Interview: James E. Plunkett, November 3, 1984

Interview: James E. Plunkett, November 3, 1984

African Americans--Recreation

African Americans--Social conditions.

African Americans--Social life and customs.

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social conditions.

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social life and customs.

African Americans--Southern States.

Migration, Internal.

African Americans--Employment.

African Americans--Politics and government.

Race discrimination.

Racism

African Americans--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

Race relations

Born in Danville, Virginia, James Plunkett (1896-1986) spent much his life moving from job to job, including tobacco farmer, bricklayer, railroad worker, and bartender. Over the course of two interviews conducted in 1983 and 1984, Plunkett recounts his childhood helping his father farm tobacco in Virginia, his decision at age 20 to move north in search of opportunity, and the "sporting life" he witnessed once in Philadelphia: speakeasies, bootleg liquor, women, and the "numbers racket."

1984-11-03

audio

2014OH182GN034

Charles Hardy

James E. Plunkett

Childhood

Agriculture.

African American families

Danville (Va.)

Traditional farming

Tobacco farms

Farm life.

Country life

Farm tenancy

Sharecropping

Prohibition

Distilling, illicit

Elections--Corrupt practices

Political corruption