|
|
|
Integrating the Family and the Community into the History Classroom:
An Oral History Project In Joliet, Illinois
John F. Lyons
Joliet Junior College, Illinois
| HISTORY INSTRUCTORS working in a community college face two major challenges. First, to make history interesting and relevant to the students, many of whom have to take history courses as a requirement. And second, to fulfill one of the missions of a community college which is to forge a connection between the school and the people in the local area. Since the spring of 2002, I have tried to accomplish these dual demands by assigning an oral history project in my United States History Since 1865 course, which I teach at Joliet Junior College in Illinois. As part of the project, students conduct a tape recorded interview with their oldest living relative and with the information they obtain they write an essay that seeks to show how their family shaped, and was shaped by, United States history. I then deposit the tapes in the Joliet Area History Museum archives where the tapes can be used by historians studying the local area.1 The project offers a wonderful window into the lives of the diverse group of people who live in the Joliet area. While conducting the interviews, students have shown a greater interest in United States history, and links have been forged between the college and the students' families, the local historical society, and historians in the community. |
1
|
|
Joliet, named after the seventeenth-century French explorer Louis Jolliet, is a city of over 100,000 inhabitants fifty miles southwest of Chicago in Illinois. With the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848, Joliet grew as a center of limestone and later steel production becoming known as the "City of Stone and Steel." Settled by British, German, and Irish immigrants in the nineteenth century, the area attracted African-American migrants during the early decades of the twentieth century and Latinos and others after World War II. Many worked in industrial establishments in Joliet while others set up their own farms in the neighboring area. In the 1980s Joliet suffered from deindustrialization and even Joliet Prison, made famous in The Blues Brothers film, closed its doors in 2002 after 144 years of business! Recently, the district surrounding Joliet has become a big attraction to those seeking to escape the high house prices in Chicago. The area that was previously farmland or sparsely populated small towns has now mushroomed into an urban sprawl. The population of Joliet rose 38.2 percent between 1990 and 2000, and over 10 percent of residents are foreign born.2 |
2
|
|
At the beginning of the school semester, I provide the students with a detailed guide to the oral history project.3 First, I recommend that students become as familiar as possible with the history of the United States. The deadline for the oral history project is the end of the semester which allows plenty of time for students to become acquainted with recent United States history. The course discussions, lectures, and readings provide the essential building blocks for the students as they formulate questions for the interviews. The more knowledgeable students become concerning the history of the nation, the stronger the interview questions they will compose. They will also be able to engage in a more informed conversation with the person they are interviewing, be able to compose follow up questions, and correct factual mistakes made by the interviewee. |
3
|
|
While learning the nation's history, the students have to find a relative to interview and schedule a meeting time with them. The quest for the oldest living relative to interview can prove problematic. Some students are immigrants who have no family in the country or the state. Others find that their oldest relative is unwilling or, because of poor health, unable to participate in the interview. Some never knew their families or have personal problems with family members and do not want to interview them. In these situations, I either tell the students to find another member of their family to interview or, failing that, a relative of a close friend or spouse.4 |
4
|
|
Once they have acquired a sound knowledge of the recent past and contacted a person to interview, the students have to compose at least fifteen questions they will ask the interviewee. Students then must write a seven page essay answering the following broad question: How did your family shape, and how was it shaped, by the main events covered in this course? To answer this question students have to start by obtaining biographical detail from the interviewee: they find out their ethnic origins, when their ancestors came to the United States, what their parents did for a living, when they were born, and how many brothers and sisters were in the family. They investigate the type of dwelling and neighborhood their interviewee lived in, parent-child and husband-wife relationships, income and social mobility. They then have to find out about their subjects' employment; what they liked to do in their spare time; what religions they followed; and what their politics were. If the family were immigrants, they have to discuss their homeland, the reasons for migrating, and how the subjects experienced the transition to America. They also have to explain the reasons for major upheavals or events in the subjects' lives: starting a family, military service, and career and residence changes. |
