Interview with Helen Smith, September 12, 1988

Interview Summary

Helen Smith discusses her family background, including her Native American heritage, and her great grandmother who was a slave. She talks about her parents' educations and occupations. She talks about her grandmother's work as a midwife in Danville, Kentucky.

Smith talks about her experiences living in a mixed community, and discusses race relations in Danville and Maysville, Kentucky. She talks about changes in the church, schools, and the community since her childhood. She talks about her own education and career, specifically her work raising children as a baby nurse. She discusses whether the Black community is better off since the civil rights movement.

Interview Keyword

African American churches--Kentucky African Americans--Education. African Americans--Employment. African Americans--Genealogy. African Americans--Social conditions. Family histories. Midwives Neighborhoods. Race discrimination. Slavery--United States.

Interview LC Subject

African American families Danville (Ky.) Integration Race Relations--Kentucky Smith, Helen Smith, Helen--Interviews

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.