Interview conducted by Jenna Kincaid and Sadie Smith Oral history provides the field of history an opportunity to study events, movements, or people from the bottom up. Individual narratives and perspectives construct a history not found in popular history. Paul Thompson argues in The Voice of the Past that oral histories enable persons to voice more »
Cedric Rucker, the current Dean of Student Life for the University of Mary Washington, returned to the university after completing his undergraduate degree when James Farmer was a distinguished visiting professor in 1989. He was interviewed about his experiences with James Farmer during his time at Mary Washington. The interview focused on the contributions that more »
Zach Kelly November 30th 2009 Oral History and James Farmer James Farmer Interview Essay Doctor Venita McCall was interviewed on November 12th 2009. She was interviewed in order to gain further information about James Farmer and his time spent at the University of Mary Washington near the end of his life. The interview focused on more »
Professor Arthur Tracy was the Department Chair at the time that James Farmer was hired at Mary Washington. Tracy taught at Mary Washington through of the spring 2009 semester. He had a good working relationship with James Farmer until Tracy stepped down from the chair position, and began his involvement with the American Studies department. more »
On November 16, 2009 we conducted an interview with Dr. Claudine Ferrell, a history professor at the University of Mary Washington. The focus of the interview was her memories about teaching alongside civil rights activist James Farmer, who taught history courses at Mary Washington between 1984 and 1998. During the interview, Professor Ferrell revealed valuable more »
James Farmer Interview Essay This essay is in response to the interview conducted with Dean of Student life at the University of Mary Washington Cedric Rucker, and will examine the contributions this has had to the oral history of James Farmer. Dean Rucker served on the faculty with Dr. Farmer for almost a decade and more »
Interview with Dr. Allyson Poska, Professor of History at the University of Mary Washington Conducted by: Jacqueline Marshall and Courtney Chapman James (“Jim”) Farmer was extremely active in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, and continued to spread his wealth of knowledge about that era to students at Mary Washington College, where he taught more »
Nick Ford James Farmer Interview Essay This interview was conducted with Ms. Venitta McCall, a professor in the education department at the University of Mary Washington. She is the university’s first female African American full professor. Her interaction with James Farmer comes from her involvement as the head of the James Farmer Scholars Program. The more »
Dr. Allyson Poska has been a faculty member at the Univsersity of Mary Washington for the past eighteen years. I recently interviewed her in order to learn about the time she worked with James Farmer. Although a faculty member for eighteen years, and working with Farmer for eight, Dr. Poska admits that she did not more »
Oral history, as a methodology for historical research, can be a valuable tool to historians and those interested in the past. As Paul Thompson says in his book The Voice of the Past: Oral History, it “can be used to change the focus of history itself, and open up new areas of inquiry.”1 As a more »