Regional Oral History Office

In collaboration with the City of Richmond and the National Park Service, the Regional Oral History Office is interviewing residents of the Bay Area about their wartime experiences during World War II. We are uncovering how and why people from different backgrounds came to the Bay Area, what they did when they arrived, and what they learned from the fluidity and flux of wartime life that affected decisions they made after the war ended. We are interested in a broad range of topics: What did women learn about the relationships between work and family life? How did attitudes towards education change? How did war affect race relations and reshape civil rights struggles? Did new ideas about sexuality take root and if so why and where? What happened to entertainment? To what degree did religious organizations provide people with a new sense of community? The project has been underway for the past three years. Interviews collected will be used in the National Park Service's visitor center at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront National Historic Park in Richmond, California. Participating narrators are listed below.

	Angelina Alexandre Interviewer: Jess Rigelhaupt Date of Interview: 1/17/2005 Angelina Alexandre came to Richmond from Merced via Needles, California. She worked in the Ford Assembly Plant during 1945-1946. She was active in the union at her workplace. She tells of the Japanese internment in Needles, and about working while having a family during the war. Duration: 1.5 hours.
	Jack Arnold Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 2/1/2003 Originally from Iowa, Arnold entered the Merchant Marines during the war, and later settled in Richmond where he had relatives working in the shipyards. For the latter part of the war he worked as a bartender in several Richmond bars. Discusses: bars, nightlife, meeting wife in Richmond, segregation, local communist activity, development of suburbs
	Tony Avalos Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 11/6/2002 Raised on south 1st street in Richmond. Avalos attended local schools, St. Mark's Church. Worked in local industries, including Kaiser during the war. After the war he became a longtime employee of the Richmond School District. Discusses: the character of Richmond's Mexican-American community, dances at Sweet's Ballroom, zoot-suiters, racism.
	Velma Barkhausen Date of Interview: 9/22/06 Duration: 1.75 hours Interviewer: Jess Rigelhaupt Velma Barkhausen was born in Arkansas, then moved as a child with her family to Oklahoma. She and her family moved to California spurred by drought and famine during the Great Depression. Employed first in the agricultural industry, picking and canning fruits, she and her family later joined wartime industry, taking jobs in the shipyards. In this interview she discusses her familys rural background, migration to California, work in Californias agricultural industry, work in the shipyards, and the Port Chicago explosion.
	Avis Blanchette Interviewer: David Dunham Date of Interview: 2/13/2004 Avis Blanchette was born in Canada and raised in Minneapolis by her father, an inventor and a barber. She joined her family in the Bay Area in 1943, while her husband went off to war. She did office and security patrol work at the Kaiser shipyards, mapping incidents in the shipyard and hosting gala events. In this interview, she talks about social life in wartime Bay Area and her experiences of shipyard work and union membership. Duration: 2 hours.
	Patricia Buls Interviewer: Kathryn Stine Date of Interview: 2/12/2003 Patricia Buls was born and raised in Iowa, and moved to the Bay Area in 1942 to be with her husband. In this interview, Ms. Buls discusses wartime housing, wartime work as a draftsman, learning about people from other cultures and racism, being a woman in the shipyards and changing womens roles, raising a family, and participating in Kaisers early health plan. Duration: 2 hours and 15 minutes.
	Mary Ann Ceminski Interviewer: Esther Ehrlich Date of Interview: 6/23/2003 Mary Anne Ceminski was raised in Colorado and moved to Kansas to attend college. She got her first teaching job in Kansas and then, during the war, resettled in Richmond, where she initially worked in the shipyards before returning to teaching. She taught elementary school during and after the war. Discusses: impressions of Richmond, working in the office at shipyard, including meeting Henry Kaiser, Nystrom Elementary School, racial issues within the classroom and beyond, social activities in Richmond.
	Sal Chavez Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 10/22-25/2002 Born and raised in Santa Fe Railroad housing off lower Macdonald Avenue in Richmond. Chávez worked for local industries, such as the Santa Fe Railroad, American Radiator and Standard, Filice and Perreli Cannery, and Kaiser shipyards. During the war he served with the US Coast Guard, and later started a career as a barber. His interview offers a unique perspective into the history of Richmond's longtime Mexican community. Discusses: life of the employees of the Santa Fe Railroad, Mexican culture in Richmond, social relations (dating) in Richmond schools, race relations. Audio only.
	Anita Christiansen and Mary Highfill Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Date of Interview: 2/7/2005 Anita Christiansen and Mary Highfil are lifelong friends, both from Italian American families, who have lived in Point Richmond all their lives. The interview focuses on their wartime activities with the USO, living and working in Richmond, and changes in the city. 2 hours.
	Mary Lou Cordova Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 11/1/2002 Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Cordova, came to Richmond during the war with her parents. Her father found work at Standard Oil. The family moved into war housing off Cutting and 40th, later buying a home nearby. Cordova, still a teen when she arrived, entered high school and frequently found friends at local recreation halls. Settled in San Pablo after the war. Discusses: growing up in New Mexico, moving to Richmond, social relations at school and rec halls, attending dances, race relations, attending St. Mark's Church
	Willie Mae Cotright Interviewer: Judith Dunning Date of Interview: 11/1/2002, 12/13/2002 Willie May Cotright is interviewed here jointly with Mr. Webster, also interviewed as part of this series. Ms.Cotright was born and raised in Lousiana, and came to Richmond in search of wartime work with her husband as a young woman. In this interview she talks about housing and work in Richmond during World War II, and discusses her life after the war. She and her husband ran the Cotright corner store, one of the first African American owned businesses in Richmond, as well her involvement with the local NAACP chapter. She and Mr. Webster also discuss the impacts of Richmond industry on the health of their family members. 1 hour, 45 minutes.
