Posts by Allison Schuette
International Education at Valparaiso University – An Oral History
“The goal was always to get more students here and get more of our students to go abroad.” The following stories, edited by Nick Ladeau, offer a portrait of how international education was established and developed at Valparaiso University. Study Abroad Programs Saudi Cultural Mission International Activities at Valpo Transcript for Study Abroad Programs We…
Read MoreI’m 101-Years-Old (Parts 1 and 2)
Parts one and two of a two-part biographical story in which our 101-year-old storyteller remembers part of her family’s journey prior to the Emancipation Proclamation up to her birth in St. Louis, MO, and her move as a young adult to Gary, IN. Part I: But I’m Still Here “The doctor…made a comment, ‘Oh, the…
Read MoreHere on Earth to Help Each Other
“…we must do it in a good way so we don’t destroy our earth.” Part two in a two-part story. Transcript for Here on Earth to Help Each Other Always, whenever you spoke of Gary, people said, “Oh, the mill.” Because that’s why people came to Gary. Joe Chapman, when he got to working in…
Read MoreBut I’m Still Here
“The doctor…made a comment, ‘Oh, the girl doesn’t have a chance.’” This is part one of a two-part story. Transcript for But I’m Still Here This goes way back to before the Emancipation Proclamation. My grandfather’s father was born in Virginia, and he knew about sea plants and what you could eat and what you…
Read MoreMaking Enemies
“People are so afraid of change.” Edited by Rebecca Werner. Transcript for Making Enemies If you want to talk about making enemies, I could tell you that I did a lot of zoning work, land use work. From 1965-1990, I was the man in Porter County that you’d talk to if you wanted to get…
Read MoreHold the Line
“These were good people who honestly believed that there was a real problem in terms of the difference between the races.” Edited by Rebecca Werner. Transcript for Title of Story Well, at the time of Richard Hatcher’s election as Mayor of Gary, we didn’t know how that election was going to go, but we knew…
Read MoreCompetition Came In
“What happened with the steel industry is foreign steel.” Edited by Rebecca Werner. Transcript for Title of Story Bethlehem Steel supposedly came to the Midwest and moved into U.S. Steel’s territory, supposedly after U.S. Steel had moved into one of Bethlehem’s territories, I think, in the South. So the competition was there. There was a…
Read MoreWe Were Bussed
“… we were in school together, but we were separated.” Editing by Welcome Project intern Brandi Casada. Transcript for We Were Bussed Originally, the East Side of Gary, which is anything east of Broadway. See, downtown was flourishing then, so we’re going to say from 8th Avenue down to 5th Avenue was the business district.…
Read MoreA Really Troubled Past
“It’s hard to argue with the values of a diverse population.” Edited by Reagan Skaggs. Transcript for A Really Troubled Past Indiana has a really troubled past with race. Marion was a very segregated city, and Marion, Indiana is the site of the last lynching in Indiana in 1936. And I think that that…
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