The Engaging the Wisdom program, a component of the Racial Healing Initiative of the Society for History and Racial Equity, is an interracial, inter-generational program that will explore new and creative ways for youth and elders to connect. Program goals are to (a) engage students in meaningful activities that will engender greater respect for elders in the community, (b) build bridges across generations and ethnicities, (c) involve students in oral history projects that will increase their knowledge of the history of the community.
As part of the Engaging the Wisdom project, SHARE has collaborated in an oral history project with Dr. Bruce Mills and his English Seminar class, Building the Archive: Baldwin and His Legacy at Kalamazoo College.
History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations. (James Baldwin)
In February of 1960, James Baldwin delivered an address, “In Search of a Majority,” at Stetson Chapel at Kalamazoo College which he later included in his collection of essays, Nobody Knows My Name. The Baldwin and His Legacy seminar approached Baldwin’s visit and writings as a site of analysis. As an actual event, the occasion left a record (correspondence, publicity, newspaper accounts, published essay). Through a close reading of Baldwin and his milieu, the course invited students to engage critically in what we carry within us. To deepen their understanding of Baldwin and the period, they researched in the Kalamazoo College Archives and students were trained by SHARE to conduct interviews of people involved in Kalamazoo community initiatives during the civil rights era.
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Interview with Dr. Lisa Brock, Part 1
Dr. Lisa Brock
Part 1 of two part interview with Dr. Lisa Brock recorded on April 29, 2015. Dr. Brock is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Buffy Satchwell as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Brock discusses the following topics:
- History of parents and grandparents living in southern Ohio;
- Childhood memories of neighborhood, growing up in a tight-knit black community;
- Experiences of education from elementary through high school;
- Attending Oberlin college and Howard University, a HBCU;
- Memories of influences that motivated involvement in activism;
- Story of seeing Martin Luther King, Jr. speak;
- Memories of 1968 in Washington D.C during the riots and the Civil Rights Movement;
- Discussion of African American history;
- Stories of activist work in countries like Cuba, Mozambique, and South Africa;
- Discussion of work in the Anti-Apartheid movement in the 1980s and 90s.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Lisa Brock, Part 2
Dr. Lisa Brock
Part 2 of two part interview with Dr. Lisa Brock recorded on May 15, 2015. Dr. Brock is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Buffy Satchwell as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society’s) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During this interview Dr. Brock discusses the following topics:
- Discussion of social justice work at Kalamazoo College with the Arcus Center;
- Comparison of past approaches in Civil Rights movements to current movements;
- Memories of high school and influential literature regarding social activism;
- Discussion of American history in the South and changes from the Civil Rights Movement;
- Examples in history of Apartheid and slavery;
- Story about Brock’s grandmother;
- Family histories learned by interviewing her grandparents;
- Discussion of the value of learning African-American history;
- Challenges faced as an African-American woman.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with John Chamberlin, Part 1
John Chamberlin
Part 1 of two part interview with John Chamberlin recorded on May 24, 2013. Mr. Chamberlin is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Melissa Acosta as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Chamberlin discusses the following topics:
- Fostering a love of music and performing as a child;
- Experiences working as a musical therapist;
- Favorite artists, musical styles, and instruments;
- Various musical projects and bands, including “Sweet Maya”;
- Growing up with a great aunt;
- Reprioritizing his musical endeavors;
- Interracial relationships.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with John Chamberlin, Part 2
John Chamberlin
Part 2 of two part interview with John Chamberlin recorded on May 24, 2013. Mr. Chamberlin is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Melissa Acosta as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Chamberlin discusses the following topics:
- Being raised by his grandparents and great aunt;
- How his upbringing influenced his choice of friends;
- Involvement in extracurricular activities in high school;
- Feelings of not belonging to either race;
- Regret at not being involved in or as knowledgeable about civil rights activism at the time;
- Experiences with segregation and integration;
- Relationship with the church;
- Experiences as a musician in Kalamazoo;
- Relationship with his mother and father;
- Struggles with raising a son with bi-polar disorder.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Lois Fisher, Part 1
Lois Fisher