	Emily DeCory Interviewer: Elizabeth Castle Date of Interview: 4/13/2005 Emily DeCory was born and raised in the Encinal village on the Laguna Pueblo reservation. She moved to the Santa Fe Indian Village when she was just three years old along with her family. The village was established as a colony of the Laguna Pueblo and elected its own governor and tribal council. DeCory’s father, Tom Ahmie, served as first governor of the Laguna people in the colony and was re-elected for three times. He worked as a blacksmith for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company. She discusses her life as a Laguna living between the reservation and the advantages offered by urban life. She remembers how they first lived in passenger cars of the train and later were set up by the railroad company in boxcars fashioned as living quarters. She describes the conditions living in the backyard of the Standard Oil Company and the effects of the smoke that blew over the village causing health problems. DeCory eventually returned to live in the Encinal Villlage.
	Leona Derheim Interviewer: Kathryn Stine Date of Interview: 11/5/2002 Leona Derheim was born and raised in Berkeley and attended Berkeley High School. In this interview, she talks about growing up in Berkeley, playing saxophone in an all-girl band, her work at Southern Pacific, and the Bay area during World War II. 1 hour and 45 minutes.
	Ned and Emma Duran Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 11/5/2002 Raised in a small mining town in southern Colorado. Duran was part of Colorado's Conservation Corp during the 1930s. By the beginning of World War II he was enlisted in the Army's First Cavalry Division, stationed in Texas and Oregon, and served in North Africa. Recruited by Kaiser to work in Portland shipyards, later came to Richmond where his brothers were employed by Kaiser. After the war, he settled in Richmond, where he worked for the post-office. Discusses: growing up in Colorado, serving in the CC camps and Army, racism in Colorado, Texas, and Army, coming to Richmond, meeting wife, Richmond's Mexican community, employment after war, buying home in Richmond.
	Evelyn Duran and Rose Silvas [Gonzalez sisters] Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 10/30/2002 Sisters from Phoenix, Arizona, they came with seven other siblings to work in Richmond's shipyards. Prior to getting married, all of the Gonzalez sisters moved into a home together. Discuss: Coming to Richmond, adjusting to life in Richmond, working in the shipyards, relations within the family, Mexican Baptists in Richmond
	Louis Fantin Interviewer: David Dunham Date of Interview: 11/12/2002 Louis Fantin was born in Colorado and followed his older sister to the Bay Area after he completed high school. He worked as a welder in the shipyards in Richmond until he was drafted into the Army where he served in the war in Europe. When the War ended, he returned to Richmond and began working at Standard Oil. In this interview he talks about Richmond during and after the War, his participation time as a soldier and the Battle of the Bulge, and attitudes around race, ethnicity, and gender. Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
	Stella Faria Interviewer: Judith Dunning Date of Interview: 3/6/2003 Stella Faria was born and raised in Pinole, California. Her family was from Portugal, via Brazil. She remembers Richmond during World War Two especially the changing worlds of work, school, and family. She talks about her consternation at the internment of the Japanese in the area, including classmates and people she had grown with all of her life. She remembers her work in the Kaiser Shipyards, in the administrative office of Yard Three and recalls the Port Chicago explosion. She also remembers the environmental toxicity of the wartime industries and discusses the impacts of Richmond industry on the health of her family members. 2 hours.
	Bud Figueroa Date of Interview: 10/25/06 Duration: 1.75 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Bud Figueroa is a native Californian raised in the Eastlake/Fruitvale neighborhoods of Oakland. He began his career as salesman in the jewelry business, moved to Sacramento and then returned to the Bay Area to work in the shipyards during World War II. In this interview, Figueroa tells of his life as a social dancer, a jewelry salesperson, a war time fundraiser and seller of bonds, and an entrepreneur. We also learn about ethnic identity, class, and mobility in California during the first part of the 20th century.
	Reverend Willie Ford Date of Interview: 8/4/2006 Duration: 1.75 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Reverend Willie Ford is an Associate Minister at the North Richmond Missionary Baptist Church which is the oldest African American church in Richmond. Born in Louisiana, Reverend Ford came from a farming and railroad family. He traveled to Detroit and New York and then, after World War II, joined his mother and father and siblings in Richmond, where they had migrated for wartime work. He worked as a street car operator and airplane technician and dry cleaner. He also was a musician and avid social dancer who danced at the Savoy in Harlem and all over Detroit and California. In his interview, he discusses his life and times, the racial discrimination his family faced in the South and that he faced on the job in Detroit, a changing Richmond, and his role at the North Richmond Missionary Baptist Church.
	Matilda Foster Interviewers: David Washburn; Lok, Tiffany Date of Interview: 3/16/2005 Mathilda Foster is from Arkansas originally. She came to California to work in shipyards. She was active in her church community, in local democratic politics, and in the Richmond chapter of the NAACP as it worked to desegregate residential neighborhoods in Richmond in the post-War era. 1.5 hours.