5
|
|
After obtaining biographical information about their subject, the students have to find out how major historical events impacted the life of the interviewee and the role he or she played in those events. The students ask questions about historical events such as World War II, the Cold War, growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, the counterculture, the feminist movement, the Vietnam War and the Reagan years. Even if the interviewee did not actively play a part in major events, the students find out what they thought of these events and how they affected their lives. Students have to try to have their subject relate their lives to historical happenings and to dig deeper into their experiences. Students have to make sure that the questions are open-ended and relate to the political, economic, and social phenomena of the period. "Tell me about your childhood?" "Tell me about growing up in the 1960s?" "Tell me about your work?" are some of the suggested questions. Students can follow these general questions with more specific questions depending on the answers they receive. |
6
|
|
Because the taped interview will be deposited in the Joliet Area Historical Museum archives, I provide the students with two copies of a "Consent for Participation in Research" form which is required to allow researchers to use the tapes at a later date. The students bring the two copies of the form to the interview and the student and the interviewee sign both forms before beginning the interview. The students then have to give one signed "Consent for Participation in Research" form to the interviewee. The form points out the purpose of the interview, that the interview tape will be deposited at an archive for use by other historians, and that participation in the research is voluntary. The form clearly states that the possible risks involved in agreeing to be interviewed are that they may be embarrassed by questions or that they may tell the interviewee something that they may later regret. These risks are minimal, however, because the interviewee can choose to tell the student that they want to give them information "off the record" and the student would turn off the tape recorder. |
7
|
|
I also provide the students with advice about how to undertake a successful interview. They have to buy or borrow a tape recorder and purchase two ninety minute cassettes. Before the interview starts, the students should help the interviewee to relax by engaging in informal conversation. At the start of the taped interview, the students have to state the subjects name and the date of the interview. The students are encouraged to take detailed notes during the interview. Depending on the direction the conversation is heading, they have to be prepared to probe further by moving beyond their pre-arranged questions and asking follow up questions. A good interviewee is not scared by long pauses or silence. Students are encouraged to let the interviewee tell personal stories, and recall sad, happy, or funny memories that cannot be found in a textbook. |
8
|
|
Once the interview is complete, the students face the hard task of turning the taped interview into an essay. After the interview, they are encouraged to do further research if they need to know more about an event that the interviewee mentioned. With the taped interview, the students then write the seven page paper. They then submit to me, two copies of the essay, the oral interview tapes with their name, the interviewee's name and the date of the interview on the cassettes, any notes taken, a photo of the person they interviewed, and a copy of the "Consent for Participation in Research" form signed by the student and the interviewee. I return one graded copy of the essay to the student and a few months after the end of the semester, I deposit the tape, the consent form, the photo, and the other copy of the essay in the museum archives. |
9
|
|
The oral histories collected by the students reflect the economic and ethnic diversity of the Joliet area. Many of the interviewees migrated to the area from out of state. Some grew up in rural areas of the South and others in Latin America.5 Many of the students' parents or grandparents had come from the urban landscape of the south side of Chicago, but others from farming communities in Illinois. Some were German American, others Irish, Italian, Polish, Norwegian, and African American. Some attended Catholic schools while others attended one-room public school buildings. One of the interviewees was born as early as 1910 and remembered the celebrations that ended World War I, while others were baby boomers born into post World War II affluence.6 Many of the students interviewed their grandfathers who spent most of their lives working in local industry and others their grandmothers who were often stay-at-home moms and only had intermittent participation in the workforce.7 |
10
|
|
