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Date 5-17-06
Contact David Tisdale 601.266.4499
Hattiesburg—The
University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Oral History and
Cultural Heritage’s Katrina Project is spotlighted in this month’s
edition of Southern Living magazine.
The article,
titled “Faces of Hope,” was written by Valerie Fraser Luesse, with
photography by Blake Sims. It examines the work the Center has been
doing since Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29, 2005, to secure audio
interviews with survivors of the storm, as well as with volunteer
workers and public officials involved in recovery efforts.
Luesse’s personal
interest in Hurricane Camille led her to do research on the 1969
storm on the Internet, where she found out about the Center’s collection
of Hurricane Camille interviews. After Hurricane Katrina hit, she
contacted Linda Van Zandt at the Center to find out how the recovery
in south Mississippi was going post-storm, and Van Zandt told Luesse
about the Center’s Hurricane Katrina Project.
She immediately
saw the need to tell the story of the coast’s efforts to pick up
the pieces, literally and figuratively, and rebound from the horrific
effects of the storm through the voices of the survivors participating
in the Center’s project. “When Linda and I talked, I realized I
had a Southern Living story,” Luesse said.
Luesse traveled
to Mississippi and accompanied members of the Center’s staff, including
Van Zandt, Marie O’Connell, Center Co-Director Stephen Sloan, and
Southern Miss Gulf Coast history professor Deanne Nuwer, to the
Gulf Coast as they met with area residents who shared their first-hand
accounts of the storm and how they have been coping since.
“You just felt
so overwhelmed at first (upon seeing the damage), but through the
work of the Center, we met some wonderful people and heard their
stories, and it helped us understand where their hope comes from,”
Luesse said. “The experience provided a great way to share with
readers how the recovery is going.”
Sloan said the
Center has collected more than 100 audio interviews for the Katrina
Project, relying on the work of scholars and others locally and
from across the country. The Mississippi Humanities Council, along
with the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the university,
is providing support for the project. Additional sponsors are also
being sought from other sources.
A variety of
outcomes from the project can be expected, Sloan said, including
film and radio documentaries, life histories, exhibits, curriculum
materials, lesson plans for teachers, and archival collections.
The Hurricane Katrina Oral History project will also be a valuable
resource for the university's Hurricane Katrina Research Center.
“The project
continues to be vibrant and active,” Sloan said. “I’ve been very
happy with the enthusiasm and response from the people who have
agreed to be interviewed and relate their experiences from the storm.
For them to have the opportunity to talk about these experiences
validates what they went through, and it gives them an opportunity
to help others understand the impact of the event.”
For more information
about the Southern Miss Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage,
call 601.266.4574; on the Internet, visit the Center at http://www.usm.edu/oralhistory/.
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