Interview with Ann W. Olson, December 7, 1990
Project: Appalachia: War On Poverty Oral History Project
Interview Summary
This is a second interview with Ann Olson who served as an Appalachian Volunteer (AV) in the mid-1960s. Olson recalls attempting to find a place to live and adjusting to the culture of the mountains. She discusses a disparaging article written about the town that she was working in, and the backlash against a VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) worker who was interviewed for the article. She explains a project that she led to start a preschool where mothers in the community could work. Olson also talks about taking a few teenage girls to AV training and working on a summer program. She describes other small projects that she did and the difficulty that she had leaving the mountains. She states that she worked with the Quakers for a year lobbying against the Vietnam War, but explains that she came back to Elliott and Pike counties to visit often, and eventually settled in Olive Hill, Kentucky.Olson recalls the intensity of the experience of being an Appalachian Volunteer. She states that her experience helped her to see that she had choices in life. Olson also explains how her experience with the Appalachian Volunteers has affected her current work with gifted children. Using the organizing skills she learned in her years as an activist, she started a local chapter of the Kentucky Association for Gifted Children and eventually served as a representative from the 7th District on the state board.
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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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.
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Olson, Ann W. Interview by Margaret Brown. 07 Dec. 1990. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Olson, A.W. (1990, December 07). Interview by M. Brown. Appalachia: War On Poverty Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Olson, Ann W., interview by Margaret Brown. December 07, 1990, Appalachia: War On Poverty Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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