The interviewees supplied vivid descriptions of their childhoods and the communities they grew up in. With an understanding that textbooks cannot offer, some told stories of their families and talked about their favorite pastimes as children. Before the era of television, they played cards, danced, and listened to the radio. Men and women born on farms joyously recalled fishing trips and feeding farm animals.8 Some brought up in the city remembered playing games and baseball in the streets with their friends.9 Those from rural families remembered enduring cold outhouses and having to bring water into the house to take baths in a wash tub in the kitchen.10 Others enjoyed the modern amenities and consumer products that urban and suburban life provided. |
11
|
|
Some recalled less happy stories of childhood. One African American told painful memories of discrimination he faced growing up in 1940s Chicago. Attending a predominantly white high school, Charlie recalled that he was unable to join the school bowling team because the team often played in hostile white districts and instead joined the basketball team. On overnight trips to southern Illinois, however, he and the other black member of the basketball team had to stay with a black family while the rest of the team booked into a hotel. When he left school and joined the army, the discrimination continued. On the way to boot camp in San Antonio he got off the train in St Louis and walked into a snack bar where the waitress told him "we don't serve you at the counter." "What the hell do you mean you don't serve me at the counter?" replied Charlie. "I raised so much Cain that the MP's came and talked to me and said 'come on we'll find something else' and then put me back on the train."11 |
12
|
|
Many of the interviews put a human face on major historical events. Some, for example, spoke about the deprivations of the Great Depression. One remembered her father losing his job and the family having to sell all of their furniture except the kitchen table and mattresses. The father stayed unemployed for over seven years. Subsequently, the family of eight children turned to relief and the earnings of her brothers who worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps to survive.12 Another victim of the Depression remembered his father having to work part time in a tavern after he lost his job. He brought home left over food from work to feed his family 13 One recalled that her father had to mortgage their farm. Eventually, they lost their farm, which had been in the family since they came to Illinois in 1840, because the family was unable to pay the mortgage and taxes.14 |
13
|
|
While many spoke of the deprivations of the Great Depression, some looked back nostalgically at the 1930s as an era of struggle but also as a period of greater community solidarity. One woman remembered growing up fatherless in Chicago during the Depression, but joyously recalled "sharing the nothing that they possessed."15 Another saw the depression as a period when people had more time for each other.16 Another woman recalled the camaraderie engendered by a strike she participated in during the Great Depression when she worked for Illinois Bell Telephone Company. As she and her friend were on picket duty in the early hours of the morning, local people, including the police that passed them in the night, would offer the two friends encouragement. She went on to work for the telephone company for forty-six years, but remembered this time as one of greater companionship when people had a real sense of community.17 |
14
|
|
Many of the interviewees joined the armed forces and were war veterans. A number talked nostalgically of the camaraderie of their World War II experience.18 Others found it difficult to talk of their combat experience. A few had painful memories to share. One veteran of the Korean War recalled pressing toward the Chinese border and being confronted with Chinese soldiers only armed with pitchforks and machetes. His voice reflecting his disgust at war as he recalled that the bodies of the dead Chinese were bulldozed into a pit "sprinkled with lime and buried to rot."19 |
15
|
|
If experience of war was one theme of the interviews, immigration was another. One immigrant from Peru first came to Chicago because his uncle invited him to visit the area. Learning English proved challenging but he then made a life for himself and his family in the United States. He, like many other immigrants, took an active part in American cultural and political activities but kept strong ties to his homeland. He still celebrates many of the festivals his family did in Peru and enjoys the music and food of the land of his birth.20 A Colombian immigrant expressed a strong belief in close family relationships across generations. He still followed his Catholic religion in the United States and commemorated holidays and saints days. However, he also spoke of the pain of discrimination he faced as a child. A white friend invited him to a party but when he arrived at the girl's house her parents slammed the door in his face and yelled at their daughter.21 |
16
|
|
