Course Highlight: Oral Histories, Neighborhoods, and Race
In this series, Cultural Studies major Chenoa Baker ’21 highlights some of the most unique classes at Chatham and how they showcase our University Mission and values. In Spring 2020, Chenoa took the course “Oral Histories, Neighborhoods, and Race.” She interviews Dr. Lou Martin, Assistant Professor of History, about how he designed this course.
Storefront in Homewood c.1950s-1960s. Image courtesy of History of Westinghouse High School website created by past students in this course.
Q: What is this course about?
According to the course catalogue, Oral Histories, Neighborhoods, and Race, seeks to accomplish that “Through this course, students will learn about oral history and the racial dynamics of American cities, especially Pittsburgh, since World War II. Students will learn about the history of racial inequality in cities and the efforts of people to both combat and maintain that inequality. They will then conduct oral history interviews to further explore the role the lives of people in two neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.”
Q: How does this course embody Chatham values?
Dr. Martin notes, “[the course] has to do with engagement in civic responsibility [in Chatham’s mission] because students learn about the Homewood, a nearby neighborhood, that only appears on the nightly news when something bad has happened and is often ignored when there are good things are happening.” Not only are students encouraged to seek out a broader story and build rapport with the community through oral history interviews, but in doing so, they “confront their own racial identities to do a good job with these interviews.”
In the course, students use what they learn in class to formulate questions for oral history interviews, and then turn that information into a multimedia presentation. For example, I [Chenoa Baker] remember learning that the development of Northern cities lead to a different type of activism than in the Jim Crow South. We often only hear about the type of “peaceful protests” advocated and led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but in Chicago, LA, and Pittsburgh, protest took on a multitude of forms. In my oral history interview with Homewood resident Richard Morris, he shared that he and his friends staged a school walkout when they were treated unfairly and the school did not teach Black history. Not only did they employ non-violent strategies, but they relied on community support from the local Black Panther Party. Hearing his point of view materialized into a video that a classmate and I created about the tradition of civic engagement and social activism in Homewood
This photo shows the Westinghouse Hall of Fame of accomplished alumni and Valeria Williams, class of ’67, who put this hall of fame together. Image courtesy of History of Westinghouse High School website.
Q: What is Dr. Martin’s favorite memory from the course?
Students work with Westinghouse High School alumni to conduct oral history interviews. Westinghouse is a special place, as students discover, because the students there have a history of activism and notable alumni, such as Mary Lou Williams, Naomi Sims, and Billy Strayhorn. One of Dr. Martin’s favorite memories is partnering with Denise Graham, the Library Manager at the Carnegie Library in Homewood, because she is a Chatham alumna and an oral history enthusiast. Through this connection, as she is well-known in Homewood, Graham introduced students to people in the Homewood community.
Q: Students should take this if…
They like experiential learning and want first-hand accounts of Pittsburgh history. Once students read about the history of African Americans in Northern cities, they formulate questions to conduct oral history interviews with people in Homewood, a nearby neighborhood to Chatham. “Those experiences are part of the much bigger and broader narrative of history,” Dr. Martin says.
