Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
Oral history interview with Johnnie O. Maxey [Sound Recording 05]
Date(s)
- 1994-03-31 (Creation)
Extent
Audiocassette; 00:30:14
Name of creator
Biographical history
Johnnie Obina Maxey, nee Samples, was born in Kilgore, Texas, in 1919. She attended Texas College in Tyler, Texas. In 1939, she and Charles Britton Maxey were married; they later had five children. In 1943, the couple relocated to Portland, Oregon, where Charles Britton Maxey worked in the shipyards and later as a barber. After Charles Britton Maxey's first two barbershops were seized by the state for the construction of Interstate 5, the couple ran a small grocery store, called Maxey's Better Buy Grocery, with an attached barbershop in North Portland. Johnnie Maxey was active in numerous community organizations, including the parent teacher association, the Bluebirds, and La Femme.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Tape 3, Side 1. This oral history interview with Johnnie Maxey was conducted by Aaron Brand at Maxey’s home in Portland, Oregon, from February 25 to June 30, 1994. Charles Britton Maxey was also present and occasionally contributed to the interview, which was conducted in five sessions. In the second interview session, conducted on March 31, 1991, Maxey revisits the topic of her early life in Kilgore, Texas, including her experience with rheumatic fever as a child, celebrating Juneteenth, and the community she grew up in. She also talks about her siblings and their families. She then discusses her life in Portland, including her social life, raising her family, and Charles Britton Maxey’s career as a barber. She also talks about discrimination faced by the black community in Portland, including the lack jobs open to black people after World War II, the hostility towards black people in some neighborhoods, and the aftermath of the Vanport Flood. She discusses running a small grocery store, called Maxey’s Better Buy Grocery, next door to her husband’s barbershop.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
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/. Copyright to photograph has not been determined, and permission for use may require authorization from copyright holders.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Languages of the material
- eng
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Brand, Aaron (Contributor)