Public humanities/Featured

Monday's featured articles
Different articles are featured here each day of the week. Visit again tomorrow to discover new public humanities resources.



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"Uncle" Henry Rayamore
“Uncle” Henry Rayamore was an African-American sharecropper during the Reconstruction Era turned fortune-teller right before the the Great Depression in Alabama. He fathered two daughters and left a legacy of entrepreneurship. Most of what one can know about Rayamore comes from an interview he did for the Federal Writer’s Project. Due to the limited information regarding “Uncle” Henry Rayamore, most of his personal information such as his early life and the details regarding his family and death are either un-verified or non-existent.

Learn more about "Uncle" Henry Rayamore at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
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Aunt Granny (Lula) Russeau
Aunt Granny (Lula) Russeau was born into slavery on August 15, 1861 on Barbour Street in Eufaula, Alabama. Both of her parents had American Indian heritage, her mother from Virginia and her father from South Carolina. Russeau’s father died when she was only a few months old. Her mother raised her alone, teaching her to be a “missy.” Rather than leaving the plantation after the Civil War brought freedom from slavery, her mother stayed with her masters. While Russeau was actually American Indian, she was often confused as an African American woman. Based on her accounts, she experienced what life was like as an African American woman.

Learn more about Aunt Granny (Lula) Russeau at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
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Bessie Mae Boatwright
Boatwright, along with her four younger siblings, was raised by her mother, Cora Boatwright, who was also prostitute. Boatwright was six years older than her sister, Margie; eight years older than her next sister, Ruth; nine years older than her only brother, Billy, and 12 years older than her youngest sister, Ruby Lee. Billy was crippled in an unknown manner. Billy was crippled in an unknown manner, however his benefitted the family — he would receive a free business course because of his disability.

Boatwright frequently assisted her parents in bootlegging as a child. It is unclear whether her parents were ever caught for the act, but Boatwright assumed the majority of the responsibility as she got older.

When Boatwright was young, her parents’ marriage was defined by both verbal and physical conflict. The Boatwright parents often fought, especially when drunk.

Learn more about Bessie Mae Boatwright at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
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Bob Curtis
Curtis’ birth date is unknown, and he spoke little about his early life when interviewed. He worked many jobs during his life, including saw mill worker, cotton mill worker, and teamster. He typically earned between $0.75-$1.50 per day. He was briefly involved in the moonshine business, but left due to fear of imprisonment.

Because of the effects of the Great Depression on Alabama, Curtis left industrial work, which he said was being “ruined” by “machines”. He became an independent fisherman, working in the Coosa, Warrior, Alabama, Chattahoochee, and Tallapoosa rivers. During this time, he lived with his wife in temporary houses along the banks of these rivers.

Learn more about Bob Curtis at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
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Carrie Dykes
Carrie Dykes was born in Belmont, Alabama circa 1870. Her mother was a former slave. The white family of H.G. Mitchell helped to raise Dykes while employing her as a child. She assisted Mrs. Mitchell’s sister “Miss Gillespie,” who was said to be “an invalid.” Her father worked in the Mitchell home, also helping Miss Gillespie as she could not walk. Dykes’ mother and aunt lived nearby during her childhood.

Dykes was later sent to school while working for the Mitchells. Her highest level of education was the seventh grade.

Learn more about Carrie Dykes at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
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Charley Ryland
At some point in his early adulthood, Ryland began working as a coal miner in Alabama. Due to a mining incident, he lost sight in one of his eyes. Ryland was married at an unknown date. He and his wife had seven children, three sons and four daughters. Due to some unknown problems occurring in his home state, he moved his family to West Virginia where he would continue to work in the mines. He described his life in this state as "comfortable," and would continue to live here for some several years. However, around 1918, his wife contracted pneumonia and died. He only worked for a short while after this, then left West Virginia to return home to the Coosa River. All but one of his children stayed in West Virginia. Two of his sons also worked as coal miners and his four daughters married coal miners.

Learn more about Charley Ryland at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories
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Daisy White
Wingard moved to Columbia, South Carolina in search of new job opportunities. In Columbia, she met Younginer’s sister and decided to work for her. Wingard was paid $3.00 a week to cook two meals everyday. She also did laundry duties for two other households, in which she was paid $0.75 and $0.50 a week.

Wingard married Isaac Robinson, who was a homebuilder. They rented a house from Milbrooks for $2.00 a week. The house lacked electricity and running water. Only one water spigot was available in the backyard. The spigot often froze over in the winter, forcing Wingard to search for water throughout the neighborhood.

Wingard had two children, who were six years apart in age. They attended a Catholic school on Taylor Street.

During one winter, Wingard found an abandoned child and took the baby to Dr. Weston’s office. The doctor diagnosed the baby with pneumonia and claimed that the baby would die soon. Nevertheless, Wingard placed an onion poultice on the baby’s chest. Within a few days, the baby’s pneumonia was cured.