Part 1 of two part interview with Lois Fisher recorded on January 25, 2016. Ms. Fisher is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Sarah Bragg as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Ms. Fisher discusses the following topics:
- Growing up in Washington, D.C.;
- Her family;
- Traveling to Memphis, Tennessee and prejudice faced while traveling;
- The Reformed Church and the family move to Kalamazoo;
- Loy Norrix High School and the discriminatory behaviors towards her and her friends;
- Experience at Western Michigan University;
- Discussion of how her parents instilled the necessity of education;
- First teaching experience at Washington Elementary;
- The Master’s Program for Middle School Education at Western Michigan University;
- The Kalamazoo Promise;
- Greatest accomplishments and children;
- Regrets of not knowing as much about her grandparents as she would like;
- Impacts of civil rights events at the time;
- Van Avery’s Drugstore boycott;
- Housing problems within the city of Kalamazoo;
- Opinions on Black Lives Matter movement.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Lois Fisher, Part 2
Lois Fisher
Part 2 of two part interview with Lois Fisher recorded on February 1, 2016. Ms. Fisher is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Sarah Bragg as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Ms. Fisher discusses the following topics:
- Her grandfather being told that he gets to vote for the first time;
- Her grandfather working at The Peabody Hotel;
- How religion impacted her view on civil rights movements;
- Friendships with non-blacks at Loy Norrix and memorable teachers;
- Protest at Van Avery Drugstore;
- Voting and zoning issues in Kalamazoo;
- Her involvement with the NAACP and the Young Democratic Club;
- Her father’s election as the first black on the county commission;
- The continuing need for the fight for civil rights;
- Dr. King’s assassination;
- Her father’s invitation to Dr. King’s funeral, and threats by the community to her family due to this;
- Advice to present-day activists.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Byron Foster, Part 1
Byron Foster
Part 1 of two part interview with Byron Foster recorded on January 29, 2015. Mr. Foster is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Hannah Bogard as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Foster discusses the following topics:
- History of family name and origins;
- Memories of childhood growing up in a lower-middle class neighborhood in Queens New York;
- Family values and participation in Cub and Boy Scouts and Jack and Jill organization;
- Memories of transitioning to junior high and high school;
- Hearing speeches of Malcom X and Martin Luther King;
- College life and the Freedom Rides;
- The passing of the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 and the changes that brought about;
- Affirmative Action and race relations in the Air Force;
- Work history, marriage, and move to Kalamazoo.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Byron Foster, Part 2
Byron Foster
Part 2 of two part interview with Byron Foster recorded on February 5, 2015. Mr. Foster is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Hannah Bogard as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Foster discusses the following topics:
- Memories of attending Howard University;
- Memories of speaker series at Howard including Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Bayard Rustin;
- Story of housing situation motivating involvement in the Civil Rights Movement;
- Description of Washington D.C. having a large black population due to government jobs;
- Memories of strong friendships developed at Howard;
- Description of traveling abroad serving in the Air Force;
- Memories of mentoring work with students at KVCC;
- Description of hope to start a youth-oriented program in Kalamazoo encouraging higher education.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Buddy Hannah, Part 1
Buddy Hannah
Part 1 of two part interview with Buddy Hannah recorded on May 9, 2013. Mr. Hannah is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Jenny Tarnoff as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Hannah discusses the following topics:
- Childhood growing up in Miami, Florida and on a farm in Georgia;
- Experience at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Western Michigan University;
- Work at his full-time job at Upjohn and as an artist;
- His artistic process;
- Experience during Vietnam and the influence it had on his life and his art;
- Involvement with the Black Arts and Cultural Center and the community;
- Kalamazoo: the art community and changes over the years;
- Music, writing, and theatre; specifically his most recent book;
- Race and segregation.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Buddy Hannah, Part 2
Buddy Hannah
Part 2 of two part interview with Buddy Hannah recorded on May 15, 2013. Mr. Hannah is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Jenny Tarnoff as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Hannah discusses the following topics:
- Childhood; the city compared to the country and the North compared to the South;
- Personal and political aspects of his writings;
- The Black Arts Movement; the possibilities and opportunities it presented;
- The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.;
- The Civil Rights Movement on a national and local level;
- Advice for young and aspiring artists.
