Jackson State University

Items

• Mattie Louise Bell interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Mattie Bell began working at Head Start in 1965 recruiting students for the program and working as a teacher's aid. She talks about her time as a Head Start Area Teacher Guide in Sharkey County and Issaquena County in Mississippi. She worked the same job for 20 years (even though the title changed a couple of times).
• Mathew Thomas interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Mathew Thomas worked for Mississippi Action for Progress (MAP) as an accountant for the Head Start programs in Mississippi. He discusses some of the racial dynamics in MAP and Head Start. He also talks about the current state of young people and his ideas on re-focusing what Head Start should look like in the future.
• Margarett Rundles interviewed by Carl S. Slade, Audio/Transcript.
  Margaret Rundles began working with the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) in 1967 in Jackson, Mississippi, when the organization moved into the building she was working in. She talks about first starting work as a copy manager and discusses some of the publications that came through her department.
• Margaret D. Jones interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Margaret Jones began Head Start in 1967, working to bring Head Start to Rankin County, Mississippi. Her career began when she was hired as a resource teacher when her daughter began attending Head Start at 3 years old. She eventually was promoted to Head Start Director of Education. She talks about the history of the program during her time there.
• Ludie Neal interviewed by Carolyn Murray, Audio/Transcript.
  Ludie Neal began working for Head Start in 1965 with the position of teacher, eventually moving to resource teacher in 1970. She talks about her role as a resource teacher, making daily and weekly lesson plans for the 25 students she taught. She also discusses the origins of Head Start in her community.
• Lavaree Jones interviewed by Major O'Neal, Audio/Transcript.
  This interview was recorded in Dr. Alferdteen Harrison's oral History class at Jackson State University and is conducted between two students. Lavaree Jones gives a rundown of the history of the beginnings of Head Start starting with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party registering voters and Freedom Schools during Freedom Summer.
• Jessie M. Jelks interviewed by Michael Richardson, Audio/Transcript.
  Jessie Jelks began work as a teacher with Head Start in 1967 and by 1979 had worked her way up to Education Special Services Specialist. She talks about the improvements and growth of Head Start since she first began working. At the time of the interview she was still working as Education Special Services Specialist.
• Jerome Wyatt interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Jerome Wyatt started working at Head Start in Jones County, Mississippi, in 1972 as Area Director. Mr. Wyatt talks about his time working with Head Start, including the internal and external problems he had to deal with when coming into the job. He says that White politicians were actively working to take control over the program.
• Judge Houston Patton interviewed by Carl S. Slade, Audio/Transcript.
  Judge Houston Patton started with Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) in 1965 as a Head Start administrator for Hinds, Madison, and Rankin counties in Mississippi. After attending law school, he worked from 1972 until 1979 with Head Start Legal Services in Jackson. He talks about these jobs including meetings, budgets, and personnel.
• Helen D. Ware interviewed by Delia Rinee Smith, Audio/Transcript.
  Helen Ware was involved with the Greenwood, Mississippi, Head Start program in Leflore County from its initial planning stages in 1969. She talks about her time working as a social worker for Head Start, including her role going into the community to get parents excited about enrolling their children.
• George W. Jamison interviewed by Delia Rinee Smith (2nd Interview), Audio/Transcript.
  In this second of two interviews, George Jamison talks about his role in policy decision and policy writing for the Head Start program. His first position in Head Start was with social services and he began writing policies from there. He also discusses the relationship between Head Start and the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
• George W. Jamison interviewed by Delia Rinee Smith (1st Interview), Audio/Transcript.
  George Jamison began working for Head Start in 1964 under Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) and decided to keep working after the change over to Mississippi Action for Progress, Inc (MAP). He talks about his travels through Mississippi to meet with communities and promote Head Start after the change. This is the first interview of 2.
• Francis M. Alexander interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Francis Alexander did extensive Civil Rights Movement work in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in the 1960s. In this interview, Ms. Alexander talks in detail about that work as well as her work in the greater Rolling Fork community. Later, she went on to open a Head Start school in her home after she began teaching her own children how to read and write.
• Eunice Hicks interviewed by Carolyn Murray, Audio/Transcript.
  Eunice Hicks began work at Head Start in 1965 as a social worker because of her degree in Sociology. She goes through her career and the different positions she held in the organization and the different centers she worked in. The interview is incomplete because Side A was recorded over.
• Emma Wheeler interviewed by Carolyn Murray, Audio/Transcript.
  Ms. Wheeler worked at Head Start from 1967-1977, first as a disbursement clerk, then bookkeeper, and eventually assistant director. In the interview, she talks about some of the things the students learned as part of the program and the role parents of students played in the program.
• Emma S. Mason interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Emma Mason began as a nurse with Head Start in 1965. She initially worked in Jackson, Mississippi, then in Edwards, Mississippi. She returned to Jackson and eventually worked in all 16 Head Start centers in the city. She talks about the health needs she saw with the students and discusses how workers were recruited for the program in Jackson.
• Erma D. Sanders interviewed by Linda Chambers, Audio/Transcript.
  Erma Sanders served on the Head Start board and worked with the first Head Start program that was established in Edwards, Mississippi, through Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM). She discusses the differences between the programs in Edwards and Jackson, Mississippi, and the ways that CDGM handled finding teachers for Head Start classes.
• Elzie Collins interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Elzie Collins was one of the first Mississippi employees of the Head Start program and went on to have over 25 years of experience with the organization. In the interview, she breaks down the organizational structure of the early program.
• Dr. Robert Smith interviewed by Carl S. Slade, Audio/Transcript.
  Dr. Robert Smith was founder of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, a Civil Rights Movement organization that fought for better treatment of African Americans in the 1960s. Dr. Smith continued this work as the Head Start medical director in the early days of the program. He talks about his responsibilities and experiences in that position.
• Robert E. Hoskins interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Robert Hoskins was a long time community activist, working with the NAACP and other organizations. He tells the story of working with the Harrison County Community Action Agency to help bring Harrison County its first Head Start program in 1965. Later, he became Area Administrator for Harrison County Head Start. Incomplete. Side B missing.
• Ginevera N. Reaves interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Ginevera Reaves helped to start the Head Start program in Benton, Mississippi in 1965. She talks about the psychology and home economics classes she took in school, her Bachelor’s Degree in Education and her Master’s Degree in School Administration, and how that broad background gave her a unique perspective on teaching the disadvantaged.
• Dr. Albert Briton Jr. interviewed by Clonzo L. May, Audio/Transcript.
  Dr. Albert Briton was the medical director for Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) and Head Start from the start of the program, brought in by director John Mudd because white physicians in the state were refusing to work in the program. Dr. Briton talks about his involvement with the Civil Rights Movement leading him to work with CDGM.
• Bessie Warren interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Bessie Warren took a job in 1972 at Lift Incorporated Community Action Agency in Tupelo, Mississippi, where she worked as a rotating teacher’s assistant. Later, she became Head Start Educational Coordinator and Career Development Officer, positions she had held for 12 years up to the time of the interview.
• Beatrice Coats interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Beatrice Coats talks about her involvement in voter registration work with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She talks extensively about her experiences helping to register people to vote in 1964, after being a registered voter herself since 1946. That work led her to helping open a Head Start Center in Hollandale, Mississippi.
• Barbara Mason interviewed by Lavaree Jones, Audio/Transcript.
  Barbara Mason discusses the beginnings of Head Start in Utica, Mississippi, in 1965 and sending her daughter to attend the Head Start Center at St. Mark's Catholic Church. She goes on to talk about working at a Head Start center in Jackson, Mississippi, as a driver for the kids in the program.