Interview with James E. Plunkett, November 3, 1984

Project: Goin' North: Tales of the Great Migration Oral History Project

Interview Summary

Born in Danville, Virginia, James Plunkett (1896-1986) spent much his life moving from job to job, including tobacco farmer, bricklayer, railroad worker, and bartender. Over the course of two interviews conducted in 1983 and 1984, Plunkett recounts his childhood helping his father farm tobacco in Virginia, his decision at age 20 to move north in search of opportunity, and the "sporting life" he witnessed once in Philadelphia: speakeasies, bootleg liquor, women, and the "numbers racket."

Interview Accession

2014oh182_gn034

Interviewee Name

James E. Plunkett

Interviewer Name

Charles Hardy, III

Interview Date

1984-11-03

Interview Keyword

Childhood Agriculture. African American families Danville (Va.) Traditional farming Tobacco farms Farm life. Country life Farm tenancy Sharecropping Prohibition Distilling, illicit Elections--Corrupt practices Political corruption

Interview LC Subject

African Americans--Recreation African Americans--Social conditions African Americans--Social life and customs Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social conditions Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social life and customs African Americans--Southern States Migration, Internal African Americans--Employment African Americans--Politics and government Race discrimination Racism African Americans--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia Race relations

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

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MLA: APA: Chicago:

Plunkett, James E. Interview by Charles Hardy, III. 03 Nov. 1984. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Plunkett, J.E. (1984, November 03). Interview by C. H. III. Goin' North: Tales of the Great Migration Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Plunkett, James E., interview by Charles Hardy, III. November 03, 1984, Goin' North: Tales of the Great Migration Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Persistent Link for this Record: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt74tm71z468