	Maggie Gee Interviewer: Leah McGarrigle; Robin Li; Kathryn Stine Date of Interview: 4/10/2003, 4/29/2003, 5/20/2003 Beginning in March 2003, a team of ROHO interviewers conducted a series of four interviews with a local Berkeley resident, Maggie Gee. The team consisted of Leah McGarrigle and Kathryn Stine, ROHO interviewers, and Robin Li, a graduate student working with ROHO. Gee was chosen by ROHO and the Rosie Project for a number of reasons. Her stories represent two generations of "Rosies" -- her mother, Ah Yoke Gee, had worked as a welder in the Richmond wartime factories, and Maggie herself had also worked in the factories, as a draftsperson at Mare's Island, and also flew with the WASP's, testing planes and flying transport missions. Since that period, she has maintained an active presence in local Democratic politics, and is able to provide long-term perspectives on Berkeley politics and Chinese Americans in the Berkeley area. The interview provides much-needed perspectives on extra-Chinatown Chinese American communities, inter-racial community-building in Berkeley, and women in the workforce and local politics. Maggie Gee also shares amazing stories of her love of flight, training to become a pilot, and what the experience meant to her in terms of class, gender, and politics.
	Joe Gomes Date of Interview: 6/2/06 Duration: 2.5 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Joe Gomes parents came to the United States from Portugal in the early 1900s, arriving first in New York, making their way to San Jose, California, and then settling in San Pablo, where Mr.Gomes resides currently. Mr. Gomes is 90 years old at the time of this interview, and a leader in his community. He is past director of the San Pablo Holy Ghost Association, past state president of the Luso-American Fraternal Federation, and currently sits on the City Council of San Pablo. In this interview, Mr. Gomes chronicles his family background, his years growing up in San Pablo, the Portuguese community in San Pablo, the shift to and then away from wartime work during his years at American Standard, working in the shipyards, changing gender roles during wartime work, raising a family, and his work on the City of San Pablo City Council. The interview offers insight into immigrant identity and experience, a changing San Pablo, and the Bay Area home front during WWII.
	Frank Gonzalez Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 10/28/2002 Born in the Mexican state of Sonora, Gonzalez came with his parents to Arizona in the early 1920s. He followed friends to Richmond where he worked in the shipyards, eventually working his way up to leaderman and then foreman despite only rudimentary English skills. Eight of his siblings followed him to Richmond, where they all worked for Kaiser. Gonzalez later owned a local Mexican market, and then open a popular restaurant, which still exists. Discusses: Coming to the United States, working in Arizona, coming to Richmond, work at the Kaiser shipyards, running his business after the war, Mexican Baptist in Richmond
	Phyllis Gould Interviewer: Brendan Furey Dates of Interview: 10/7/2002, 10/11/2002 Phyllis Gould migrated to the Richmond from a logging community in Oregon, in 1938. After welding school and several vain attempts, Gould was one of the earliest women accepted into the boilermaker's union. As a journeywomn welder, she earned one dollar twenty-five cents an hour. This financial independence, in many ways contributed to her early divorce with her teenage husband.
	Alfred Granzella Date of Interview: 7/20/06 Duration: 1.5 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Alfred Granzella grew up in Richmond and attended Richmond public schools. His parents migrated here from Italy in 1911 and 1921 respectively, met and married here, and raised their family in Richmond. In this interview Mr. Granzella tells about growing about in Richmond, serving in the navy during World War II as a teenager, and working for the telephone company for most of his professional life. This interview offers insights into immigrant identity and experience, a changing Contra Costa County as experienced from the perspective of expanding telephone infrastructure and technology and real estate development, the disbanding of the telephone monopoly in California, perspectives on the Port Chicago explosion and mutiny, and the Bay Area home front during WWII.
	Tom Griffith and D. Wayne White Interviewer: David Dunham Date of Interview: 2/4/2003 Thomas Griffith and D. Wayne White were childhood friends who are now in their late seventies together, reminiscing on their youth in Richmond. They talk about growing up and going to school in Richmond and about how prejudice played itself out in their social groups and terrain from their perspectives as two white men. They discuss the war, it’s presence in their young lives and then later when they joined the Army. This interview follows their lives before, through, and after the war. Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes.
	Don Hardison Interviewer: Jess Rigelhaupt Date of Interview: 3/10/2003 Don Hardison moved to Richmond during WWII to work as an architect in the Kaiser shipyards. In his interview he discusses life in Richmond, the shipyards, living at Atcheson Village during the War, and later designing Easter Hill Village.
	Judy Hart [transcript in progress] Interviewer: Richard Cándida Smith Date of Interviews: 2/9/2005, 10/16/05, 10/18/05 Judy Hart, founding superintendent of the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park, details the steps involved in creating the park from its legislative inception in 2000 to her retirement in 2005. Hart also discusses her previous duties in the National Park Service, including her work as founding superintendent of the Womens Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York. 7.5 hours recorded.
	Fay Hawkins Interviewer: Sarah Wheelock Date of Interview: 6/2/2003 Fay Hawkins worked for the Richmond Police Department from 1946 until the early 1970s. His father was with the police department from the 1920s until 1941. Topics discussed include police practices of the 1920s and 1940s, Fay's views as a long-term resident of the city, several interesting calls that he went on, and his experiences as he moved up through the ranks of the department to Lieutenant.
	Mary Head Interviewers: David Washburn; Susie Dodge Date of Interview: 4/4/2005 Mary “Peace” Head worked as welder in the shipyards and lived in Parchester Village. She talks about working in the shipyards, migrating to the Bay Area from Louisiana, and race relations in Richmond. 1.5 hours.
