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Article: Oral history beginnings.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Oral History Review
- Article date:
- June 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Oral History Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I received a master's degree in American History (Constitution) from the University of Louisville in 1983, twenty-five years after I graduated from Vassar College. Subsequently, I worked on a project with my professor, mentor, and friend Mary K. Tachau. One day, she called me and said, "Carl Ryant (who taught me twentieth century American History) and I think you should do an oral history of Jim Gordon." James F. Gordon was the federal district court judge who desegregated the Jefferson County, Kentucky schools in 1975.
I asked, "What's an oral history?" But soon after, I was hooked. Certainly, interviewing Judge Gordon was fitting for a student of the ...