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Interview with Dean Karen Joshua-Walthel, Part 1
Karen Joshua-Walthel
Part 1 of two part interview with Dean Karen Joshua-Walthel recorded on May 13, 2013. Dr. Joshua-Walthel is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Alex Norman as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Brock discusses the following topics:
- Childhood and growing up with a close-knit family;
- The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman;
- Experiences with race during high school;
- Comparing and contrasting Kalamazoo and Detroit;
- Her career in education and administration;
- Encountering and responding to racial issues at Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dean Karen Joshua-Walthel, Part 2
Karen Joshua-Walthel
Part 2 of two part interview with Dean Karen Joshua-Walthel recorded on May 14, 2013. Dean Joshua-Walthel is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Alexandra Norman as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dean Joshua-Walthel discusses the following topics:
- Mentors and influential people;
- Race in the family setting;
- The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman;
- Responding to issues regarding race;
- Experiences of students of color on campus;
- Strategies in career-related decision making;
- Creating impact on campus at Kalamazoo College;
- Curriculum development;
- Social justice issues.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Mollie Peterson, Part 1
Mollie Peterson
Part 1 of two part interview with Mollie Peterson recorded on April 24, 2015. Peterson is interviewed by Kalamazoo College studentAnya Opshinsky as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Peterson discusses the following topics:
- Moving from Little Rock, Arkansas to Missouri;
- Growing up and experiences with schooling in Missouri;
- Experiencing desegregation in high school;
- Moving to Kalamazoo, Michigan;
- Working in the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department;
- Living on the North Side of Kalamazoo;
- Attending Kellogg Community College and Spring Arbor University;
- Moving to Georgia;
- The importance of childhood education;
- Why she began writing to women;
- Religious experiences while growing up in Missouri and while living in Kalamazoo;
- Experiences on the Board of Education.
Additional files include full transcription, and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Mollie Peterson, Part 2
Mollie Peterson
Part 2 of two part interview with Mollie Peterson recorded on May 11, 2015. Peterson is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Anya Opshinsky as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Peterson discusses the following topics:
- Differences between experiencing the Civil Rights Movement in the country and the city;
- Women in the Black Power movement;
- Experiences with starting over;
- Sources for inspiration;
- Experiences with her caregivers in Missouri;
- Schooling experiences in Missouri;
- Going to a desegregated high school;
- Her childhood dreams;
- The idea of raising children in fear;
- The reprogramming of one’s mind;
- Influences from the Civil Rights movement;
- Ideas of sisterhood;
- Mistrust within the community;
- Representations of Black women in the media;
- Reading of My Voice Sings.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Phyllis Seabolt, Part 1
Phyllis Seabolt
Part 1 of two part interview with Phyllis Seabolt recorded on February 11, 2013. Seabolt is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Chandler Smith as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Seabolt discusses the following topics:
- Background of the historical figure after whom she was named, Phillis Wheatley;
- The importance of education;
- The ways in which her parents combatted racism and discrimination;
- The role of the Baptist church in family and community life;
- Experiences attending and teaching at Western Michigan University;
- Experience working as domestic help in exchange for room and board during college year;
- Experiences with discrimination despite academic excellence;
- Teaching in the Kalamazoo Public Schools;
- Protests in Kalamazoo during the Civil Rights Era;
- Achievements in the black community in Kalamazoo;
- Challenges and inequalities that persist to this day despite civil rights accomplishments.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Phyllis Seabolt, Part 2
Phyllis Seabolt
Part 2 of two part interview with Phyllis Seabolt recorded on February 15, 2013. Seabolt is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Chandler Smith as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Seabolt discusses the following topics:
- Experiences with discrimination as a child in Dowagiac, MI and as an adult in Kalamazoo, MI;
- The ways in which her parents (with a focus on her mother) fought for equal access for their children;
