44: An Oral History of the Election of the Barack Obama

The Forward to 44: An Oral History of the Election of Barack Obama Studs Terkel died one week ago tonight. I heard about it on NPR radio the next day while driving from from Alton to Edwardsville, Illinois. An interview with Studs was being replayed on the air, in which has was describing one of…

Hitting Unpause: One Sailor Waits No Longer

The following interview was conducted December 1, 2008, part of a series of discussions called “44,” with people of varied background about their reactions to the 2008 election of Barack Obama. This interview is with Jeremy Gordon, at the time a student at Rutgers University, and a former member of the United States Navy, who…

In-Betweeness as Life: Young Migrant Workers Seek Stable Education In the Face of Geographical Instability

The following interview was conducted November 25, 2008, part of a series of discussions called “44,” with people of varied background about their reactions to the 2008 election of Barack Obama. This interview is with Maria Dominguez, who coordinates the Illinois Education Even Start program for migrant families. The Illinois Migrant Council is an umbrella…

An Education: An Indian International Student Wonders If Lines Have Blurred in America

The following interview was conducted December 8, 2008, part of a series of discussions called “44,” with people of varied background about their reactions to the 2008 election of Barack Obama. This interview is with Megha Srivastava, an international student from Delhi, India, studying Psychology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. I am from Delhi, which…

You Don’t Dance in the Street: One Man’s Reality

The following interview was conducted November 6, 2008, part of a series of discussions called “44,” with people of varied background about their reactions to the 2008 election of Barack Obama. This interview is with Richard Carlson, a retired butcher from a small town in west-central Illinois, and the authors’s father. I include this interview…

Keeping Fingers Crossed: Will Barack Obama Be Her President, Too?

The following interview was conducted November 7, 2008, part of a series of discussions called “44,” with people of varied background about their reactions to the 2008 election of Barack Obama. This interview is with Joanne Carlson, a fifth-grade English teacher and the mother of the author. She has taught in the same small town…

I’ll Never Forget: The Baseball Life of William “Lefty” Bell in the Negro Leagues and across Jim Crow America

The following interview was conducted December 12, 2008, part of a series of discussions called “44,” with people of varied background about their reactions to the 2008 election of Barack Obama. The interview is with William “Lefty” Bell, who played portions of several seasons with first the Kansas City Monarchs and then the Birmingham Black…