Another theme that emerged from the oral histories was a generally negative attitude to the countercultural upheavals of 1960s.22 One police officer who served at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968 remembered having excrement thrown at him by demonstrators and how he and other officers went into a crowd to prevent protestors from burning an American flag.23 Others supported Richard Nixon, "a great political leader" according to one, for his opposition to war protesters and street disturbances.24 In general, many were politically conservative and showed support for presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Bush. The Democratic Party, opined another, was no longer for the "working man."25 |
17
|
|
The students have produced a number of other fascinating stories about the local area and beyond. One student interviewed his mother who was a Chicago public schoolteacher during the McCarthy era of the 1950s. Some teachers lost their jobs or were denied promotion, and the School Board refused others permanent teaching certificates. She told the student that as a result of the anticommunist climate, fear grew among teachers in the schools. "If you said the wrong thing to certain people they could report you as being communist affiliated ... you had to be very careful," she remembered.26 Most of those living in Chicago in the 1960s had vivid memories of the confrontations connected with the civil rights movement. Whites seemed to have little contact with blacks and noted an "invisible division line" between the two races.27 One man who lived in Chicago in the late 1960s remembered being a passenger on a bus driving through a riot in an African-American neighborhood. He initially believed that blacks and whites should live in separate areas but the civil rights movement made him question his beliefs and see as people regardless of color.28 A woman remembered family members having their car attacked during a riot in Marquette Park in southwest Chicago, a district that Martin Luther King had visited. She remembers white neighbors expressing anger because the federal government gave mortgages to blacks to move into the neighborhood. In turn, she recalls black coworkers scared to come to work and having their homes attacked.29 Another remembers seeing the National Guard outside her window in Chicago during the riots of the 1960s.30 |
18
|
|
As the students conducted their interviews and wrote their essays, they came to realize that there are enormous problems with doing oral history. Most of the interviewees remembered where they were when they heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the landing of the first man on the moon, but most frustrating for the students, the time of little else. Although many interviewees played a role in some of the major events in United States history, for others the events described in history textbooks passed them by as they were busy raising families or dealing with the everyday problems of life. Meeting a future spouse, having children, going through painful divorces, and seeing loved ones suffering painful illnesses took precedence over events in the wider world. Others, because they had no family members in the service, had no recollection of World War II or the Cold War but vivid memories of their children's first day at school, their first date, or moving into their first home.31 |
19
|
|
Students faced other problems with the oral history project. Poor memory means people could not remember many of the events the students wanted to discuss and write about. Many of the interviewees were simply mistaken in their memories and mixed up events and recalled actions that research showed never happened the way they were remembered. It was also common for interviewees to have a selective memory because they were embarrassed about something they did or felt the information was too personal to disclose. The interviewee may also have been prejudiced and disliked persons because of their race or because of other reasons and provided the students with a biased version of events. |
20
|
|
Although many students were reticent about the project beforehand, they eventually responded enthusiastically. They have told me that their grandparents were thrilled to learn that young family members were interested in their experiences. Some provided their children with more photographs and family souvenirs to donate to the museum. The project allowed the students to find out about the roles their family played in the larger story of America and many came away with a greater appreciation of their families. Also, the project helped the students to understand how the past has shaped them and how their values and outlook on the world were rooted in their family's history.32 The project built inter-generational bridges as students found out more about the relative they interviewed and the type of background they came from. "I have opened up doors to my family's history that I never had before," one student remarked. "We [now] understand and honor the struggle my grandmother and grandfather and her mother and father have been through in the past, and with that information we live righteously everyday."33 |
21
|
|
