Interview with Carmen Foster Part 1
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Interviewees
Foster, Carmen
Interviewer
Edwards, Ana
Producer
Sunshine, Daniel
Description
This interview was conducted as part of the East Marshall Street Well Project. Ana Edwards, a public historian and teaching professor, interviewed Dr. Carmen Foster, who serves on the Family Representative Council. They discussed Dr. Foster's deep family history in Richmond, and how she got involved in the East Marshall Street Well Project. This is part one of a two part interview.
In this first interview, Dr. Foster discussed her family’s long history as Black medical professionals in Richmond, Virginia. Her father, Francis Merrill Foster, was a dentist known in the community as a storyteller. She also shared family history on the lives of Harriet Taylor and her daughter, Virginia Taylor, exemplary Black midwives in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. Woven into this family history are conversations about the gentrification of Black spaces, race relations, and economic opportunity in Richmond through the decades. Next, Dr. Foster discussed joining the East Marshall Street Well Project and the process of community consults. Drawing on her experience as a leadership educator in government and in higher education, Dr. Foster concluded by reflecting on the novel success of the Family Representative Council, but also some of the challenges that accompanied this trailblazing project. The conversation continues in Dr. Foster’s second interview.
Biographical Note
Ana Edwards is a public historian and community activist. Currently, she is a teaching professor in VCU's Department of African American Studies. Most of her work centers on preserving the history and public spaces associated with Gabriel and the African Burial Ground in Shockoe Bottom.
Dr. Carmen Foster is a member of the Family Representative Council of the East Marshall Street Well Project, where she co-chairs the Memorialization and Interment Committee. She is a public historian with a doctorate in education from the University of Virginia. She holds master’s degrees in public administration from Harvard University and in communication from Clarion University, as well as a certificate in public theology from Union Presbyterian Seminary. She is a proud VCU undergraduate alumna. She has over thirty-five years of experience as an administrator, leadership educator, and facilitator in local, state, and federal sectors as well as in higher education.
Note
This interview description and biographical information was written by Daniel Sunshine.
Redaction information: Per request of narrator, a conversation about checking her parking meter time was redacted.
Corporate Name Subject
Hampden-Sydney College. Medical Department--Corrupt practices; Virginia Commonwealth University--Corrupt practices
Topical Subject
Reparations for historical injustices; Human remains (Archaeology)--Repatriation; African American cemeteries--Desecration; Body snatching-; History--Virginia--Richmond; Medical colleges--Corrupt practices; Universities and colleges--Corrupt practices; Racism in medicine; Racism against Black people; African American dentists; African American midwives; Midwifery; Gentrification; Race relations; Community organization
Place of Interview
Virginia Commonwealth University, The Workshop
City/Location
Richmond (Va.)
Genre
oral histories (literary genre)
Local Genre
oral history; sound recording; text
Type
Sound; Text
Digital Format
audio/mp3
Language
eng
Rights Statement URL
Rights
This material is protected by copyright, and copyright is held by Carmen Foster. You are permitted to use this material in any way that is permitted by copyright. In addition, this material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Acknowledgment of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is required.
Collection
East Marshall Street Well Oral History Project
Contributors
Virginia Commonwealth University
Source
"Interview with Carmen Foster Part 1," East Marshall Street Well Oral History Project, M 573, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.
File Name
emswoh_fostercarmen_interview_part1.mp3
Disciplines
African American Studies | Digital Humanities | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oral History | Social History | United States History