	Reverend Ross Hidy Interviewers: Richard Cándida Smith Date of Interviews: 12/1/2004, 12/15/2004 Ross Hidy served as pastor the Harborgate ecumenical ministry from 1943 to 1947. He discusses the work of his and other ministries in serving the spiritual needs of war industry workers, many living far from their original home. His wife Evelyn Hidy, who participated in the Harborgate ministry as the pastors wife and as a Sunday school teacher, joins the interview for approximately 30 minutes. 5.0 hours recorded total.
	Virgil and Mildred Hooper Interviewer: Judith Dunning Date of Interview: 2/12/2003 Mildred and Virgil Hooper had been married 64 years at the time of this interview. She was Arkansas , and he was from Oklahoma ; they met in Texas and then migrated to the Bay Area in the early 1940’s; he found work in shoe repair and she in doing hair. They are long time, original residents of Parchester Village and have much to say about its development. Their interview offers some insights into the experiences of African Americans in the South during the first part of the 20 th century, the pull and experience of migration, and work and housing in the rapidly changing Bay Area during World War II.
	Charles Huff Date of Interview: May 31, 2006 Duration: 2 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Charles Huff was born and raised in Oklahoma. He moved to the Bay Area as a teenager and worked briefly in the shipyards, and then returned to Oklahoma and joined the Navy, where he served in the Pacific theatre during WWII. After the war, he settled in the Bay Area for good this time, working on bridges as a tow truck operator, and finishing his career as a dispatcher on the Bay Bridge. Huff shares about his family background, his experiences during the War as a both a civilian and an enlisted person, and his experiences as a rescuer on the Bay Areas bridges.
	Altha M. Humphrey Interviewer: Brendan Furey Date of Interview: 1/17/2005 Altha Humphrey was in elementary school during the war; both her parents were war workers in Richmond. In this interview she shares her memories of wartime and her reflections on changing gender roles and race relations. 1.5 hours.
	Aller Hunter Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 1/19/2005 Aller Hunter, 103 years old, was a helper and did clean-up in the shipyards during World War II. She was active in her church community. She came to Richmond from Texas in 1943 and reflects on journey to the Bay Area by train. 1.5 hours.
	William Jackson Interviewer: Jess Rigelhaupt Date of Interviews: 03/08/2005, 03/16/2005 Bill Jackson was a merchant marine during World War II. As he is chief engineer of the Red Oak, this interview was conducted on the ship, and includes participation by some of the other volunteers on the ship. Part of the interview includes a tour, followed by a sit-down discussion. Jackson talks about his experiences during the war, his travels all over world, and experiences with racism as an African American merchant marine. He is also the son of African American Berkeley activist Frances Albrier. 3.0 hours.
	George Johnson Interviewer: Judith Dunning Date of Interview: 11/20/2002 At the time of this interview, George Johnson was 108 years old. Born in 1894 in Pennsylvania , Johnson was a World War I veteran. He came to California with his wife after World War I and settled in the Richmond Annex in 1935. He worked with various forms of transportation and public transit. Mr. Johnson’s interview focuses on wartime work, living in Richmond , and living in Richmond during the War. It also offers interesting insights in racial identity in America .
	Ted Johnson Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 3/21/2003 An Oakland native, Johnson managed and played accordion for Dude Martin and his Roundup Gang. The country music group played throughout the Bay Area during the late 1930s, but settled down in Richmond during the war, often playing five nights a week at East Shore Park. Martin's band was a popular radio act in the Bay Area for years for much of the 1930s-1940s. Discusses: Music and radio business in Richmond, Oakland, and San Francisco, county music in the Bay Area, Swedish community in Oakland, music venue “The Barn” at East Shore Park in Richmond, the crowd at “The Barn,” relations with the City of Richmond and police, musician's union in Oakland.
	John T. Knox Interviewer: Laura McCreery Date of Interview: 6/24/2003 John T. Knox served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles and Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He began practicing law in Richmond in the early 1950s and was active in Democratic Party elections and politics at every level of government. Although he represented the Richmond area in the California state assembly from 1961 to 1980, the interview focuses on the Richmond community: politics, labor unions, school board, newspaper, public housing, voter registration, health care, and business climate.
	Ivy Reid Lewis Date of Interview: 8/4/06 and 9/14/06 Duration: 4 hours, 2 interview sessions Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Ivy Reid Lewis, daughter of local baseball hero and community member Charlie Reid, grew up in Richmond and West Oakland. Her family resided in Richmond prior to the wave of migration that came with World War II; she witnessed the wartime transformation of the city up close when her family took in boarders. Ms. Lewis worked for the City of Richmond for decades, coordinating the Richmond neighborhood councils that were initiated by Lucretia Edwards and continued as part of the Model Cities program. In her interview, Ms. Lewis discusses her familys long history in California, her fathers work and legacy in Richmond, Richmonds changes during the war, her years with the City cultivating and building neighborhood councils, and her time as a student at UC Berkeley.
	Margaret Loverde Interviewer: Esther Ehrlich Date of Interview: 2/7/2003 Margaret Loverde was raised in Berkeley and volunteered in high school at the child development centers in Richmond. After graduating, she worked for one year at the Maritime Child Development Center. Discusses: mother's early role in the centers, the twenty-four hour center at Washington School, daily life at Maritime Child Development Center, attitudes towards mothers choosing to work outside the home, including attitudes of the Catholic Church, teachers' and parents' philosophies toward child-rearing, lobbying efforts to increase teacher salaries.
