Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage
Faculty and Staff
Page Content
Dr. Kevin GreeneDirector, Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage |
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Kevin Greene holds a joint appointment as an assistant professor in the Departments of History and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he is also the Director of the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Dr. Greene is currently the principal investigator for the Mississippi Oral History Project. He teaches courses in American history, African American history, World history, Interdisciplinarity, Research Methodology, Oral History, and Cultural History. His first book, "Just a Dream:" The Invention and Reinvention of Big Bill Broonzy, a cultural and intellectual examination of the life of William “Big Bill” Broonzy, is currently under contract at the University of North Carolina Press for their selections in African American Studies. The work combines oral histories and archival materials to contribute to current historiography placing the importance of Chicago’s black metropolis in the development of African American identity, celebrity, race consciousness, the black aesthetic, and blues and jazz culture from 1900 to 1960. He has also published in the Journal of Urban History, The Journal of Southern History, the Journal of American Ethnic History, and the Journal of North Carolina Historians. Currently, he is working on two other projects. The first is an investigation into unsolved Civil Rights-era cold case murders, including several from the Pine Belt region of Mississippi and central and eastern North Carolina. His second project examines Peggy Jean Connor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi and her role in the local and national black freedom movement. |
A. Ross WaltonDigital Production & Preservation |
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A native Mississippian, Ross Walton became involved in digital humanities as a way of promoting the Hattiesburg music scene. Using HTML coding and digital audio editing skills gained in early website development projects, he began publishing a monthly music podcast, The South Mississippi Music Sampler, in 2005. After twenty years in retail management, Walton returned to school in 2008 to study Creative Writing. Wishing to learn more about the oral traditions of storytelling, he started as a volunteer with the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage that same year, taking over production of the Center’s award-winning weekly radio show, Mississippi Moments. He soon convinced the Center’s director of the need for a podcast and mississippimoments.org was launched in March of 2009. Walton works as a sound engineer charged with the digital preservation and distribution of the Center’s collection in compliance with the best standards and practices for audio preservation set by the Oral History Association. He has produced over 450 episodes of Mississippi Moments to date, heard across the state each Monday through Friday on Mississippi Public Broadcasting stations. The Mississippi Moments Podcast is downloaded over 2,000 per month. Ross Walton holds a B.S. in Marketing Management, a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Creative Writing. He currently chairs the committee for the Oral History Association Non-Print Media Award. |
Stephanie Scull DeArmeyTranscriptionist and Editor |
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In 1998, Stephanie was hired as a transcriber/editor to complete the Civil Rights Documentation Project. With an all-hands-on-deck-when-needed policy, she was cross-trained in a number of areas, including training folks to conduct oral histories, interviewing, and doing a number of administrative tasks that are necessary to document and then be able to find hundreds of interviews. Stephanie loves this work; it's always interesting, running the gamut from abduction by extraterrestrials to coping in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She feels that she has lived more than one life after listening to so many people talk about their lives. Stephanie has a bachelor's degree in Family Life Studies; she has worked at USM since the mid-1980s, for many years funded by U.S. Department of Education grants to train teachers and write curriculum on law-related education, hate-crime prevention, and civil rights. In her spare time, Stephanie makes pottery and helps her husband, Dr. Michael DeArmey, in maintaining their old Victorian house. Stephanie grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and she does not really feel comfortable when she gets over seventy miles away from the beach. |
