{"id":9441,"date":"2011-08-02T08:47:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T12:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=9441"},"modified":"2011-08-02T08:47:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-02T12:47:48","slug":"oral-history-project-documents-cincinnati%e2%80%99s-african-american-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2011\/08\/oral-history-project-documents-cincinnati%e2%80%99s-african-american-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Oral History Project documents Cincinnati's African American Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Suzanne Maggard<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Archives and Rare Books Library, we help students, faculty, and even outside researchers with their projects, so it is always exciting when we are able to reap the benefits of great student projects of the past.\u00a0 One such project is a collection of oral histories organized by Eleanor Smith, a professor in the Afro-American Studies Department (now the Department of Africana Studies) at UC.\u00a0 Smith was inspired to direct this project after encountering a lack of information on black Cincinnatians in the area\u2019s libraries and archives.\u00a0 She designed an oral history class to change that and in 1975 and 1976, Smith\u2019s students conducted interviews with 23 African-Americans in Cincinnati from a variety of backgrounds.\u00a0 The oral histories that resulted from this project provide a unique view of African American life in Cincinnati in the early and mid-20th<\/sup> century and shed light on the experiences of African Americans in a city where segregation may not have always been in writing, but was certainly the norm.\u00a0 Those who were interviewed saw the importance of passing on their stories to the next generation.\u00a0 Although equal rights were still being sought in the mid-1970s and are still a struggle today, leaps and bounds were made in the lifetimes of many of these men and women and their stories taught the student interviewers important lessons.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. and Mrs. Atwood<\/p><\/div>\n

Those leaps and bounds are apparent in the life of Dr. Rufus Atwood, the son of a slave who became president of Kentucky State College.\u00a0 Atwood served in World War I in the Signal Corps of the 92nd<\/sup> division, the only African American division in the U.S. Army at the time.\u00a0 \u00a0He explains in an interview in this collection that many of the black soldiers believed that the war was a chance to show their loyalty as Americans and they could \u201cearn the rights of any first-class American.\u201d\u00a0 Yet even before the soldiers left Europe, Dr. R.R. Moton, President of the Tuskeegee Institute, told the black troops \u201cnot to expect too much\u201d when they came home.\u00a0 The reality of the situation hit Atwood and some friends soon after they returned home and were refused a cab ride.\u00a0 Atwood was not deterred from his quest for first class citizenship for himself and other African Americans.\u00a0 He completed his degree at Iowa State College and became President of Kentucky State College.\u00a0 At Kentucky State, he succeeded in gaining accreditation for the historically black college at the same level as Kentucky\u2019s other public colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Ray E. Clarke<\/p><\/div>\n

Atwood is not the only interviewee who succeeded through sheer determination.\u00a0 \u00a0Dr. Ray E. Clarke, could treat patients in his own practice, but was unable to gain privileges at any of Cincinnati\u2019s local hospitals during the 1920s, but through the help of friends in the medical field who verified his skills as a doctor he slowly gained these rights. \u00a0In 1937 General Hospital finally allowed black doctors to serve as clinicians, and Clarke was allowed to perform surgery in a Cincinnati hospital.\u00a0 When he was admitted to the staff of General Hospital, he was also appointed to a faculty position in UC\u2019s College of Medicine.\u00a0 Ironically, Clarke was unable to practice at Christ Hospital, Jewish Hospital, or Bethesda Hospital, but he oversaw medical students as an instructor in the surgery department in the College of Medicine and taught students who would be able to practice at those other hospitals upon graduation.<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/a>

Sellers' Yearbook Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

A few years later, Eddie Sellers sought equality for black nurses in Cincinnati.\u00a0 Sellers never intended to become a nurse, but, as a good student, she was asked by the NAACP and the Urban League to take UC\u2019s College of Nursing\u2019s admittance test to prove that a black student could pass it.\u00a0 Sellers and a fellow high school student passed and were admitted to the College of Nursing, but still experienced discrimination.\u00a0 During orientation in 1947, they were approached by a faculty member who informed them bluntly that they were not wanted.\u00a0 Sellers persevered and graduated in 1951, among the top three in her class.<\/p>\n

There are countless engrossing stories in these interviews, which provided the student interviewers with lessons that are not so easily learned in the classroom. \u00a0\u00a0As Vanessa J. Pearson, a junior, writes in her evaluation of the project, \u201cI learned about the problems of Blacks and their inner strength to endure stress, the pride they took in their work, and their ability to still be able to laugh, to smile, and have a kind word.\u00a0 It is no wonder that they have become highly respected in their communities and fields.\u00a0 For me this project gave reason to hope.\u201d This great student project, not only taught Smith\u2019s students lessons in 1975 and 1976, but also can pass on new lessons to today\u2019s students, faculty, and researchers.\u00a0 The collection of interviews in the Archives and Rare Books Library includes the original cassette recordings, transcripts of the interviews, and some photographs of the interviewees.\u00a0\u00a0 For a complete list of the interviews, see the finding aid for this collection on OhioLINK at http:\/\/rave.ohiolink.edu\/archives\/ead\/OhCiUAR0260<\/a> or come in to the Archives and Rare Books Library to take a look.\u00a0 We\u2019re located on the 8th<\/sup> floor of Blegen Library, and you can reach us for questions at 513-556-1959 or by email at archives@ucmail.uc.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Suzanne Maggard In the Archives and Rare Books Library, we help students, faculty, and even outside researchers with their projects, so it is always exciting when we are able to reap the benefits of great student projects of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[53,66,58],"class_list":["post-9441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-uclibraries","tag-cincinnati-history","tag-university-archives","tag-urban-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}