Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
Oral history interview with Joyce Braden Harris [Sound Recording 01]
Date(s)
- 2018-11-19 (Creation)
Extent
WAV; 01:47:40
Name of creator
Biographical history
Joyce Faye Braden Harris was born in 1951. She spent the first nine years of her childhood living with her grandmother in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, while her parents were stationed in Manila, Philippines, with the U.S. Air Force. Harris joined them in 1960, when her parents were stationed in Madrid, Spain. The family returned to the United States in 1962 and settled in New York City. In 1972, Harris earned a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. While a student at Reed, she helped to found the Black Education Center, which provided free summer education to black children in Portland and became a full-time private school in 1974. During Harris's time as a student at Reed, she also earned an education degree from Oregon State University through the Portland Urban Teacher project. While working at the Black Educational Center, she also worked with Portland Public Schools to help improve the educational environment, particularly for black students. She authored the Baseline Essay for PPS on African-American Traditions in Language Arts. In 1992, she began working with the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Session 1. This oral history interview with Joyce Braden Harris was conducted by Jan Dilg at Education Northwest in Portland, Oregon, from November 19 to December 12, 2018. Joyce Braden Harris was nominated by Oregonians as part of a program by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library to enhance and expand the range of voices in the library's collections. Interviewees are selected from the pool of nominees by a staff committee appointed by the historical society's executive director. The interview was conducted in three sessions. In the first interview session, conducted on November 19, 2018, Harris discusses her family background and early life with her grandmother in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, and then with her parents and siblings in Madrid, Spain. She discusses her experiences as the only member of her family to speak Spanish and as the only black person in her class. She also describes growing up in Harlem and its community. She discusses her education in New York, including a teacher strike in 1968; starting a black literature class; racism that she, her teachers, and other students faced; and her early activism and leadership roles. She also talks about the Vietnam War, particularly its effect on two of her brothers, who served in the Air Force during that time. She discusses her experiences at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, including how she chose that school. She also speaks about her and her brothers’ experiences with police. She talks about events that shaped her political outlook, including the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.; her love of mystery novels by black women authors; and people who have influenced her. She discusses some of the awards she has received, her involvement in annual Kwanzaa celebrations, and her work as an educator.
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/.
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
- Dilg, Janice (Janice Lynn) (Contributor)