migration

woman smiling

The Signs Were Not There

ewuerffe

“We used to say this was ‘up South,’ and, you know, the other places were ‘down South.’” Transcript for The Signs Were Not There All of my folks—my father and my mother’s side, they were all from Florida. Gainesville, Alachua, Florida, and all down there. Every summer, my mother packed us all up, you know, […]

101 year old woman

But I’m Still Here

Allison Schuette

“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 […]

two yellow chairs talking to each other

Still Working on the Revolution

ewuerffe

“You’ve given status to people who would ordinarily not have it…thus giving them power and ability to make change.” Rev. Dr. Gregory Jones Edited by Rebecca Werner Transcript for Still Working on the Revolution I moved to Valpo in 1988. I met Walt Reiner maybe a year before. I was running something called the South […]

No Interest in Seeing Our City Progress

ewuerffe

“Why don’t you come to Gary and see what Gary really is?” Transcript for No Interest in Seeing Our City Progress You know—city services are based on tax revenue and if you don’t have enough people who are paying into that tax base, then of course, you can’t provide the level of service that you […]

hands holding archival photograph of African American woman in cap and gown

Double Whammy

ewuerffe

“Now, we talked about the white flight; we didn’t talk about what really made it worse in Gary.” Double Whammy is part of our Flight Paths initiative. Double Whammy So the white flight in Gary—there are differing viewpoints as to what caused that and what fueled it. And I think the popular one, primarily by […]

two yellow chairs talking to each other

Settlement House

ewuerffe

“If you could make it through the wobbles and the buckles in the floor at the Neighborhood House, you could skate anywhere.” This is an audio excerpt from Just What a Neighbor Does. To see the full video, click here. Transcript for Settlement House So, I grew up in a working class neighborhood on the […]

two yellow chairs talking to each other

Racism Is a Disease

ewuerffe

“Until you change inside, all the laws you can pass ain’t gonna do a bit of good.” Produced by Emmanuel Higgins for Flight Paths. Thanks to Mr. Allison for sharing this story.   Transcript for Racism Is a Disease I grew up right here in Gary. I was born here in 1938. Gary used to […]

family documents

Homestead

ewuerffe

“They came in their covered wagon to Merrillville…”   Transcript for Homestead Well, I just did my DNA thing, and it’s basically Western European. That’s traced back to 212 AD. This is the family history; this is the oldest house – my great grandparents. It was homestead in 1852. He came from Erie, Pennsylvania. He […]