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Title
Oral history interview with Charles B. Maxey [Sound Recording 12]
Date(s)
- 1994-04-01 (Creation)
Extent
Audiocassette; 00:30:27
Name of creator
Biographical history
Charles Britton Maxey was born in St. Augustine, Texas, in 1917. His parents separated when he was young, and he moved with his mother to Longview, Texas. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Texas College in Tyler, Texas. In 1939, he and Johnnie Obina Samples were married; they later had five children. After briefly seeking employment as a teacher in Utah, he relocated to Portland, Oregon, in 1943, where he found work in the shipyards during World War II. Johnnie Maxey followed soon after. After the war, Charles Maxey got his certification as a barber and owned barbershops in North Portland. After his first two shops and his home were seized by the state of Oregon for the construction of Interstate 5, he opened a barbershop and grocery store in North Portland, which the family operated for many decades. He was also active in the Oregon Republican Party. He died in 2001.
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Scope and content
Tape 7, Side 2. This oral history interview with Charles B. Maxey was conducted by Jim Strassmaier at Maxey’s home in Portland, Oregon, from February 25 to November 18, 1994. Johnnie Obina Maxey was also present and occasionally contributed to the interview. The interview was conducted in six sessions. In the fourth interview session, conducted on April 1, 1994, Maxey continues discussing his involvement in the Oregon Republican Party and his involvement in the NAACP, as well as people being accused of communism for advocating for civil rights. He also continues discussing his involvement in the NAACP. He discusses the slow progress of civil rights in Oregon; talks about his own activism; and shares his thoughts on interracial marriage. He talks about experiencing discrimination at a Young Republicans convention in Utah and discusses his experiences with Oregon Republicans such as Tom McCall, Clay Myers, and Sig Unander. He describes how the black community was disproportionately affected by the state’s land seizures during the construction of I-5, including his own loss of his home and first two barbershops. He then discusses owning and operating a grocery store as a family business in North Portland, as well as a barbershop and other businesses that he ran on the side. He talks about raising his children, including their education.
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Conditions governing access
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.
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Languages of the material
- eng
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Subject access points
- Oregon--Politics and government--20th century
- African Americans--Oregon--Portland
- African American barbers--Oregon--Portland
- Barbers--Oregon--Portland
- Business enterprises--Oregon--Portland
- Gentrification--Oregon--Portland
- Grocery trade--Oregon--Portland
- Racism--Texas
- Racism--Oregon
- Shipbuilding--Oregon--Portland
- World War, 1939-1945--Oregon--Portland
- Republican Party (Or.)
- Maxey, Johnnie O. (Johnnie Obina), 1919-
Place access points
Name access points
- Strassmaier, James (Contributor)