- Working as “domestic help” for a family off campus in exchange for room and board during her college years at Western Michigan University;
- The initial breakthrough of being able to teach home economics in the Kalamazoo Public Schools;
- Experiences as both a student and teacher in the public school system and at Western Michigan University;
- Observations of racial imbalances and desegregation in the public schools;
- Protests in Kalamazoo, MI;
- Life in Chicago as a young mother.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Caldin Street Part 1
Caldin Street
Part 1 of two part interview with Caldin Street recorded on April 29, 2015. Ms. Street is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Craig Isser as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Ms. Street discusses the following topics:
- Family life and childhood in Kalamazoo;
- Family values of education, independence, and living morally;
- Encountering overt racism in the south for the first time;
- The importance of “work”: children started at a young age, father worked 3 jobs;
- The influence of the church and religion on Street’s upbringing;
- Street’s rebellious spirit;
- Street’s high school experiences at Loy Norrix;
- Music as a means of empowerment and a tool to block out negativity;
- Standing up against racism without being poisoned by hatred.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Caldin Street, Part 2
Caldin Street
Part 2 of two part interview with Caldin Street recorded on March 12, 2013. Ms. Street is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Craig Isser as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Ms. Street discusses the following topics:
- Attending Loy Norrix High School and the racism she experienced as one of the first black students to attend after integration;
- Singing as a form of therapy at school;
- Transitioning from Kalamazoo to Detroit;
- Civil Rights action and involvement with the NAACP;
- Experiences with riots in Detroit after the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination;
- Civil Rights and the music industry;
- Traveling as a means of education and experience;
- Going on tour with Dick Clark Caravan of Stars after graduating high school and experiencing discrimination in the South;
- The powerful role of historical figures such as Rosa Parks and Emmett Till;
- Forgiveness as a means of healing and surviving constant discrimination and hatred.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Lewis Walker, Part 1
Dr. Lewis Walker
Part 1 of two part interview with Dr. Lewis Walker recorded on February 5, 2015. Dr. Walker is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Katherine H. Rapin as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Walker discusses the following topics:
- Growing up in Jim Crow South, Selma and Birmingham, Alabama;
- Attending college at Wilberforce University and Ohio State University;
- Being fired from summer job because of prejudice;
- Attending “a march against fear” organized by Martin Luther King Jr. in Jackson, Mississippi;
- History of family and having a white plantation owner as a great grandfather;
- Description of transition from Jim Crow South to Ohio for school at age 18;
- Discussion of influential professors at Wilberforce University;
- Discussion of wanting to become a professor;
- Memories of moving to Kalamazoo, MI to teach at Western Michigan University;
- Struggles of finding housing in Kalamazoo, MI as a black in the 60s.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Lewis Walker, Part 2
Dr. Lewis Walker
Part 2 of two part interview with Dr. Lewis Walker recorded on February 11, 2015. Dr. Walker is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Katherine H Rapin as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Walker discusses the following topics:
- Being one of the first African-American professors at WMU;
- Memories of school desegregation in Kalamazoo;
- Description of racial dynamics in Kalamazoo during school desegregation;
- Developing the Kalamazoo Resource Development Council in 1967;
- Explanation of the Self- Enhancement Program at WMU;
- Mediating a fellow teacher’s racial insensitivity toward students of color;
- Developing a police community relations program in Kalamazoo in the late 60s;
- Today’s national conversation around police relations with black communities;
- Explanation of how the Walker Institute at WMU is working to address issues of over-criminalization of our society;
- Comparison of activist strategies earlier in Walker’s life and now;
- Description of projects Walker remains involved in post-retirement.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Charles Warfield, Part 1
Dr. Charles Warfield
Part 1 of two part interview with Dr. Charles Warfield recorded on February 11, 2013. Dr. Warfield is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Sierra Moore as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Warfield discusses the following topics:
