About
About the collection
The Pontiac Oral Histories audio collection documents life in Pontiac’s Black community in the decades between the Great Migration and the aftermath of World War II. It consists of oral histories of 24 longtime Black Pontiac residents conducted between 1975 and 1979, and recordings of 20 conferences, lectures, and other events related to Black studies, Black genealogy, and Black politics in Michigan from 1977 to 1982.
The recordings are all on audiocassettes, and are in the process of being digitized, indexed, and made available online. Transcripts for some recordings are already available. This website is currently in development, and additional recordings, indexing, and transcripts will be added soon.
The collection paints a unique view of the growth and challenges of the Black community in Pontiac before, during and immediately after World War II. Most interviewees had migrated from Southern States to Pontiac to join family and find work in the 1910s and 1920s. Among them were T. C. Holland, father of then Pontiac mayor Wallace Holland, and Nellie Ryder, who was the first black student to graduate from Pontiac High School and was active in the Newman Methodist Church, the first black church in Pontiac.
Origins of the collection
The project was initiated by Johnetta Brazzell, director of community programs for Oakland University's Urban Affairs Center, in Fall 1975.
Johnetta Brazzell was hired as director of community programs at the Oakland University Urban Affairs Center in 1973, under the direction of Wilma Ray-Bledsoe. Established in 1968, the Center’s mission was to develop new curricula dealing with racial issues, to create new programs to support disadvantaged minorities on campus and to strengthen relations with nearby communities, especially Pontiac. Brazzell was promoted to director of the Urban Affairs Center and then became director of career and placement services. She stayed at OU until 1987.
While at OU, Brazzell was particularly interested in the history of Black migrations to Michigan from the South in the 1920s-1940s period, and Pontiac had many residents who had been part of those historic population movements. Attracted by manufacturing jobs and the economic growth of the area, those men and women had contributed to the growth of the Black population in Pontiac.
In the early 1970s, historians were increasingly interested in oral histories as a way to record the experiences of ordinary Americans -- factory workers, small business owners, professionals, families, and more. For Brazzell, it was vital to document the lives of Black Pontiac residents, because, as she put it, “oral history is the only account anyone has” of those lives.
She joined the Oral History Association and learned how to produce her own oral histories. She started the Pontiac oral histories project in Fall 1975. Armed with a tape recorder, she went out to interview Black Pontiac residents in their own homes or businesses. She also enlisted students from a class she and Professor DeWitt Dykes were teaching.
In 1976, Johnetta Brazzell obtained a $2,000 grant from the Oakland County American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and $600 from the Pontiac Bicentennial Committee to continue the interviews. She envisioned a larger project that would include other racial and ethnic minorities.
Oakland University fully supported her project. According to OU President Donald O’Dowd, “If older people are led to believe that their memories are no more than nostalgic remnants, important pieces of history may never be recorded.”
Sources: Tish Myers, "Those Who Were There Write Ethnic History," Detroit News, Nov. 10, 1975, 4C; OU Board of Trustees Minutes, April 28, 1976; Timothy J. McNulty, "Oakland Blacks Put History on Tape," Detroit Free Press, Oct. 15, 1975, 1A.
Take-Down Policy
In providing access to its collections, the OU Library’s Archives and Special Collections acts in good faith. Despite the safeguards in place, we recognize that mistakes can happen.
If you find material in these collections that infringes on an individual’s privacy or in violation of copyright law, please contact us to request the removal of the material by emailing Oakland University Libraries Archives and Special Collections (archives[at]oakland.edu) or by mail at:
Oakland University Libraries
OU Libraries Archives and Special Collections
100 Library Drive
Rochester, MI 48309
In your request, please include:
1. The reason for removal request (copyright infringement, personally identifiable information, etc.)
2. Sufficient information for the Library staff to identify and locate this information for removal. Providing URLs in your communication is the best way to help us locate content quickly.
Upon receipt of valid complaints, we will respond within seven (7) business days and temporarily remove the material pending an agreed solution.