Ruth Cooke Johnson interview (2013-10-04)

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Interviewee

Johnson, Ruth Cooke

Interviewer

Miller, Alyce P.; Daugherity, Brian J., 1972-

Publication Date

10-4-2013

Date

2013-10-04

Description

An interview conducted as part of the Goochland County Rosenwald Schools Oral History Project, 2013-2015, documenting education in Goochland County, Virginia, particularly the impact of the Rosenwald Schools, and the differences between the education offered to white and black students during the period the Rosenwald Schools operated. In this interview, Ruth Cooke Johnson discusses her youth in Goochland County, Virginia, and her parents' careers as owners of a local nightclub and restaurant, which her family continued to operate until 1988. She also discusses her memories of attending Backbone Elementary School and Central High School, which include descriptions of a typical day at school, the curriculum, the school layout, and recreational activities that were available to students. Ruth Cooke also talks about her family's involvement in the NAACP and community activism efforts at the time, highlighting her father's earlier role in the establishment of a bus program for local African American students and her daughter’s experiences attending newly-integrated schools.

Personal Name Subject

Johnson, Ruth Cooke -- Interviews; Johnson, Ruth Cooke -- Childhood and youth -- Anecdotes

Corporate Name Subject

Julius Rosenwald Fund -- Buildings; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Topical Subject

African American schools -- Virginia -- Goochland County; African American neighborhoods -- Virginia -- Goochland County; School integration -- Virginia --Goochland County; Community activists -- Virginia -- Goochland; African Americans -- Education -- Virginia -- Goochland County; African American schools -- Curricula -- Virginia -- Goochland County

Geographic Subject

Goochland County (Va.) -- Race relations

City/Location

Goochland County (Va.)

Genre

oral histories (literary genre)

Local Genre

oral history; moving image

Type

Moving Image

Digital Format

video/mp4

Language

eng

Rights

This material is protected by copyright, and the copyright is held by Brian J. Daugherity, Alyce Miller, and Christopher Silvent. 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

Goochland County Rosenwald Schools Oral History Project, 2013-2015

Contributors

Silvent, Christopher

Source

Original oral history: Ruth Cooke Johnson interview (2013-10-04), Goochland County Rosenwald Schools Oral History Project, 2013-2015, M 501, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.

File Name

goo_johnsonruthcooke_interview.mp4

Disciplines

African American Studies | American Studies | Oral History | Political History | Public History | Social History | United States History | Women's History

Ruth Cooke Johnson interview (2013-10-04)

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