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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • Service History Note: Received certificate as physical training instructor; conducted Physical Training (PT) and coached basketball team.
  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: WAC (Women's Army Corps)
  • Unit of Service: Section D, 3014th Army Air Force Base Unit (AAFBU)
  • Location of Service: Douglas Air Force Base, Douglas, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas
  • Highest Rank: Corporal

View full service history

"This is my country. The same reason that it is your country, it is mine. I was born here, and I fought for it." (01:01:01.0)

Rose Witherspoon Spence was the granddaughter of a former slave and the daughter of an African-American minister, but more than that, she was a singular modern woman whose strong ties to history and family would not bind her solely to the role of wife and mother. "Tall and lanky," as she describes herself, she had an athlete's body that set her apart from her brothers and sisters, and she used her physical presence as an entrée into sports, playing basketball in college at Tennessee State University, and later in the Women's Army Corps, where she coached a women's basketball team. After the war, she became involved in the Civil Rights movement, and in the 1990's, she became a field officer in the effort to fund and construct The Women In Military Service For America Memorial, commonly known as The Women's Memorial, in Arlington, Virginia.

Rose Witherspoon Spence Collection
Interview / Recording

About this Item

Title

  • Rose Witherspoon Spence Collection

Names

  • Williams, James
  • Middle Tennessee Oral History Project
  • Spence, Rose Witherspoon
  • Rowland, Betty

State of Birth

  • TN

Home State

  • TN

Headings

  • -  Spence, Rose Witherspoon
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army. Women's Army Corps.

Form

  • CD

Extent

  • 1 item

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Female

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Service History Note: Received certificate as physical training instructor; conducted Physical Training (PT) and coached basketball team.
    • Branch of Service: WAC (Women's Army Corps)
    • Unit of Service: Section D, 3014th Army Air Force Base Unit (AAFBU)
    • Location of Service: Douglas Air Force Base, Douglas, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas
    • Highest Rank: Corporal
    • Dates of Service: 1944-1945
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 09/05/2001)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/8461

Cite as

  • Rose Witherspoon Spence Collection (AFC/2001/001/8461), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • audio

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Williams, James, Middle Tennessee Oral History Project, Rose Witherspoon Spence, and Betty Rowland. Rose Witherspoon Spence Collection. 1944. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08461/.

APA citation style:

Williams, J., Middle Tennessee Oral History Project, Spence, R. W. & Rowland, B. (1944) Rose Witherspoon Spence Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08461/.

MLA citation style:

Williams, James, et al. Rose Witherspoon Spence Collection. 1944. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.08461/>.