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Audio Recording Interview with Gertrude Westphal about her history and her experiences teaching children, Chicago, Illinois, part 3

Interview with Gertrude Westphal about her history and her experiences teaching children, Chicago, Illinois, part 3

About this Item

Title

  • Interview with Gertrude Westphal about her history and her experiences teaching children, Chicago, Illinois, part 3

Names

  • Swenson, Greta E. (Collector)
  • Westphal, Gertrude (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Chicago, Illinois, April 28, 1977

Headings

  • -  German Americans
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Illinois -- Chicago

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Gertrude Westphal #3, part 1
  • -  Part 3 of a 3-part interview with Gertrude Westphal by fieldworker Greta Swenson; topics include comments on the Schwaben Klub (Swabian Club), dances as a girl, polka, waltz; about German folksongs; Westphal had a white friend, they socialized with black girls, ghost tales, “steps and liver,” “Mary Mack” (song for a clapping game), using rhythm when teaching (Westphal sings “Mary Mack”), “Hambone,” and from her neighborhood, “Double Dutch” (played by black children), hopscotch; comments on the physical abilities of black and white children; about singing on Sunday at a Baptist church; Westphal grew up with gospel and polka; about “Zum Deutschen Eck” (famous Chicago German bierstube and restaurant) as authentic; about a German folksong learned from her father; about the German American community in Chicago, moved from the Near North Side; about Westphal’s work in schools, always in all-black schools, when she raised her family, she spent 17 and a half years not teaching, then went into early childhood teaching, work at the Child-Parent Center on North Lawndale, served low income African American families; good support from principal, need to offer assurances of justice and law and order for children, the class is not “open” at first, but is later after children learn to structure their time and develop a community spirit; method depended on storytelling, giving of self and values through fairy tales, there are moral judgements in the tales, “justice will come”; Westphal uses classic folktales, Cinderella, no crime stories, which would be retelling news accounts of crime in the neighborhood; parents are protective, this is a high crime area, children kept in the house, parents take them to visit friends, families do not have the means to move away; story about a child missed school after the mother in a downstairs apartment murdered her child; migration from the South is over for blacks, during the 1950s we had a new kid class every week; the families all go South to home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, many have farm experience, a popular book is Blaze [possibly the C.W. Anderson series ?], kids like horse stories; these families do not know Chicago, arts opportunities not used, they visit family and friends and are active in churches; comments on collecting.

Medium

  • audiocassette, C-60

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Call number: AFC 1981/004: AFS 20855a
  • MBRS Shelflist: RYA 0837
  • Field Project Identifier: CH77-T327-C

Source Collection

  • Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

In addition, the American Folklife Center and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

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Credit line: Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection (AFC 1981/004), 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:

Swenson, Greta E, and Gertrude Westphal. Interview with Gertrude Westphal about her history and her experiences teaching children, Chicago, Illinois, part 3. Chicago, Illinois, 1977. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004_afs20855a/.

APA citation style:

Swenson, G. E. & Westphal, G. (1977) Interview with Gertrude Westphal about her history and her experiences teaching children, Chicago, Illinois, part 3. Chicago, Illinois. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004_afs20855a/.

MLA citation style:

Swenson, Greta E, and Gertrude Westphal. Interview with Gertrude Westphal about her history and her experiences teaching children, Chicago, Illinois, part 3. Chicago, Illinois, 1977. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004_afs20855a/>.