Your second essay will be based on an oral history interview you conduct (via Zoom or face to face) with someone born between the years 1946 and 1964. It’s not: “tell me all about your childhood.” Your interview must be focused around a theme having to do with the interviewee’s childhood/youth experience of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and/or immigration status DURING the person’s childhood/youth. You will also find two sources from newspapers to support your interview findings.
In order to frame your interview, you’ll need to decide about questions that might elicit responses about the theme you choose. You need to decide on a series of 5-10 questions, and these must be appended to the end of your essay (not included in the page requirement). Your essay also must refer to course material about the relevant period of your interviewee’s childhood/youth experiences (Huck’s Raft, two newspaper articles, and/or lectures specifically about the time period your interviewee is talking about). Refer to text by specific page number and to lecture by week. Your essay must have a works cited section at the end (not included in the 7-page requirement) where you list course text and any lectures you have referred to in your paper.
Your paper should identify your interviewee, tell date and place of birth, and tell how the interview was taken (phone, virtually, email, face to face), and date of interview. This should be in the front part of your essay, before you even begin your actual essay. The essay itself must have a thesis about childhood and gender, race, class, ethnicity, and/or immigration status which you will support by first dealing with information from course material (very briefly, to frame your essay) and then by reporting on your findings from your oral history interview. Your essay may NOT be question/answer. You need to come up with a thesis and conclusion around one of the themes and use your interview as evidence while using your course material as frame.
Your essay must be between 7 FULL pages (500 words per page), not including your header material about your interviewee, your works cited, or your list of questions at the end. Again- I deduct 10 points per incomplete page and 5 points for missing page numbering.
Works Cited:
For sources, you will include the person you are interviewing, Huck's Raft and lectures (by number), and two newspaper articles from that time period which directly relate to something your subject has discussed.
Both articles can be from The New York Times, but if you want to use another newspaper, UofL has access to the historical Louisville Courier-Journal as well.
For example, if you ask your subject about toys they had as a child, you might include this article: http://echo.louisville.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/house-votes-widen-ban-on-sale-toys-ruled-unsafe/docview/118687133/se-2?accountid=14665
Here is what your Works Cited should look like. Note that they are in alphabetical order by last name!
Harbolt, Larry. Interview with the author. Dec 12, 2024. (This is the person I interviewed)
Harbolt, Tami. Lecture 1. Accessed Dec 10, 2024.
"House Votes to Widen the Ban on Sale of Toys Ruled Unsafe." New York Times (1923-), Sep 05 1969, p. 24. ProQuest. Web. 16 Dec. 2024 .
LEONARD S. "Toy Ideas Come from Outer Space." New York Times (1923-), Mar 02 1969, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 16 Dec. 2024 .
Mintz, Steven. Huck's Raft. Belknap Press, 2006.
This database provides historical access to the New York Times. Follow the steps below to search within this title.
1. Enter your keywords in the search box (e.g. the theme from your interview you want to find articles on).
2. In the Publication Date drop-down, select Specific Date Range.
3. Enter 1946 as the start date and 1964 as the end date. Click Search.
This database provides historical access to the Louisville Courier Journal. Follow the steps below to search within this title.
1. Enter your keywords in the search box (e.g. the theme from your interview you want to find articles on).
2. In the Publication Date drop-down, select Specific Date Range.
3. Enter 1946 as the start date and 1964 as the end date. Click Search.