African American History Month - Oral History Resources

The History Center's Oral History Collection is an important component of our mission to collect, preserve, and make available the history of Diboll, Angelina County, and the surrounding area. This collection includes over 50 interviews with local African Americans, touching on topics of racial segregation and discrimination, school integration, sports, family life, church and religious life, work and professional life, and social life. All of these interviews can be found on our website by clicking on the Oral History tab. Some notable interviews include Jonathan Gerland's interview with the Frazier Sisters who grew up in the Boykin Springs community in southern Angelina County and attended the segregated Vernon School, teachers and students of Diboll's H.G. Temple High School like Algianon Jeffero, June Chapman Taylor, Lewis Mitchell, Queen Esther Taylor, James Rhone, and Rueben "Jellie" Sanders (among others), and beloved community leader Reverend Bettie Kennedy (4 interviews).

Staff and volunteers are always on the look out for community members with interesting stories to tell about their life in our part of East Texas. Please contact us at 936-829-3543 or info@TheHistoryCenterOnline.com if you or a loved one has a story to tell us.