	Matilda Maes Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 4/1/2005 Matilda Maes migrated as a child with her family from Texas and settled in Modesto. As a young woman she worked in Moore Drydock shipyard during the war. Some of the themes in her interview are her work in the shipyards, raising her family, changing gender roles, and her husband’s involvement in his union. 1.5 hours.
	Ermastine Martin Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Date of Interviews: 3/30/2005, 4/5/2005, 4/8/2005 Ermastine Martin moved to Richmond from Oklahoma with her family during the War years. She worked in a factory and as a care-giver before beginning her own real estate business which she still operates today. She was part of a group of African American realtors who were instrumental in desegregating Richmond’s residential neighborhoods in the post war era. She is also a member of Richmond’s oldest black church, North Richmond Baptist Church, 3 interviews. 4.5 hours.
	James McCloud Interviewer: David Dunham Date of Interview: 9/24/2002 James McCloud was part of Kaiser’s management team, serving in various positions including field construction superintendent and outfitting superintendent variously at Kaiser Shipyards one, two, three, and four. He is a native of the Bay Area and attended Stanford University where he received his BA in engineering. In this interview, you hear a shipyard manager’s perspective on wartime growth in industry and the shipyards.
	Oralee McCoy Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Date of Interview: 3/23/2005 Originally from Texas, Oralee McCoy moved to the Bay Area during the War and worked in print shop in San Francisco. She went on to work for Ray Collins, the leading African American real estate agent in Oakland during the 1950’s and worked in post war Richmond real estate markets as well. She was involved in efforts to desegregate the Bay Area’s housing markets in the 1950’s and sixties. 2 hours.
	Albert and Hortense McGee Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 2/23/2005 Albert McGee, a native of the Bay Area, worked in Yards 3 and 4 in the marine electric shop where made flanges for bulkhead, then became an electrician installing wiring. During the war he also was a vice-principal in Richmond’s public school, managing to work two jobs at once due to the multiple shift system of both the shipyards and the school system. In this interview, Mc Gee discusses his family background, his highly technical war time work, his lifelong connection with Kaiser medical plan, and the changing face the Bay Area’s population during the war. For a portion of the interview, he is joined by his wife, Hortense. 1.5 hours.
	Mary Newson Interviewer: Esther Ehrlich Date of Interview: 10/2/2002 At age sixteen, Mary Newson married and left her home in rural Texas. She moved to the Bay Area where she worked a variety of jobs before she was hired at the Ford Assembly Plant in Richmond. Ms. Newson remained employed at Ford for thirty-two years, relocating to San Jose when the plant moved to Milpitas. Discusses: rural upbringing in Texas, journey to the Bay Area and the range of jobs held as a young African-American woman, work life at Ford—as a janitor, an assembly-line worker and an inspector, networking/cohesion among coworkers, role of religion in her life, housing, transportation and social climate in Bay Area during the war years.
	Tom Oishi Interviewer: Donna Graves; David Washburn Date of Interview: 12/12-19/2002, 1/17/2003 Native of Richmond, Oishi grew-up on the southside of town where his family operated a carnation nursery. He was part of the first group of workers to be employed by the Kaiser shipyards. Upon graduation from Richmond High, Oishi received training to become a welder and began work at Kaiser by late-1941. All of Richmond's Japanese families, including the Oishis, were forced to move to the Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno, where they stayed until being relocated to internment camps throughout the west. The Oishi were interned at Topaz, Utah. Oishi found was able to work in a nursery in Chicago during the war, and was among the first in his family to return to their nursery in Richmond in 1944. In 1945 Oishi was drafted by the army and served at P.O.W. camps in Virginia and California. He continued to work in the nursery business up until the 1990s. Discusses: growing up in Richmond's Japanese community, attending various city schools, the cut flower business, work at the shipyards, the Japanese internment, life after the war.
	Royce Ong Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 1/14/2003 Raised in Point Richmond, Ong attended high school in Richmond during World War II. He lived with his mother in their family home—established by Ong's grandfather near the turn of the 20th century. Discusses: school environment during 1940s, life in Point Richmond, mother's job at Standard Oil during the war, Chinese-American community in Richmond
	Kerby Parnell Date of Interview: 11/9/06 Duration: 1.5 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot In this interview, Kerby Parnell discusses her life of adventure. She migrated to Dinuba, California from Arkansas with her family as a child in search of better opportunities. In Dinuba, her family worked in fruit and cotton, as part of Californias agricultural industry. Then, when Parnell was a teenager, she, her parents, and her grandmother all went to work in the Kaiser shipyards, making for three generations of one family represented simultaneously in Kaiser Shipyard 2. Also during the war, Parnell worked at the Fox Theater, and then later after the boys came home with Rheem Manufacturing Company, Hercules Powder Company, and the Mechanics Bank, where she works still. Mrs. Parnell's interview illuminates the themes of migration, identity, labor, and a changing wartime Richmond.
