Oral History at African American Library, Gregory School
25 September 2013
Built in 1926, the Gregory School was the first school for African Americans in the city of Houston and is located in the city's oldest established African American community-historic Freedmen's Town, in Houston's Fourth Ward. The school closed its doors in the mid-1980s and after being abandoned for over 20 years reopened in 2009 as The African American Library at the Gregory School. As the first library of its kind in Houston and one of the few African American libraries in the country, the Gregory School serves as a resource to preserve, promote, and celebrate the rich history and culture of African Americans in Houston, the surrounding region, and the African Diaspora. The library provides incomparable collections of multi-type resources including reference books, rare books, archival materials, exhibits, artifacts, innovative programs, and oral histories.
Oral histories are a valued and important component of the Gregory School's collections. Oral history interviews are conducted with men and women from all walks of life who have made contributions to Houston's African American history. People come in and share their experience and then their interviews are made available to scholars, students, and the general public on our website. Our Oral History collection captures rich, first-hand experiences from individuals who contribute to African American culture and offers a firsthand view that is Houston's African American experience.
Our oral histories along with our photo collection and archives can be accessed on our website, http://www.thegregoryschool.org or at our city's digital archive page, http://digital.houstonlibrary.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/nvoicesoh. A few of the interviews I have conducted are available to view (Virgil Wood, Jewell McGowen, and Ronald Green), and more are on the way. If you are ever in the Houston area, please feel free to come by to experience our historic treasure in the heart of Houston's Fourth Ward. We are located at 1300 Victor Street and are open Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Adrienne Cain*
*Oral History Librarian for the African American Library at the Gregory School (Houston Public Library System) in Houston, TX
Number of Visits: 3793
http://oral-history.ir/?page=post&id=4701