Learn more about Daisy White at Federal Writers' Project - Life Histories }}

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Charles Riborg Mann
In 1914, he became involved in the Joint Committee on Engineering Education of National Engineering Societies and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in New York City collecting information about the engineering and physics education throughout the country. In 1918, he was appointed a civilian advisor to the Committee on Education and Special Training in the United States' War Department. There, Mann was involved in creating the Student's Army Training Corps. He corresponded with government representatives from the War Department and with university administrators around the country. The committee’s work contributed to the development of relations between the U.S. military and the country’s university systems. Mann sent many reports and telegrams detailing his opinions and actions on the topic of training students for the military while allowing them to continue to attend college.

Learn more about Charles Riborg Mann at World War I -- Life Histories
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Elle Goode Hardeman
As regent during the war, Hardeman was involved with many causes on the home front. The Liberty Hall Chapter sponsored the Fifth Company, Coast Artillery of the N.C. National Guard, a company that lived and trained in the Charlotte-based Camp Greene. The chapter sent Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes to them, hosted the company when they were in Charlotte on furlough, and provided dinners with entertainment on base when they were away. The DAR also kept close contact with the mothers of those in the Fifth Company and managed a list of where the men travelled throughout the wartime, even as some of them were transferred to other companies. Through the DAR, she also supported many war bond drives, sold thrift stamps, and helped raise patriotism on the home front.

Learn more about Elle Goode Hardeman at World War I -- Life Histories
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Elmer Roberts
Roberts was made the chief of the Associated Press office in Paris, France on January 7, 1911. His work here mostly included dictating what stories were published, where his reporters were looking for stories, and ensuring his branch was on top of all of the most important news. Roberts often received correspondence from AP workers in America dictating to him what stories should be covered and complaining about other news sources being faster.

During the WWI, Roberts and his staff reported all the defeats and victories of the troops. Roberts also kept an extensive record of the happenings of the war in a personal journal.

Learn more about Elmer Roberts at World War I -- Life Histories
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Ernest Boyce McKissick
In June of 1918, McKissick was drafted in the Colored Barracks of Camp Jackson, South Carolina. When he arrived, a measles breakout shortly followed, causing his transfer to the first artillery of Camp Merritt, New Jersey in August 1918. After a two-week training regimen, he was transferred to the 92nd Infantry Division. reaching France by September 1918.

He stayed in the 349th Field Artillery, Battery F for the rest of the year. He saw 18-19 days of battle on the Western front until October 6, 1918. Although he mainly served as a technology specialist, he had directly fought in Xon, France.

Learn more about Ernest Boyce McKissick at World War I -- Life Histories
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Frank Parker
Frank Parker was a Major General in the United States Army 1st Division during World War I. Several of his letters and documents were collected and donated to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library Archives.

His first experiences in war came during the Spanish American War in 1898, and the Puerto Rican conflict in 1900. After these two events, he served as an instructor at the US Military Academy from 1900 to 1903. He then attended the Calvary School in Saumur, France, where he studied reconnaissance and strategy. After graduating, he served as a military attaché in Caracas, Venezuela from 1904 to 1905. In 1912, he graduated from the École Supériure de Guerre in France, where he studied more war strategy.

Learn more about Frank Parker at World War I -- Life Histories
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H. Gaston Carney
Gaston and his brother Marshall enlisted to fight in WWI in September 1918- a month later his journals began. Though Marshall lied about his age to join, and ended up fighting in the trenches of France, Gaston never saw the battlefield and dealt with the life of an inactive soldier abroad. Over the course of several months, Gaston wrote in five journals that matter-of-factly described his daily life from his journey to France until is return home in March 1919. During his time in the camp and quarantine, after an influenza outbreak at the beginning of his service, Carney wrote about the bitter cold weather, lack of sustenance and food. His entries said things like “men still dying – can’t get anything to eat or drink – still starving” [1]. Carney also wrote a lot about the YMCA and the relationship the “Y” had to the soldiers, including recreational activities set up by the “Y” in their camp. Carney and his troop were not returned home until over four months after the armistice in November 1918.

Learn more about H. Gaston Carney at World War I -- Life Histories
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Hatcher Hughes
Hughes briefly left his position at Columbia in 1916 and served as a captain during World War I and a member of the Armed Expeditionary Forces in France. Many students, faculty and alumni of college institutions were encouraged to enlist in the armed forces. Hughes completed most of his training in Camp Lee, Virginia before shipping off to the European front. He spent less than a year fighting in France, until the armistice was signed at 11am on November 11, 1918. He describes the cold and wet conditions that many soldiers endured during World War I, as well as the exhaustion and frustration that accompanied the fruitless war. Hughes remained in France with a host family until the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June of 1919. Hughes reports of the grand celebration that occurred in Paris after the signing of the treaty. He also discusses plans to visit Germany while on leave a few days before the treaty is signed, presumably for tourist travel purposes. Hughes wrote to his mother throughout the war about his desire for peace, while also specifying the need to defeat and humiliate Germany.