	Josephina Ramirez Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 10/14/2002 Ramirez moved from Santa Barbara, California, to Richmond after her husband secured a job in the Bay Area defense industry. She was an active member of Santa Barbara's Mexican Baptist community before World War II, and continued her participation in church activities with Richmond's First Mexican Baptist Church. Through the church Ramirez acclimated to life in Richmond. Discusses: life in Santa Barbara before World War II, finding a home in Richmond, meeting people at church and church activities, moving out of Richmond to El Cerrito in the 1950s
	Jeanne Reynolds Interviewer: Esther Ehrlich Date of Interview: 3/5/2003 Jeanne Reynolds grew up in Richmond in the 20s and 30s and worked as a second grade teacher in San Pablo during and after the war. She also worked as a secretary at the evening high school in Richmond in 1943, which provided an education to shipyard workers. Discusses: attitudes of the “locals” to the influx of newcomers during the war, including race-related issues, effect of the war on courtship/marriage/child-rearing, the tremendous changes in Richmond during the war, conditions in the classrooms, social life, postwar Richmond.
	Bobby Robbins Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 3/29/2003 An active member of Richmond music community for years, Robbins played guitar in several swing bands throughout his lifetime. He worked as a plumber for the Kaiser shipyards and in several of the new housing developments that were erected during and after the war. Discusses: nightlife and music in Richmond, the musician's union and community, newcomers in Richmond
	Roscoe Robinson Interviewer: Brendan Furey Date of Interview: 1/13/2003, 1/24/2003 Raised in Houston Texas, Roscoe Robinson emigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area with his young wife at the age of twenty-three, in 1943. With a train pass issued from his previous employer, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, Robinson journeyed to San Francisco and found a basement apartment in Chinatown for his family. He later found a job in the RIchmond shipyards as a painter, where he worked until being drafted into the army in 1945.
	Goldie Byrd Ruffin Date of Interview: 6/12/06 Duration: 2 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Goldie Byrd Ruffin is from an old California family, dating back to 1849 with connections to many important and historic African American political organizations such as the Men of Tomorrow and the East Bay Democratic Club. Her family resided in West Oakland before World War II and witnessed the influx of new migration that accompanied wartime opportunities in the Bay Area. As a young girl, she went to school at Prescott Elementary in West Oakland and was a student in the classroom of Ida L. Jackson, first African American teacher in the Oakland public schools. She attended University High School in Oakland, which later became Merritt Junior College, and then went on to San Francisco State, and UCLA. She and all of her sisters became nurses; she went on to retire from Richmond Unified School District as a school nurse, a topic which is discussed in this interview. Her interview sheds light on the transition from pre-War to post-War Oakland from the perspective of a native of Oakland. It also presents a complicated picture of class identity and mobility for African Americans during this time frame.
	Polly Russell Interviewer: David Washburn Date of Interview: 9/22/2002 Russell moved from Las Cruces, New Mexico, to Richmond with her parents and sister Mary Lou. Soon after arriving, she was trained as a welder at the Kaiser shipyards. She frequently attended dances at local clubs and Oakland ballrooms. Discusses: life in Las Cruces before the war, adjusting to life in Richmond, working at Kaiser, meeting her husband, dancing and entertainment in the Bay Area, work after the war
	Nellie Sarracino Interviewer: Elizabeth Castle Date of Interview: 4/12/2005, 4/14/2005 Nellie Sarracino moved to the Richmond Indian Village in 1942 to work as an engine wiper on the railcars for the Santa Fe Railroad. Later she transferred to work in the repair shop then on to the steam engine supply room. She met Victor “Sandy” Sarracino, an electrician for the railroad, who also lived in the Richmond Indian Village and they married. When she married, she stopped working and focused on her family. In her interview she offers a detailed description of how the railroad boxcars were dismantled to provide housing for the families of the village. She also discusses her husband’s experiences as a member of a popular band which played locally in Bay Area and how she was able to cook traditional foods in a special oven built by her husband. Nellie is Ruth Hopper Sarracino’s mother.
	Ruth Ann Hopper Sarracino Interviewer: Elizabeth Castle Date of Interview: 4/12/2005, 4/13/2005 Ruth Sarracino Hopper, a Laguna Pueblo Indian, grew up with her family in the Richmond Indian Village. Her rich interview covers topics such as the social life of the young people in the village, the sports they played and where they congregated in Richmond. She also provides a detailed and interpretive perspectives on how the tribal council and government of the Richmond Colony functioned in relationship to the local authorities in California as well as to the Laguna Pueblo Nation in New Mexico. Hopper describes how remarkable it was to speak her tribal language, practice traditional lifeways off the reservation in the confines of the village - yet all in a major urban area. Ruth is the daughter of Nellie Sarracino.
	Marian Sauer Interviewer: Jess Rigelhaupt Date of Interview: 10/15/2002 Marian Sauer taught in the Richmond Public Schools during the Second World War. She discusses her experiences playing in an all-girl swing band, as well as life in Richmond before and after the War.
	Irvin Shiosee Interviewer: Elizabeth Castle Date of Interview: 4/11/2005 As a young boy during WWII, Irvin Shiosee moved to the Santa Fe Indian Village (also called the Richmond Indian Village) established in Richmond, California in the late 1920s. The Laguna Pueblo negotiated an agreement with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rail Road Company allowing them the access to lay tracks through their ancestral lands in exchange for jobs with the railroad. His grandfather and father worked for the railroad and he grew up in Richmond during the school year and traveled back to the reservation for the summer. Shiosee discusses his life as a young person experiencing a sometimes hostile new culture in the Bay Area and the public school system in Richmond in particular. He shares his memories of race relations, social life in the Bay Area as a teenager, and what it was like to arrive at school a fluent speaker of his own Native language, Keresan. He also talks about how easily he picked up the Japanese language because of its similarity to Keresan while serving in the military. He is now retired living at home on the Laguna Pueblo lands.
