Oral history interview with Clyda Coward and Debra Coward, May 30, 2001
Subtitle: interview K-0833, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Hartman, Leda, interviewer; Coward, Debra, interviewee; Coward, Walter, interviewee; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; African American farmers; Farm life; African Americans; Social life and customs; Hurricane Floyd, 1999; Employment; Floods; Flood damage; Disaster relief; Disasters; E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company; Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. North Carolina Baptist Men; Baptist State Convention of North Carolina
Other titles: Interview K-0833, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Clyda Coward and Debra Coward, May 30, 2001; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: In the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, Clyda Coward, joined by her sister Debra and other family members, remembers her childhood in rural North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s and describes the impact of the flood on her community in Tick Bite, North Carolina. Coward grew up poor but well cared-for by strict, hard-working parents. She remembers working on her father's farm--which he bought after a stint as a tenant farmer--and finding time to play with her siblings on the long walk to work. Her upbringing bound her to the area and to her community. In addition to describing her personal history, Coward remembers two significant events: the arrival of DuPont and the destruction wrought by Hurricane Floyd. DuPont helped the community by giving many of its residents jobs. Floyd, however, damaged the stability that DuPont brought. Unlike previous natural disasters, the flooding caused by Floyd managed to drive Tick Bite residents from their homes and keep them from communal gathering places. This interview will be useful for researchers interested in historic and contemporary poor rural communities.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Feb. 29, 2008).

Interview participants: Clyda Coward, interviewee; Debra Coward, interviewee; Walter Coward, interviewee; Betty, interviewee; Unidentified Speaker, interviewee; Leda Hartman, interviewer.

Duration: 01:21:19.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 212.7 kilobytes, 148 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0833, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by L. Alitzer. Original transcript: 52 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.