Learn more about Hatcher Hughes at World War I -- Life Histories }}

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Sally Thomas
Sally Thomas was born into slavery in 1787 on a tobacco plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia, near Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. Her life represents the experience of an illiterate black female entrepreneur, of whom there were thousands in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Most of these women were seamstresses and laundresses. Records of the lives of these women, many of whom were poor and illiterate, are very limited. As such, that fact that historians have ferreted out Thomas’ story from extant records is unusual. Thomas became “quasi-free,” a term used to describe an enslaved person whose master allowed them to live as a free person, even though a formal deed of emancipation from the state had not been obtained.

Learn more about Sally Thomas at The Crafting Freedom Project
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Frances E. W. Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born on September 24, 1824, to free black parents in Baltimore, Maryland. Her story, The Two Offers, written in 1859, is considered the first short story published by an African American woman. Harper is an important figure to study not only because of her literary accomplishments, but also because she devoted her literary and oratorical talents to “crafting freedom” for others. Orphaned at the age of three, Frances E. W. Harper was raised by her uncle, Reverend William Watkins, who was a political activist, clergyman, and director of Baltimore’s Academy for Negro Youth.

Learn more about Frances E. W. Harper at The Crafting Freedom Project
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Elizabeth Keckly
Elizabeth Keckly was a remarkable individual who was born into slavery in 1818 just south of the major market center of Petersburg, Virginia. She learned her craft – sewing – from her mother, who was an expert seamstress enslaved in the Burwell family. When Reverend Burwell, Keckly’s master and half-brother (they shard a father) relocated to Hillsborogh, North Carolina, in 1832, she soon followed. Six years later, Anna Burwell, Keckly’s mistress, started a school for young girls in the family home, with an already over-worked Keckly charged as the sole servant. In the Burwell household, Keckly was subject to physical and sexual abuse. She gave birth to her only child, a son, as a result of being molested by a white acquaintance of the Burwells.

Learn more about Elizabeth Keckly at The Crafting Freedom Project
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Edmonia Lewis
Mary “Edmonia” Lewis, known as Edmonia Lewis, was born c. 1845. Her mother was a Chippewa Indian who was married to an African-American man. Because her mother had free status, Lewis was born free. Historians are uncertain of her place of birth, but the most likely location is upstate New York (in or near Rensselaer County). After becoming an orphan at a young age, Lewis was raised primarily by her mother’s tribe. She briefly attended Oberlin College’s preparatory school for young girls when she was fourteen.

Learn more about Edmonia Lewis at The Crafting Freedom Project
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Frances E. W. Harper
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was born on September 24, 1824, to free black parents in Baltimore, Maryland. Her story, The Two Offers, written in 1859, is considered the first short story published by an African American woman. Harper is an important figure to study not only because of her literary accomplishments, but also because she devoted her literary and oratorical talents to “crafting freedom” for others. Orphaned at the age of three, Frances E. W. Harper was raised by her uncle, Reverend William Watkins, who was a political activist, clergyman, and director of Baltimore’s Academy for Negro Youth.

Learn more about Frances E. W. Harper at The Crafting Freedom Project
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Elizabeth Keckly
Elizabeth Keckly was a remarkable individual who was born into slavery in 1818 just south of the major market center of Petersburg, Virginia. She learned her craft – sewing – from her mother, who was an expert seamstress enslaved in the Burwell family. When Reverend Burwell, Keckly’s master and half-brother (they shard a father) relocated to Hillsborogh, North Carolina, in 1832, she soon followed. Six years later, Anna Burwell, Keckly’s mistress, started a school for young girls in the family home, with an already over-worked Keckly charged as the sole servant. In the Burwell household, Keckly was subject to physical and sexual abuse. She gave birth to her only child, a son, as a result of being molested by a white acquaintance of the Burwells.

Learn more about Elizabeth Keckly at The Crafting Freedom Project
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Edmonia Lewis
Mary “Edmonia” Lewis, known as Edmonia Lewis, was born c. 1845. Her mother was a Chippewa Indian who was married to an African-American man. Because her mother had free status, Lewis was born free. Historians are uncertain of her place of birth, but the most likely location is upstate New York (in or near Rensselaer County). After becoming an orphan at a young age, Lewis was raised primarily by her mother’s tribe. She briefly attended Oberlin College’s preparatory school for young girls when she was fourteen.

Learn more about Edmonia Lewis at The Crafting Freedom Project }}