	Reverend Andre Shumake, Sr. Date of Interview: 10/27/07 and 10/30/06 Duration: 1.75 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Reverend Shumake was born after World War II to parents who had migrated to the Bay Area from Louisiana for wartime work. He was raised in the North Richmond Missionary Baptist Church where he is now an Associate Minister. Reverend Shumake was a leader of the Tent City antiviolence vigil held in Richmond in October of 2006. This was an organic community movement led by the faith community in Richmond to protest and mark the epidemic of violence and homicides occurring among Richmonds predominantly African American youth. This interview highlights how subsequent waves of migration were connected to the primary wartime migration from the South. It also relates Richmonds past to its present, showing the multigenerational sweep of residents experience, and the process of urban transformation.
	Frank and Mary Shutiva Interviewer: Elizabeth Castle Date of Interview: 4/14/2005 Frank Shutiva was born in the Richmond Indian Village in 1927. He is from the Acoma Pueblo Nation, a neighboring tribe of the Laguna Pueblo, who also negotiated a deal with the Santa Fe Railroad to provide jobs for tribal members in exchange for access rights through Acoma land. He remembers that there were Indian “colonies” all along the rail line in California, including Bakersfield and Barstow but his father worked as a painter in Richmond. When the war began, Shutiva got a job as a painter as a teenager because all young men were headed into the service. After working for the railroad during school breaks, when he graduated from high school, he was drafted into the army in 1946 and was stationed in Japan. He discusses how many parents were nervous about living in the village after the bombing of Pearl Harbor because of their proximity to enemy targets like the Standard Oil Company. Shutiva moved to the Acoma Pueblo reservation to retire.
	Celeste Silvas Interviewer: Judith Dunning Date of Interview: 3/31/2003 Celeste is the sister of Stella, also born and raised in Pinole. She talks about wartime in Richmond, her work in an administrative office in the shipyards, and then her work after the war for Richmond Unified School District. Like, Stella, she has been an active member of the Portuguese community in Richmond/Pinole and reflects here on being the daughter of immigrants. 1 hour, 45 minutes.
	Betty Reid Soskin Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Date of Interview: 11/7/2002, 11/11/2002 Betty Reid Soskin, of Louisiana Creole heritage, is a native of Oakland and was witness to the massive in-migration of Southerners during the 1940’s. During the war she worked in the administrative offices of a black auxiliary union (A36) in the shipyards as well as the federal government. Soskin started with her first husband the famous Reid’s music store on Sacramento Street in Berkeley. She is active in Bay Area Democratic politics. 3 interviews. 4.5 hours.
	Marian Sousa Interviewer: Kathryn Stine Date of Interview: 9/30/2002 Marion Sousa was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon, and moved to the Bay Area in 1942. In this interview she talks about wartime work in the shipyards as a draftsman, the scarcity of housing, being woman in the shipyard and in the unions, and raising a family. 1 hour and 35 minutes.
	Frank Stevenson Interviewer: Esther Ehrlich Date of Interview: 4/29/2003 Frank Stevenson was raised in rural Louisiana, left home after seventh grade, and worked his way westward, eventually ending up at the Ford Assembly Plant in Richmond, where he remained until his retirement. Discusses: attitudes towards young African-American men both in the rural South and in the West, specifically in relation to work, importance of the UAW-CIO union, role of night clubs/street life, particularly as they reflect social attitudes toward race and gender, housing in Richmond during the war years, informal segregation in Richmond and shifts in neighborhoods after the war.
	Harriette Stewart Interviewer: Kathryn Stine Date of Interview: 12/16/2002, 1/21/2003 Harriette Stewart trained as a nurse and was a member of the team of doctors and nurses that staffed Yard One of the Kaiser Shipyards. She came to the Bay Area from Nebraska, via Los Angeles, in 1941, and stayed and built a life with her husband. Stewart’s interview contains a great deal of information about the Kaiser shipyards—labor and safety practices and treatment of injuries—and the early beginnings and growth of Kaiser Permanente Health Plan, especially obstetrics at Kaiser’s Macarthur Broadway location. It also contains insights into changing women’s roles, mothering and working, housing, and the flow of migrant workers arriving in Richmond.
	Hattie Stillwell Date of Interview: 8/12/06 Duration: 1.75 hours Interviewer: Jess Rigelhaupt Hattie Stillwell came from a rice farming family in Arkansas. She moved to the Bay Area with her husband during the War and worked at Moore Dry Dock shipyard. In this interview she discusses her early life and family background in Arkansas, migrating to the Bay Area, the Boilermakers union, how Oakland changes over time, and racial discrimination in Arkansas and California.
	Vie Taylor Wims Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Date of Interview: 3/1/2005 Vie Taylor Wims is a retired African American realtor who worked for Neatha Williams, the major realtor in Richmond working with African Americans looking to buy a home. This interview focuses on changes in the housing market during and after the war, as well as strategies developed to secure home loans for black property buyers. Wims also worked as a burner at Moore Dry Dock. She came to the Bay Area from Texas during World War II. 2 hours.
