This semester, my research took me into the world of oral history. I worked with interviews recorded between 2005 and 2012, provided by Kelly Finley, each one featuring a Memphian who lived through the Civil Rights era.
My role was to digitize the video recordings for future use. I collaborated closely with Lucas Reid, who worked on the transcripts. Together, we made sure each interview was accurately documented and accessible so others can learn from these stories for years to come. While working on this project, I learned that digital work carries its own kind of meaning because it safeguards the voices that future researchers, students, and community members will rely on.
The interviews I have listened to so far feature Dr Beverly Bond, Fred Davis, and Elaine Lee Turner.
Dr Bond’s interview stayed with me the most. She grew up in Memphis and returned as a young teacher in 1968 during the first years of school desegregation. She became one of only two Black teachers in her building. When she described parents’ night that year, she remembered empty rooms for most of the white teachers and a crowd outside her own door. Families came not because of her subject, but because she was one of the new Black teachers. She also reflected on the neighborhood schools of her childhood, where teachers knew families and lived close to their students. Integration opened doors, but it also shifted the sense of community she once knew. From her interview, I learned that progress can carry loss alongside change.
Fred Davis shared a different experience. As a city councilman during the 1968 sanitation strike, he worked in the middle of one of the city’s most defining conflicts. He talked about poor working conditions, unfair wages, and the deaths of two workers whose families received almost nothing. His leadership placed him in real danger. The police intercepted a call from someone trying to hire a hitman to kill him. Hearing him describe living under constant protection helped me understand how political work in that moment required calm under pressure and a willingness to face risks that went far beyond policy debates.
Elaine Lee Turner brought a strong and steady voice to her interview. As a teenager, she took part in sit-ins at libraries, theaters, and churches and was arrested many times along with her sisters. Later, she focused her energy on public education and historical work. She helped create Heritage Tours and the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum because she wanted young people in Memphis to know their history. Her interview reminded me that activism does not end after one phase of life.
Working on this project taught me that oral history carries truth that is emotional as well as factual. Preservation work allows these truths to stay alive and keeps these voices accessible. This project reminded me that history lives in the people who tell it and that their stories still have something to teach us today.
-Grace Ifiegbu and Lucas Reid