Oral Histories

Title

Oral Histories

Collection Items

2 Volume Set of 29 Transcribed interviews performed July 1984- January 1994 with Lewis Lear Quander, Gladys Quander Tancil, Roberta H. Quander and others.

“Snake Hill to Spring Bank” was an oral history project conducted by students at Groveton High School in the mid-1970s. The interviews were transcribed. All three volumes of the book are also available online.

This video appeared in the exhibit, “Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon” (Oct 1, 2016 - July 11, 2021).

This was a livestream presentation on Thursday, January 14, 2021, from George Washington’s Mount Vernon. It was a live discussion between William Holland and Brenda Parker, Mount Vernon Character Interpreter & African American Interpretation &…

Judith Saunders Burton grew up in Gum Springs, Virginia and lived in Prince Edward County and Farmville, Virginia during the years of school desegregation.

Dramatic reading from historical documents performed by Bob Hartman, Janis Harless, Jerry Lyons, Gary Knipling, and Anne Barnes. Produced ... in order to document a small antebellum settlement of free Blacks clustered along Neck Road, now known as…

Both Helen Haight and Aileen Wright were raised in the Pines, a segregated community near today’s location of Pine Ridge Park. They grew up with no telephone, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, a wood stove, and an ice box. They had to haul water…

African American Dennis Howard describes his family who lived in Merrifield, Tremont, Falls Church and Ilda. He describes how his great grandfather Horace Gibson, who purchased his freedom from slavery, and with another former enslaved person Moses…

Robert Frye moved to Fairfax in 1967. Three times a member of the Fairfax County School Board-- both appointed and elected--Bob Frye worked for equal opportunity in the county as the area emerged from the era of segregation. He was the first minority…

This interview brought together James & Gloria Carter, Ronald Honesty, Jean Minor, Ted & Lorraine Thomas, and Daniel Bunaugh. The group discussed a wide array of subjects, including attending Louise Archer (formerly known as the Vienna Colored…

Gloria Runyon and her family have lived in Vienna, Virginia, as she puts it, since “before it became Vienna.” Her roots in the town grow at least as far back as her great-grandfather, a Cherokee Indian, who built the home in which she still lives.…

Oral History taken in February 2021 by Sylvia Taylor, Historic Vienna, Inc. Board Member. They discussed Preston’s growing up in Vienna, his career as a Fairfax County Police Commander, being the first African American Commander at the Mount Vernon…

1970s interview on audio tape in the office that has not been digitized.: Mr West died in 1978 at age 104.

These interviews were conducted with an African American resident of Vienna who was aged 100 when the last interview was conducted in 1974.

Archie Henry Borgus, Jr. – Additional Recollections of McLean & Great Falls, Virginia; Virginia Room

GMU Special Collections, The Northern Virginia Oral History Project Collection http://scrc.gmu.edu/collections-subject.php#LOCHIST

Videotape – Frying Pan Farm Park

Sound recording with interviews about Floris Colored School and African American Children’s education

Interviews of alumni who share their memories of attending segregated schools.

Luther Jackson High School
James Lee and Merrifield Elementary Schools
Manassas Industrial School

Fairfax County Public Schools Alumni and Educators Share Memories of Desegregation

Rayfield Barber was the first Black student to integrate a FCPS public high school.
Joe and Sharon Parks integrated FCPS high schools. Joe attended Groveton…

Includes former student interviews. A history of Luther Jackson High School by Mathelle Lee.

Alvin Jason Brown (1897-1983) was a lifelong African American resident of the Great Falls/McLean area. In this interview conducted by C.J.S. Durham, Brown recalls the previous owners of Towlston Grange and former residents of the Towlston Road area. …

The citations are labeled either 100 or Additional. The description of each person’s biographical interview will include major topics mentioned in the interview.

- Ailene V. Borgus –100 grew up on Ash Grove Farm, attended Odrick’s School and…

Each person’s contribution to the McLean Community is described and a photo is included.

Bernie Boston; Page 104, Mable Coates - Page 108, Myra Coates - Page 108
Otrich Sharper Jackson Costley - Page 19, Eric Hall Dorsey - Page 116 …

Interviews of Fairfax County residents were collected by Marion Dobbins to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The interviewees described their personal involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. Each interview is…

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