Thomas, Odessa (Offer), 1978 August 14
Abstract
The Thomas interview provides accounts of neighborhood life in East Baltimore. For example, Mrs. Thomas recounts being one of only 3 African-American families in a mostly “Bohemian” neighborhood. A note from the interviewer indicates that Mrs. Thomas though a “willing and cooperative interviewee,” did not or was not able to recall much of significance about her neighborhood.
Dates
- 1978 August 14
Creator
- Griffin, Joyce (Interviewer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
Biographical / Historical
Odessa Thomas, an African-American, was born in Baltimore on August 20, 1911. Her mother, Dane Offer, was originally from North Carolina, but Mrs. Thomas did not recall where her father was born. Arthur Offer, her father, worked long hours as a stevedore while her mother stayed at home. While still in grade school Mrs. Thomas’ mother suffered a nervous breakdown which caused young Odessa to go and live with relatives for the duration of her school age years. She graduated high school in 1933. At night school Mrs. Thomas gained skills in nursing, typing and as a beautician. Her beautician skills eventually enabled her to open her own beauty shop. In addition, she worked as a domestic for 35 years, 10 years at the Dunbar Community School, taught Sunday school at her Baptist church and was at the time of the interview serving as Assistant Director of Citizens for Fair Housing. At age 40 (“or so”) she married Leroy Thomas and had 2 children.
Extent
42 Minutes
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Existence and Location of Originals
Original format: 1 compact cassette
Physical Description
Family data questionnaire, interview notes, artifact release forms photocopied artifacts & tape index: 3 pages
Scope and Contents
The Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project Oral History Collection contains paper records and audiocassette recordings from 1978 through 1980. The paper records are composed of the files kept on each narrator (the person being interviewed) and the administrative needs of the project. Narrator records contain biography forms, interview notes, and tape indexes for approximately 212 narrators. The interview notes briefly describe the circumstance surrounding the interview(s) session. The tape index includes the name of the narrator, the name of interviewer, the number of tapes, the tape(s) length, and the primary subjects covered. Seventy-nine of the records include transcripts. Transcript length ranges from 8 to 65 pages. Some are single-spaced; others are doubled-spaced. The interviews range from twenty-five minutes to three hours in length. One file, #183, and its accompanying cassette(s) were removed from the collection.
Thirty-two interviewers participated in the project. Typically, the interviews were one-on-one sessions between interviewer and narrator; however, single interviewer and double-narrator situations occurred, as did three group “nostalgia” sessions. Most interviews were prefaced by unrecorded, pre-interview sessions that occurred days before the recorded interview.
Each narrator abstract includes the following information when available: the BNHP interview number; the name of the interviewer; the date of the interview; the place of the interview; the length of the interview; the number of tapes used; the length of the transcript; and the file contents, such as subject index, interview notes, and biography form. The abstracts follow the numerical order of the interview number. However, interview numbers are not consecutive, but site specific. That is to say, any omitted number within a site can be found in another site.
When controversial or outdated terms, especially those referring to race and ethnicity, are mentioned in the abstract, the politically-correct term is used and the term or terms used by the narrator has been placed in parenthetical (“ ”) quotation marks. Specific terms from the interviews and textual uncertainties are often placed in parentheses alone ( ). Maiden names of female narrators are placed in brackets [ ].
Creator
- Griffin, Joyce (Interviewer, Person)
Repository Details
Part of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library Repository
H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore MD 21201 United States
4106853750
specialcollections@mdhistory.org