The students enjoyed the chance to actively engage in their own learning and found history much more relevant and interesting. Students, who too often see history as simply the memorization of names, events, and dates, had the chance to be historians themselves and experience the joys of historical research.34 They performed research and drew their own conclusions from the information. Students proved to be inspired by the importance of their work. They were impressed that the museum and historians were interested in their oral histories and in their families. It is clear from the student essays that the project has led to a greater understanding of Joliet and its relation to national and international developments. |
22
|
|
This project also helped me fulfill a vital mission of community colleges which is to provide a service to the local community. I have invited people to speak to my classes, taken students on field trips, and given talks to local organizations, but the oral history project provides a much stronger and more enduring connection with the local area. With few written resources and living in a community that historians have ignored, the cassettes and essays deposited in the local archives give a voice to voiceless people and let local families feel connected to the college. At some stage in the semester, I also take the students to the Joliet Area Historical Museum. During the trip they view the museum's contents, speak to the curator and the education department, and see the archives that house former students' oral histories.35 |
23
|
|
A project such as this benefits the teacher in addition to the students. An oral history assignment helps to overcome one of the main complaints of teachers: student plagiarism. Teachers who ask for written papers often find that the World Wide Web has proven a temptation to overworked, or under motivated and unethical students who want to improve their grade. The oral history cannot so easily be taken from the web. The project also provided me with a greater understanding of my students, where they came from, and what family beliefs shaped them. Finally, the classroom atmosphere improved as students become more interested in the subject and engaged in their studies in anticipation of what they planned to do.36 With these many benefits and the sounds of oral history echoing in the classroom, teaching has become a more enjoyable experience for me. The project strengthened the students' knowledge of local and national history, developed personal communication and writing skills, and helped them see history as interesting and relevant to their lives. The oral interviews allowed the students to find out for themselves how the past has influenced them and gave them a greater understanding of their culture, their region, and their family. In the process, the project built bridges across generations and links between the college and the student families, local historian, and the districts historical museum. |
24
|
|
Notes
1 This oral history project could not have been undertaken without the support and encouragement of Walter Keener, curator at the Joliet Area Historical Museum. Sadly, Walt died suddenly on December 29, 2006. He is deeply missed.
2 Robert E. Sterling, Joliet: A Pictorial History (St. Louis, MI: G. Bradley Publishing, 1986); and U.S. Census.
3 For other examples of oral history programs in the classroom see Sometimes a Shining Moment: The Foxfire Experience which documents one of the first school history projects undertaken in Georgia. See also "Voices of Experience: Oral History in the Classroom," Organization of American Historians Magazine of History 11 (Spring 1997), 23–31; Michael Brooks, "'Long, Long Ago': Recipe for a Middle School Oral History Program," Organization of American Historians Magazine of History 11 (Spring 1997), 32–35; Linda P. Wood, "The Family in the Fifties: Hope, Fear, and Rock 'n Roll," Organization of American Historians Magazine of History 11 (Spring 1997), 36–38; Luther B.Clegg et al. "Creating Oral History Projects for the Social Studies Classroom," Social Studies Review 32, (1992): 53–60; Lynne Hamer, "Oralized History: History Teachers as Oral History Tellers," The Oral History Review 27 (Summer/Fall 2000), 19–39; Grace C. Huerta and Leslie A. Flemmer, "Using Student-Generated Oral History Research in the Secondary Classroom," The Clearing House 74 (2000) 105–110; Charles R. Lee and Kathryn L. Nasstrom, "Practice and Pedagogy: Oral History in the Classroom," Oral History Review 25 (Summer/Fall, 1998): 1–7; and Stephen Steinberg, "The World Inside the Classroom: Using Oral History to Explore Racial and Ethnic Diversity," The Social Studies 84 (1993): 71–73.
4 There are many guides to help teachers with an oral history project see John Neuenschwander, Oral History as a Teaching Approach (1976); James Hoops, Oral History: An Introduction for Students (1979); Barry A. Lanman and George L. Mehaffy, Oral History in the Secondary School Classroom (1988); Laurie Mercier and Madeline Buckendorf, Using Oral History in Community History Projects (1992); and Donald Ritchie, Doing Oral History (1995); Oral History in the Teaching of U.S. History (ERIC DIGEST) website at http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-4/oral.htm; Learn NC, "Oral History in the Classroom," at http://www.learnnc.org/Index.nsf/doc/oh-intro0406.