	Howard Thor Interviewer: Brendan Furey Date of Interview: 11/12/2002 Born in San Franciso in 1923, Howard Thor came from a Scandinavian family of merchant marines. His father, a leader of the International Longshoremen's Union, greatly influenced Thor's decision to enter the merchant marines after the war and later teach at the California Maritime Academy. During the war, Thor was a student at UC Berkeley and worked during the summers in the Richmond shipyards as a shipfitter helper.
	Faith Traversie Interviewer: Elizabeth Castle Date of Interview: 2/19/2005 Faith Traversie joined her sister Theodora Means in the Bay Area during World War II and went to work as a “Winnie the Welder” at the Mare Island Shipyard. After receiving superior marks in her qualifying tests, Traversie attended welding classes and did most of her work on heavy cruisers. Traversie, a Lakota from the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, fielded many curious questions about her identity as a Lakota woman during her two years at the shipyard. After returning to South Dakota where she and her husband Whitney “Jockey” Traversie become stalwart supporters of the American Indian Movement when it swept through the Dakotas in the 1970s. Her children and nephews were key organizers in the movement.
	Isiah Turner Interviewers: Richard Cándida Smith Date of Interviews: 2/4/2005 Isaiah Turner, retired city manager of Richmond during the launching of the park; grew up in Parchester Village, a post-World War II suburban housing development in Richmond where African Americans were able to buy homes. Many of the homeowners, including Turners father, had been war industry workers who had come from the South in search of employment. Turner discusses the development of the community, education, and race relations in Richmond. 2 hours.
	John Vincent Interviewer: Judith Dunning Date of Interview: 6/25/2003 In this in this interview John Vincent talks about the history of the Richmond Yacht Club, of which he was an early member, its displacement by the shipbuilding activities of World War II, how it survived through the war, its second life after the War. He discusses security and patriotism during the war years with some reference to the internment of the Japanese and Italians. He talks about MacDonald Avenue and Richmond before, during, and after the War. Vincent worked as an engineer at Chevrons research and development department during World War II, developing and supplying new forms of lubricant for large vehicles and submarines. This is the second interview the Regional Oral History Office has conducted with Vincent; he was first interviewed in 1990 as part of the Richmond Community History Oral History Series. 1.5 hours.
	Jamie and Louise Voorhies Date of Interview: May 31, 2006 Duration: 2.25 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Jamie and Louise Voorhies had been married for over 65 years at the time of this interview. Jamie was born and raised in rural Nebraska; Louise is from Denver, Colorado where they met and married. He came to Richmond to work in the shipyards after training in Denver and then shortly, she followed, and they settled and raised a family in Richmond. They are both lifelong Kaiser Health Plan members who were part of Kaiser Hospitals volunteer corps until recently. This interview explores some of the signal events of World War Two from the home front vantage point, work in the shipyards, perspectives on sexuality and gender roles, race and ethnicity, and urban change in Richmond. It presents a complicated picture of class, identity, and economic mobility for Americans during this time frame.
	Hubert Webster Interviewer: Judith Dunning Date of Interview: 12/12/2002 Hubert Edward Webster was born in Louisiana, where his family farmed and his father worked in a sawmill, and moved to the Bay Area following the war. In this interview he talks about his early life and work in rural Louisiana, being drafted into the military and being stationed overseas, and returning home after the war. His interview gives insight into the terrain of postwar Richmond. Webster is joined in this interview by his wife, Cecile, who discusses raising a family and the changes Richmond has seen over the years. 1 hour 45 minutes.
	Dallas Wilcox Interviewer: Brendan Furey Date of Interview: 1/19/2005 A native of the Bay Area who grew up in North Oakland, Dallas Wilcox was a slinger in the Richmond shipyards when he was 17 years old. He also worked in the Moore Drydock shipyard. This interview contains rich descriptions of the Bay Area before, during and after the war and of ship yard work. 2.0 hours.
	Lee Wilson Date of Interview: 6/22/06 Duration: 2 hours Interviewer: Nadine Wilmot Lee Wilson traveled by train to Oakland from Arkansas in June of 1943. She came to join her husband who had preceded her to the Bay Area to participate in the wartime employment boom. Upon her arrival, she began working in Kaiser shipyard 4, where she worked for the remainder of the War, moved to Richmond, and soon after, joined the North Richmond Missionary Baptist Church. Mrs. Wilson discusses her wartime work in the shipyards and membership in the Boilermakers union, the internment of the Japanese and some signal events of World War II, wartime rationing strategies, and housing in Richmond during and after the War. This interview also creates a more complex picture of migration.
	Dorothy Wright Interviewer: David Dunham Date of Interview: 3/26/2003 Dorothy Wright was born in Oregon, and traveled by boat with her parents to the Bay Area in 1921 as an infant. She lived in Oakland and worked in Richmond during the War. In this interview she discusses her family background and her young adult years in the workforce: working at Montgomery Wards in Oakland, as a telephone operator charged with decommissioning the telephone accounts of Japanese households set for internment, and in the human resources department of Standard Oil at the height of wartime hiring. This interview offers insight gender, race, and ethnic relations before and during the War. Duration: 2 hours.
	Lucille Ziesenhenne Interviewer: Jess Rigelhaupt Date of Interview: 2/12/2003 Lucille Ziesenhenne has lived in Richmond since 1936. In her interview she discusses how Richmond changed from a "sleepy town" to an industrial center during World War II. Mrs. Ziesenhenne's interview also details her experiences working for the War Manpower Commission in Richmond.