“…there’s a legacy around the capacity to stand one’s own ground and say, ‘No, this is who we are. And this is what we stand for. And this is what we can do.’” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · War Zone This interview was recorded using Zoom. Transcript for War Zone I grew up in […]
“Nobody ever said, ‘Hey, you’re a Mexican,’ or ‘Hey, you’re an Italian’ or anything like that.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for The Neighborhood Did he ever suffer any discrimination? I don’t know. Because I was a kid and he was working in the mill. My mom definitely did not suffer any, I don’t think, […]
“The potential in Gary was and still is tremendous.” Edited by Welcome Project Intern Ella Speckhard Transcript for Where Is Everyone Running Away To? Everything was changing so fast. It was changing too fast. Everybody can adjust to change, but it just seemed like it happened overnight. But the physical town changed. And then, when […]
“So my dad said, ‘Well, you know what, I don’t have to live here.’” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for Settling in Gary My dad left, he ran away from his father, at the age of thirteen. He left Mexico and worked on a tramp steamer. A tramp steamer was a boat, I think, that […]
“And so they had to negotiate both of those worlds. That’s what black people have always done.” Recorded over Zoom. Edited by Rebecca Warner. Transcript for Code-Switching The journey of my parents to South Bend, Indiana is—to me, it’s very interesting. They both went to Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. They were both born […]
“No other part of their humanity could be seen beyond the color of their skin.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Watching Fires This interview was recorded over Zoom. Transcript for Watching Fires I grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts. It’s right in the City of Boston. My family was the second African American—Afro-Caribbean family to […]
“I was the only Caucasian in the whole class.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for School Days I went to Froebel School, kindergarten, in about 1948. My kindergarten class was basically all white. I had Mrs. Reising for a kindergarten teacher. And I remember that everybody had to have a rug. And at ten o’clock […]
“We don’t ever want the kids to be able to say we weren’t there.” Edited by Welcome Project Intern Ella Speckhard Transcript for We Don’t Make Excuses I kind of feel like today the school is not the community resource that it used to be when I was a child. It’s more like, now, we […]
“I always want to make my city proud.” Edited by Welcome Project Intern Ella Speckhard Transcript for Gary Made Me I always like to say that Gary made me. Like, there’s a phrase—I don’t know if people have ever heard this phrase, but, ‘If you’re from Gary, you can live anywhere.’ So, and I truly, […]