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Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2011-004
Marilyn Lashley served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1978 to 1980 as a teacher trainer. She joined during a period when Peace Crops was enrolling families with children. Marilyn and her husband (both teacher trainers) and two young children attended training at Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, and in Liberia. Lashley was first assigned to Kakata Rural Teacher Training Institute. After one term, she separated from her husband and transferred to Gbarnga to work on a curriculum materials development project. Mid-service Lashley transferred again to Monrovia and then was forced to evacuate from Liberia with her children in 1980 due to a coup and civil unrest. In the interview, she shares her experiences as an African American female teacher. Interviewed and recorded by Robert Klein, October 10, 2010. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-070
Richard Shields served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1963 to 1965 in an elementary education program. During his senior year in college, he was moved by Kennedy's speech introducing the Peace Corps and decided to serve. His initial weeks-long training started at Syracuse University where he learned about health and safety and about his job. Thereafter, he left for Liberia where cultural immersion began. Shields lived in a zinc-roofed house in Ganta near the border of Guinea. His training didn't quite prepare him for what the reality was on the ground. He learned how to teach English, reading, and social studies without resources, demonstrate concepts with everyday activities, and more. He started a food program to provide meals to students, a Boy Scouts troop, and even a glee club. He recalls his battle with malaria, awareness of his privilege, and the emotions he felt upon the news of Kennedy's assassination. Because of the Peace Corps, Shields dedicated his life to teaching in under-served communities. Interviewed and recorded by Charlaine Loriston, October 15, 2019. 1 digital audio file.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-1996-032-006
Dennis Ramsier served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1971 to 1973 in an education program. He trained in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, with the Liberia 23 group. Ramsier taught math in the business school at the University of Liberia in Monrovia. He enjoyed the administrative side of education, and produced a revised bulletin for the College of Business and Public Administration. Interviewed and recorded by Helen B. Howard, May 5, 1994, as part of a Northeastern University public history class. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file). A user's guide and transcript are available in Box 92.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2010-027
Tennie Bickham served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1967 to 1969 as a high school teacher (Liberia IX). She attended training at San Francisco State University. In Liberia, Bickham was stationed in the town of Sanniquellie at a government school where she taught math and science. She discusses the challenges of being a female high school teacher in Liberia. She also talks about her interaction with her students, the political atmosphere of the time, and the effect the Peace Corps had on her life. Interviewed and recorded by Paul Kinsley, April 6, 2010. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2019-101
Susan Selbin served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chile from 1967 to 1968 on a community development project. She later served in Liberia (1982-1983) and Swaziland (2009-2010) as well. In Chile, Selbin was assigned to Nogales where she worked with a Mother's Club to arrange educational workshops for women. To help support the club, she organized film festivals and the construction of a building. After rejoining the Peace Corps in the 1980s, Selbin worked at a university in Monrovia, Liberia. For her third tour, she focused on teacher training work in Makayane, Swaziland. Selbin says that her Peace Corps service gave her a can-do attitude, which she has carried with her throughout her life. In between her time in the Peace Corps, she taught special needs and inner city children and then served in the Foreign Service for 20 years. Now retired, she continues to enjoy volunteering and putting on film festivals focusing on environmental and other social issues. Interviewed and recorded by Christeen Pusch, June 21, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2020-032
Leslie Newall served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1965 to 1967 in an education program. While still an undergraduate student in New York, she attended the Peace Corps secondary education training program at the University of California, Berkeley in the summer between her junior and senior years, then completed elementary education training at San Francisco State University the summer after she graduated college. Newall was stationed in Cape Palmas, Liberia, and taught fourth grade students in a corner of a one-room school house set up in the local church's nave. She says that her Peace Corps service was the most carefree and fun, yet also formative, time of her life. Interviewed and recorded by Christine Musa, November 10, 2019. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Textual folder
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-092-016
This folder contains a user's guide and transcript for the oral history interview of Dennis Ramsier, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1971 to 1973 in an education program. The interview was conducted by Helen B. Howard on May 5, 1994, as part of a public history class at Northeastern University. The audio recording is also available.
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-020
Part of a series of research interviews conducted by Jonathan Zimmerman for his article "Beyond Double Consciousness: Black Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa, 1961-1971." LaCharles James served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1966 to 1968. Interviewed by phone, March 11, 1994. 2 tapes (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-027
Part of a series of research interviews conducted by Jonathan Zimmerman for his article "Beyond Double Consciousness: Black Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa, 1961-1971." Dr. Carl E. Meacham served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1964 to 1966. Interviewed by phone, March 23, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).
Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-MR-2002-014-032
Part of a series of research interviews conducted by Jonathan Zimmerman for his article "Beyond Double Consciousness: Black Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa, 1961-1971." Marilyn C. Turner served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia from 1969 to 1971. Interviewed by phone, February 25, 1994. 1 tape (web streaming files combined into 1 file).