- Being born and raised in a predominantly black area of Kalamazoo;
- The importance and memories of his parents;
- Family within the Kalamazoo area;
- Childhood memories;
- His personal awareness of race;
- The Kalamazoo Public School System in the early 1940s;
- Experiences as a minority student at University High School;
- Interaction with the SDS in Oregon;
- Social justice leadership both in Oregon and Kalamazoo;
- Protests in Kalamazoo;
- Kalamazoo College’s history of social justice.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Charles Warfield, Part 2
Dr. Charles Warfield
Part 2 of two part interview with Dr. Charles Warfield recorded on February 14, 2013. Dr. Warfield is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Sierra Moore as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Warfield discusses the following topics:
- The Black Power Movement (in California and Oregon);
- Social justice and social activism;
- Non-violent vs. militant resistance;
- His father’s influence and connections in the Kalamazoo community;
- His mother’s temper and her positive relationship with her grandchildren;
- Individual vs. systems approach to combatting racial inequality;
- Discovering racial systems in high school;
- Education and the black community in Kalamazoo;
- The Kalamazoo Promise;
- Saving money/ money as an “equalizer”;
- The importance of family and community;
- Kalamazoo pride.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Martha Warfield, Part 1
Dr. Martha Warfield
Part 1 of two part interview with Dr. Martha Warfield recorded on May 1, 2015. Dr. Warfield is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Anita Ghans as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Warfield discusses the following topics:
- Martha’s Mother and Father and their families;
- Relations between the white and black communities in Dowagiac, Michigan;
- Lessons about race that her mother and father taught the family;
- Racial bias faced while at the Orange Bowl;
- Experiences while in school;
- Martha’s siblings’ experiences while attending Western Michigan University;
- Martha’s experiences while attending Western Michigan University;
- How Martha ended up working in social work;
- Experiences during the Civil Rights Movement;
- Race relations in Kalamazoo during the Civil Rights Movement;
- How Martha met her husband, Charles;
- Community action in Kalamazoo during the War on Poverty;
- Experiences involving the Civil Rights Movement;
- Opinions on the feminist movement.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Martha Warfield, Part 2
Dr. Martha Warfield
Part 2 of two part interview with Dr. Martha Warfield recorded on May 15, 2015. Dr. Warfield is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Anita Ghans as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Warfield discusses the following topics:
- Early experiences growing up as a black girl;
- The reasoning behind the emphasis on education in Martha’s family;
- Experiences while at The University of Oregon;
- How Kalamazoo changed while Martha and Charles were in Oregon;
- Seeing Bobby Kennedy on his last political campaign;
- Coming back to Kalamazoo after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.;
- The Black Panthers;
- Working as a probation officer in Kalamazoo;
- Why Martha started Kalamazoo’s first African American-owned mental health clinic;
- Her work with Western Michigan University’s summer bridge programs;
- How racism has changed over her lifetime;
- Opinions on current protests and civil unrest.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).
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Interview with Dr. Von Washington, Part 1
Dr. Von Washington Sr.
Part 1 of two part interview with Dr. Von Washington Sr recorded on January 28, 2015. Dr. Washington is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Scott Brent as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Washington discusses the following topics:
- Growing up with his Aunt and Uncle and being aware of the Brown v. Board of Education case;
- His impressions of what it meant to have a white education versus a black education;
- The concept of the afterlife as an escape from reality;
- How the school system forces people into their assumed societal roles;
- His experience being a part of the Epics in high school;
- His memories of being involved in the Black Revolution;
- His experience conducting race relations classes;
- Reactions to James Baldwin’s texts;
- How his racial identity changed while in Europe;
- His family’s experiences while he was away at war;
- His personal views of the importance of conducting genealogical studies;
- The improvement of race relations over time.
Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).