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Object Description
Interview no. | U-0690 |
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 | 1 June 2011 |
Interviewee | Switzer, Vern, 1946- |
Interviewee occupation | Farmers |
Interviewee DOB | 1946 |
Interviewee ethnicity | African Americans |
Interviewer | Salifou, Sawde, 1980- |
Abstract | This interview with Vern Switzer covered a range of topics: family history; Switzer's grandmother had a garden in the back of the house; his father worked for the city of Winston-Salem, N.C. and was a World War II veteran, and his mother worked at a school cafeteria; his parents were not farmers. Around the age of seven, Switzer was given two acres of land that his father was renting. He has a produce farm and he purchased the land through a loan; he owned 16 acres of land and was raised in 5-bedroom home. His father rented the home that they lived in. His parents did not have any other source of income besides their jobs. Switzer lived in New York for 15 years, then moved back to North Carolina. He purchased his land from white owner. He got a grant from North Carolina Department of Agriculture to get seed and fertilizer, and he also received help from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension. Family members and friends help him on the farm from time to time. He encountered discrimination when purchasing the land and feels that he has been discriminated against all his life. Switzer feels that doors are not open for minorities in farming, but that landowning gives him independence. His granddaughter is involved in the marketing side of the produce. He shared stories of how some farmers lost their land. He lived in a loving black community, but all the stores belonged to white people. Switzer is involved in different organizations for black farmers. |
Citation | Interview with Vern Switzer by Sawde Salifou, 1 June 2011 U-0690, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Description
Interview no. | U0690_Audio |