The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, stunned virtually everyone in the U.S. military: Japan's carrier-launched bombers found Pearl Harbor totally unprepared. In this 1991 interview, conducted by John Terreo for the Montana Historical Society, serviceman Orville Quick, who was assigned to build airfields and was very near Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941, remembers the attack. He also provided a vivid, and humorous, account of the chaos from a soldier's point of view.

Oral histories not only help us to recall important memories, but when told to children in the form of storytelling, they also provide a connection to the real world and give children a place within their own community. Oral histories help to explain events in one's life while providing an account of the time remembered. In this lesson, students watch a video of a personal history and learn the difference between primary sources and secondary sources of information. They learn how technology and media have influenced changes over time in the community and how the development of technology continues to impact our lives.

This site offers 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 photos of former slaves. The collection can be searched by name, city, state, topic, or other key words. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

This lesson plan will introduce students to the political, social, and economic issues surrounding school desegregation using oral histories from those who experienced it firsthand. They will learn about the history of the "separate but equal" U.S. school system, the 1971 Swann case which forced Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to integrate, and the recent decision to discontinue busing for racial integration in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. They will compare and contrast neighborhood schools with schools integrated through busing, and listen to oral histories of students who have experienced both types of schools in CMS. Through discussion with classmates, they will create a list of the negatives and positives of both neighborhood and integrated schools. Students will then write an argumentative essay explaining which type of schools they would support, and will defend their argument with evidence from the oral histories.

This is a multi-format ethnographic field collection project, undertaken during the New Deal, that includes sound recordings, still photographs, drawings, and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Northern California.

The Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina rise abruptly from the Piedmont, the state's central plateau, and include the ranges of the Balsam, Black, Blue Ridge, Great Smoky, and Nantahala Mountains. The region is home to several of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi River. The rugged geography of these mountains delayed the arrival of European settlers to the area, slowed the pace of development, and for many years preserved a distinct regional culture.

While development and change were slow in coming to the Mountain Region, the last half a century has seen a surge in both. This site focuses on the story of Madison County, North Carolina. Listen to members of the community candidly discuss tradition, growth, loss, and balance as you experience the story of change in the North Carolina mountains.

The political landscape in the South underwent significant change during the twentieth century. Political and social change in Southern states was directly connected to some of the landmark events of American history, particularly the Civil Rights Movement. An understanding of the role of politics in the South is essential to comprehension of the history and culture of the region.

The oral histories in this site illuminate changes in Southern politics from the end of the Civil War up to the present day. The recollections and opinions of the important political figures interviewed in these oral histories help form an impression of the role of Southern politics in the tumultuous events of the twentieth century in America. Listen as eyewitnesses recount the effects of politics and changing political beliefs on the story of the American South.

In this lesson, students will learn about the use of child labor in the cotton mills of the Carolinas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They will learn what life was like for a child worker: how much the workers made, how many hours they worked each day, what their homes were like and what they did for fun. Students will then write an investigative news report exposing the practice of child labor in the mills, using quotations from oral histories with former child mill workers and photographs of child laborers taken by social reform photographer Lewis Hine.

In this lesson, students will read two primary source documents from Documenting the American South, a digital library collection sponsored by the University Library at UNC. One document is Child Labor in the Carolinas, a pamphlet published in 1909 by the National Child Labor Committee exposing the use of child labor in the cotton mills of North Carolina. The other document is Mill News, a weekly newsletter about the Southern cotton industry which was paid for and published by the mill companies themselves. Students will also listen to oral history excerpts from mill workers to gain a third perspective. In a critical analysis, students will identify the audiences for both documents and the motivations and intent of its authors, as well as examine the historical importance of each document.

In this lesson, students will contrast and compare de facto and de jure segregation, listening to oral history examples of each from residents of Charlotte, North Carolina. Students will then brainstorm solutions to each type of segregation, and will discuss why de facto segregation can persist even after de jure segregation is eliminated.

Diane Nash was a college student when she started leading sit-in demonstrations to protest discrimination. In this interview, recorded for Eyes on the Prize, Nash describes her role in the Civil Rights movement.

A practicum-style course in anthropological methods of ethnographic fieldwork and writing, intended especially for STS, CMS, HTC, and Sloan graduate students, but open to others with permission of instructor. Depending on student experience in ethnographic reading and practice, the subject is a mix of reading anthropological and science studies ethnographies; and formulating and pursuing ethnographic work in local labs, companies, or other sites.

Students will examine and interpret interviews obtained by authors working for the Federal Writer's Project during the 1930s. A close study of the narratives will allow students to: Understand the specific tasks undertaken by men and women employed by one of the work relief programs of the New Deal; Obtain a more personal sense of the past by examining the lives and careers of ordinary men and women interviewed during the period of the Federal Writer's Project; Learn about the process and issues involved in doing oral history.

Students will view a film clip about immigration and arrange interviews with immigrants they know. Using digital cameras they will create a classroom book that tells about the immigrant experience.

This guide explains how to conduct and preserve oral histories in your community.

Learning history from real people involved in real events brings life to history. The Grandparent/Elder Project provides a means to learn about the twentieth century from real people and primary sources. A 1913 New York Times newspaper provides a view of the world on the brink of a World War. An interview with a grandparent or significant elder provides a human face for life in the twentieth century. Through researching primary and secondary sources, students become conversant with significant aspects of twentieth century history.

Greek American Experiences Between Two Cultures is an online oral history project that provides an opportunity for Greek Americans to record and access stories, anecdotes and personal histories via the world wide web. Through the modern technology of the internet, it is possible for site visitors to both post stories about their families' experiences as Greek Americans and to read about the experiences of others. Thus, the site serves as a unique and freely accessible archive of oral histories from this vibrant American ethnic group.

In 1918 and 1919, the Spanish influenza killed 550,000 people in the United States and 20 to 40 million worldwide. In a 1982 interview with Laurie Mercier, Loretta Jarussi of Bearcreek, Montana, described how people would pass through that tiny town seemingly healthy, only to be reported dead two days later. Her father went undiagnosed for many weeks and had plans to go to a nearby hot springs to rest. She believed that her father's death was averted only because the son of the local doctor was an army doctor who recognized flu symptoms that others missed.

Historical Methodology will introduce the student to historical research methods and familiarize the student with the tools and techniques that historians use to study the past. The student will learn about the process of modern historical inquiry and gain a better understanding of the diverse resources that historians use to conduct research. The first four units will focus on research methodology and examine how and why historians conduct research on the past. Later units will examine how different historical resources can be used for historical research. By the end of the course, the student will understand how to conduct research on past events and be familiar with the variety of physical and electronic resources available for historical research. Upon successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of basic historical research methods and identify necessary research skills; Develop historical research topics, identify primary and secondary sources, and conduct research using these sources; Identify fundamental writing skills and assess how historical subjects may be best presented to various audiences; Define the meaning of historiography and identify important historiographic trends of the past century; Compare and contrast basic historical research practices conducted with library, archival, and online resources; Identify and assess possible career choices that depend on knowledge and understanding of historical research practices. (History 104)