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Oral Histories

  • Caribel Washington
  • Dates: 1914 - 2011
  • Depression era, early civil rights work, YWCA, Wayman A.M.E. Church, civic work, WIlliam Shields
  • Claude Hursey
  • Dates: 1905 - 1990
  • 3rd Ward Club (owner), African-American businesses in Bloomington, Republican, WWI era memories, Revy Rhoades
  • Ethel Murray
  • Dates: 1917 - 1990
  • Domestic for prominent families, social service work, civic & social clubs
  • Howard and Elaine Bell
  • Dates: 1922-living, 1923-2005
  • Early Bloomington family, WWII veteran, Depression era history, Elaine was active in community service.
  • Kathyrn Dean
  • Dates: 1910 - 2001
  • State Farm Ins. employee, civic & social clubs, grandfather was Civil War veteran
  • Lucinda Posey
  • Dates: 1908 - 2000
  • Pre-Civil war Bloomington family, Dir. of Medical Records (Brokaw Hospital), community & civic boards, Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church.
  • Lue Anna Clark
  • Dates: 1892-1992
  • Father was slave, WWI era restaurant business, boarding of ISNU students
  • Merlin and Beulah Kennedy
  • Dates: 1926-living, 1923-2002
  • Active in civil rights, NAACP, Youth Council, employment & housing issues
  • Oscar and Ruth Waddell
  • Dates: 1917-1990, 1923-living
  • WWII veteran, skilled employment at GE, breaking employment barriers, home ownership, Willis Stearles
  • Richard and Rose Bell
  • Dates: 1910-1988, 1923-2005
  • Business owner and farmer, Rose Anna from early McLean County family, Illinois Soldiers & Sailors Home, domestic
  • Robert and Lillian Augusta Boykin
  • Dates: 1896-1989, 1908-1999
  • Social clubs, Union Baptist Church, domestic,yard & railroad work, farm life & sharecropping in the South
  • Robert Gaston
  • Dates: 1918 - 1993
  • Barber, WWII veteran, Chamber of Commerce Board member
  • Roy and Delores Shavers
  • Dates: 1905-1990, 1902-1998
  • Melody Gospel Choir, African-American business in Bloomington & Clinton, St. Mary's Catholic Church
  • Wilbur Barton
  • Dates: 1914 - 2005
  • Early Normal family, ISNU grad & athlete, WWII veteran, teacher/principal