5 Steve Buchanan interview by Laura Buchanan, November 27, 2004; Oletta Bagwell interview by Teresa Linaweaver, November 28, 2004, Carlos Caceres interview by Ryan Jones, Decmber 6, 2004; and Juan Carlos Zuniga interview by Renee Specht, November 20, 2004, all in the Joliet Historical Museum Archives.
6 Patricia Harvey interview by Jessica Harvey, November 27, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
7 For more on the usefulness of oral history see the Oral History Association website at http://www.dickinson.edu/organizations/oha; and Organization of American Historians Magazine of History 11 (Spring 1997) which is a special edition of oral history.
8 Rosemarie Choinski interview by Amanda Hass, November 27, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
9 Marvin Machacek interview by Michelle Machacek, November 26, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
10 Oletta Bagwell interview by Teresa Linaweaver, November 28, 2004, Joliet Historical Museum Archives.
11 Charles Brown interview by Brian Lawrence, December 2, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
12 Caroline Hanley interview by Amanda Marszalik, December 1, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
13 Marvin Machacek interview by Michelle Machacek, November 26, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
14 Carolyn Whipple interviewed by Rebecca Birkey, November 19, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
15 Ann Gorz interview by Jaime Gorz, November 30, 2005, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
16 Charles Brown interview by Brian Lawrence, December 2, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
17 Patricia Harvey interview by Jessica Harvey, November 27, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
18 James Chobar interview by Danny DeWitt, November 28, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
19 Charles Brown interview by Brian Lawrence, December 2, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
20 Juan Carlos Zuniga interview by Renee Specht, November 20, 2004, Joliet Historical Museum Archives.
21 Carlos Caceres interview by Ryan Jones, December 6, 2004; Joliet Historical Museum Archives.
22 James Chobar interview by Danny DeWitt, November 28, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
23 Robert Brown interview by Shannon Newcomb, November 27, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum.
24 Robert Brown interview by Shannon Newcomb, November 27, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum.
25 Steve Buchanan interview by Laura Buchanan, November 27, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
26 Isabelle McErlean interview by Matthew Salvador December 4, 2002, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
27 Ann Gorz interview by Jaime Gorz, November 30, 2005, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
28 Steve Buchanan interview by Laura Buchanan, November 27, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
29 Caroline Hanley interview by Amanda Marszalik, December 1, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
30 Oletta Bagwell interview by Teresa Linaweaver, November 28, 2004, Joliet Historical Museum Archives.
31 Evealine Terry interview by Heidi Litchfield, November 28, 2004, Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
32 See Spring 2004 HIST 104-W student evaluations, in possession of the author, and essays by Teresa Linaweaver based on her interview with Oletta Bagwell, November 28, 2004, by Rebecca Birkey based on her interview with Carolyn Whipple, November 19, 2004, and by Jamie Gorz based on her interview with Ann Gorz November 30, 2005, all at Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
33 See essay by Jamie Gorz based on her interview with Ann Gorz November 30, 2005, at Joliet Area Historical Museum Archives.
34 Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass, 2004).
35 Joliet Area Historical Museum website at http://www.jolietmuseum.org/.
36 The oral history project has greater potential. I now conduct a similar project in my World history and Latin American history classes. In my Latin American history class, students have to interview someone of Latino ancestry. Some interview their family members while others interview friends or acquaintances. For examples of student oral history projects on the web see What Did You Do in the War, Grandma? at http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/tocCS.html; World War II Living History Project at http://www.hfcsd.org/ww2/; The Whole World Was Watching: An Oral History of 1968 at http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/1968/index.html; We Made Do: Recalling the Great Depression at http://www.mcsc.k12.in.us/madedo/; Bland County History Archives at http://www.bland.k12.va.us/bland/rocky/gap.html; Telling Their Stories at http://www.tellingstories.org/; and Oral History Program at http://www.dce.k12.wi.us/srhigh/socialstudies/histday/.
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|