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Object Description
Interview no. | U-0901 |
Restrictions | No restrictions. Open to research. |
Project | U.19. Long Civil Rights Movement: Breaking New Ground |
Project description | Interviews, 2011-2012, conducted for the Breaking New Ground: A History of American Farm Owners Since the Civil War project. This project was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and was coordinated by Adrienne Petty (of the City College of New York) and Mark Schultz (of Lewis University in Illinois) with assistance from Jacquelyn Hall. Interviews were conducted by two cohorts of research fellows and centered on African American farmers', landowners', and descendants' political, social, and economic experiences in the American South from the Civil War onward. |
Date | 6 June 2012 |
Interviewee | Knott, Charles, 1957- |
Interviewee occupation |
Farmers Factory workers Non-profit organization employees |
Interviewee DOB | 1957 |
Interviewee ethnicity | African Americans |
Interviewer | Hand, Shane. |
Abstract | The Interview with Mr. Charles Knott covered five major themes of his life in central Alabama. He begins with his mother's family background, and he never knew who his father was. Raised by his aunt and uncle he helped them maintain their family garden and his maternal grandfather was a big influence on his life. Following high school, Knott found employment with the steel industry in Birmingham, Alabama. He first worked for Pullman and later US Steel, which bought out Tennessee Iron and Coal Company in the early 1970s. About halfway through the interview, Knott offers a short, but impressive, commentary on the history of race relations in Bessemer, Alabama, in the 1960s through the 1990s. Following the fall of American steel in 1983, Knott returned to gardening as well as selling marijuana to help support his family. Knott and his brother were eventually arrested, charged, and convicted for selling marijuana, and both were sent to prison. Knott served three years and his brother served five. Finally, after being from prison only last year, Knott was offered employment with Verbena Farms by Nelson Wells. Knott talks about life on the farm, his typical work day, and the lessons he has learned from the ministry. He hopes to impress upon his children and his grandchildren the importance of land and biodynamic farming. |
Citation | Interview with Charles Knott by Shane Hand, 6 June 2012 U-0901, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. |
Description
Interview no. | U0901_Audio |