works from accress the semester. That means you will have to refer to at least one of the books we read before the midterm  Books o Ecology of a Cracker Childhood- memoir, environmental history o Oral history- novel o A turn in the south- travel marrative o Memphis and paradox of place-  Films o Mississippi Masala o Mystery Train Ecology- a complicated set of interrelationships

SST | 560 | Introduction to Oral History | study guides | Part 2 extended answer questio

explores the changes for her family over the years, she also interviews friends and neighbors and applies journalistic objectivity to the impacts of old storms and new ones. Looking back to Hurricane Camille, a category 5 storm in August of 1969 that flattened most of the Mississippi coast and killed 259, Trethewey finds that the region's people, including herself and her family, have lived with a sense of vulnerability and a certain fatalism ever since. Going further back, she sees the pattern of development that class and racial segregation created, which her uncle recognized when he returned from World War II. Uncle "Son" worked hard to overcome those barriers, and was able to open a small nightclub that funded his steady acquisition of rental properties in the black neighborhood of North Gulfport. Repairing the run-down places, he provided affordable housing to his community. Trethewey shows us the ripples of such individual action. Yet those rentals were to be her younger brother's inheritance, and their loss to Katrina set him on a desperate path and forced many neighbors out. A small island offshore, Dog Key was the gambling and gangster center of Gulfport when her Uncle "Son" was building some security, but the island disappeared under water after the 24-foot storm surge of Camille. To keep the gaming offshore, when Gulfport reinvented itself in the 1970s casinos were located on boats and barges. They provided jobs and brought tourist dollars, yet the city struggled to recover. Then Katrina wiped out most of those vessels, and Trethewey discovers the ambivalence of the populace toward the current development of those casinos as on-shore facilities, restricting beach access and small business development, and pricing locals out of the new housing. There is much social and political information to ponder here. Yet it is the family saga woven through this cultural history that is most compelling. In anecdotes and photos, Trethewey's relatives are real and their places in Gulfport's story bring the town to life for the reader. Her lyrical poems give us yet another view and reveal the author's personal experience and insight in a direct way, with images that linger. Though the form is sometimes strained by its disparate parts, the several approaches to Gulfport's tragedy and endurance do provide a broader understanding than any simple piece of journalism could do. The people are genuine and their day-to-day reality becomes clear as Trethewey gives them voice. As she meditates on her home place, skipping across the waters of memory and the map of facts, Gulfport becomes a place to love, and a narrative of importance. Once again a storm has altered its story, and Trethewey's work calls for our help and concern as Gulfport begins a new chapter.  Films o Mississippi Masala o Mystery Train - Ecology o A complicated set of interrelationships o Idea of home, essence of place o People, place, cultural practices, power of individual voices, history environment - Multiple “Souths” - Regions are constructed - South as a paradox

SST | 560 | Introduction to Oral History | study guides | explores the changes for her f

Oral History Project- Introduction Payton Klatt Due: April 3 rd McKee/Wilson Johns Creek, GA I chose to conduct my interview on a guy that lives on my hall in my dorm. His name is James Dameron and he is from Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb about 30 minutes north of Atlanta. James and I have had several conversations about Johns Creek in the elevator or on the way to classes. We initially made the connection after finding out we share a mutual friend that went to his high school. Since he seemed like he knew a lot about the area and was enthusiastic about it I decided to interview him for the Oral History Project. The interview took place on Saturday March 22 nd in one of the study rooms in our dorm. I chose this place because it is a plain room so nothing would take away from his focus on the topic and no outside noise or distractions would interrupt. Overall the interview was very successful and I feel it was adequate for me to learn about the area. There are very little connections to be made between Johns Creek and the books we have read. In Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Janisse Ray was from Baxley, GA but Baxley and Johns Creek are separated by 4 hours and 225 miles. The two places couldn’t be any more different, with Baxley being a blue collar and very poor town and Johns Creek being majority upper middle class people with white-collar jobs. A connection between James and one of the subjects from Oral History was his enthusiasm. James, having lived in Johns Creek for half his life was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the area and relates to Granny Younger in Lee Smith’s Oral History. Granny Younger was enthusiastic about her holler after living there her whole life and knowing nothing else. The way James had previously talked about Johns Creek and the way he spoke of it in the interview reminded me of Granny Youngers enthusiasm for her holler. A connection that I made between the Johns Creek area and the Mississippi Delta came from a class discussion. The connection was that the population and the jobs in that area had an overwhelming effect on the ecology of that place. In the Mississippi Delta, the farming background and the historical slave country has left a lasting impact on the area. It affects everyday life like the food from the region and even the historic jazz and blues music from the area. Like the Delta the jobs and population affects the ecology of Johns Creek. However, this area is majority white-collar and middle class. This can affect the area by the general snootiness of the citizens to non-wealthy outsiders and the socioeconomic driven nature of the area. Both areas are affect by the population and the jobs they hold. The interview did a wonderful job of furthering my understanding of the Johns Creek area and the Atlanta region as a whole. It was great to get a first person look into the area and see how a citizen feels about the area. Johns Creek was a foreign place to me before conducting the interview and now I feel like I have a great understanding of it along with other Atlanta suburbs. It helped me grasp the changing metropolitan hubs in the South like Atlanta, Birmingham or Memphis along with the suburbs that accompany them. I now understand the population shifts into suburbs and why they happen. Overall I furthered my knowledge and understanding of not only Johns Creek, but also other suburbs around metropolitan areas around the whole South.

SST | 560 | Introduction to Oral History | study guides | Oral History Project- Introduc

Oral_History_Project_interview.docx-Oral History Project- Transcribed Interview Payton

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