Oral history interview with Thomas and Elberta Hudson, December 18, 1999
Subtitle: interview K-0283, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Thompson, Charles D., Jr. (Charles Dillard), 1956- interviewer; Amberg, Rob, interviewer; Hudson, Elberta, 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: 2005
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Race relations; African Americans; Religion; Hurricane Floyd, 1999; Floods; Flood damage; Disaster relief; Rescue work; United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency; United States
Other titles: Interview K-0283, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Thomas and Elberta Hudson, December 18, 1999; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: The Hudsons, both dedicated Christians, saw the presence of God during and after Hurricane Floyd. They explain that God helped them escape the floodwaters and oversaw an astonishing flood of generosity in the storm's aftermath, but He also used the flood to teach painful lessons about materialism. Elberta believes firmly that God sent the flood expressly for these purposes; Thomas thinks human error caused the flooding. The Hudsons also detail their escape from rising floodwaters and some of the recovery efforts they witnessed and took part in. It might be useful to read this interview with Bert Pickett's, as the two interviews present different religious reactions to the hurricane. There are a number of potentially useful, but small, details that were not included in the excerpts but might be useful to researchers. These are primarily blow-by-blow accounts of incidents in the flood's aftermath.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Oct. 11, 2007).

Interview participants: Thomas Hudson, interviewee; Elberta Hudson, interviewee; Rob Amberg, interviewer; Charles Thompson, interviewer.

Duration: 01:21:07.

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 Apex Data Services, Inc. and Natalia Smith.  Sound recordings digitized by Steve Weiss and Seth Kotch.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 182.8 kilobytes, 148.5 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0283, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 48 p.

Funding from the University of North Carolina Library supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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