Associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University. Family background and childhood in Detroit, with descriptions of both joyous and painful life events, as these have inspired her scholarship and service; academic career; philosophies of teaching and mentorship; developments in the study of African American history.

For the Eastland County African American Women Oral History Project. Longtime resident of Cisco and Eastland, Texas. Memories of education in Cisco’s all-black, one-room Smithville Elementary School that included grades 1-6; negative experiences in newly desegregated schools; perceptions of different treatment accorded to young black men and young black women by whites; decision to attend Texas Woman’s University and earn degree in nursing; decision to return to Cisco; career as nurse in various hospitals throughout region; social life among African Americans in Eastland County

African-American alumna of North Texas State College. Memories of childhood and early adulthood in Irving and Dallas, Texas; experience of attending all-black schools, including Booker T. Washington Technical High School; decision to enroll at North Texas State College in 1957; adjustments required for attending school in integrated setting; experience of boarding with African-American families in the “Shack Town” neighborhood of Denton; graduation from North Texas with B.A. in 1961 and M.Ed. in 1967; career with Dallas Independent School District.

For the Eastland County African American Women Oral History Project. Longtime resident of Eastland, Texas. Memories of childhood in Hawkins, Texas, as member of a sharecropping family; education in all-black schools; 1941 decision to move to Dallas following high school graduation; work there as a domestic and factory worker; 1951 marriage to Roston King and move to Eastland; initial perceptions of race relations in Eastland; church life and involvement in Eastern Stars organization; children’s experiences in Eastland schools.

Community leader.

Schoolteacher. Her experiences as a resident of Hamilton Park, Texas, 1954-91. Segregated education in Bryan, Texas; Wiley College; teaching career in segregated Dallas schools; decision to buy home in Hamilton Park; transportation problems; home improvements; church activities; Civic League; the “Buy Out”; zoning problems; Interorganizational Council and political activities; employment at Hamilton Park School; desegregation of Hamilton Park school and transfer to Richardson Independent School District; Pacesetter.

Schoolteacher. Her views concerning the significance and impact of women on the development of the Republican Party in Texas, 1946-93. Acceptance of African-American women by Texas Republicans; her political philosophy; women’s issues.

Attorney. Observations on the development of the Coastal Bend area of South Texas, 1920-71. Cotton farming; Irish settlers and the Ku Klux Klan; experiences as an attorney; gambling; development of the Aransas County Airport; oil exploration; housing subdivisions; Coastal Bend Regional Planning Commission; hurricanes; agriculture; property values; prominent citizens of the county.

Her experiences as a resident of Hamilton Park, Texas, 1959-91. Early life as daughter of an African-American sharecropper; segregated education; African-American housing in Dallas during the 1940s and 1950s; decision to buy home in Hamilton Park; home improvements and pride in ownership; transportation problems; shopping; flooding and drainage problems; Hamilton Park PTA; Junior NAACP; desegregation of Hamilton Park School; Civic League; property restrictions; the “Buy Out.”

Retired communications technician, community leader. His experiences concerning the desegregation of the Hamilton Park, Texas, school and integration with the Richardson Independent School District (RISD) during the 1960s and 1970s. Hamilton Park Civic League; conditions at the Hamilton Park School; Civil Rights Act of 1964 and RISD’s compliance; creation of biracial zones; role of H.E.W. in the desegregation process; student adjustments to desegregation; role of the Interorganizational Council in the desegregation