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Oral history interview with Johnnie O. Maxey

  • SR 4000
  • Collection
  • 1994-02-25 - 1994-06-30

This oral history interview with Johnnie Maxey was conducted by Aaron Brand at Maxey's home in Portland, Oregon, from February 25 to June 30, 1994. Charles Britton Maxey was also present and occasionally contributed to the interview, which was conducted in five sessions.

In the first interview session, conducted on February 25, 1994, Maxey discusses her family background and early life on a farm in Kilgore, Texas. She speaks at length about raising and preparing food; describes her childhood home; and talks about her early education. She then discusses attending Texas College, including meeting Charles Britton Maxey. She also talks about her mother's health, attending the AME Church, and racism she experienced. She discusses relocating to Portland in 1943; talks about the jobs that Charles Britton Maxey held; and describes her journey by train.

In the second interview session, conducted on March 31, 1991, Maxey revisits the topic of her early life in Kilgore, Texas, including her experience with rheumatic fever as a child, celebrating Juneteenth, and the community she grew up in. She also talks about her siblings and their families. She then discusses her life in Portland, including her social life, raising her family, and Charles Britton Maxey's career as a barber. She also talks about discrimination faced by the black community in Portland, including the lack jobs open to black people after World War II, the hostility towards black people in some neighborhoods, and the aftermath of the Vanport Flood. She discusses running a small grocery store, called Maxey's Better Buy Grocery, next door to her husband's barbershop.

In the third interview session, conducted on April 25, 1994, Maxey continues discussing Charles Britton Maxey's career as a barber and running the Maxeys' grocery store. She also talks about the experience of having two barbershops and their home seized by the state for the construction of the I-5 freeway. She speaks at length about dealing with customers; talks about other grocery stores in the neighborhood; and discusses her involvement in the community, including serving as president of her local parent teacher association. She also talks about school segregation and busing. She speaks at length about raising her children, and talks about their careers, as well as the racism they experienced.

In the fourth interview session, conducted on June 10, 1994, Maxey continues to discuss raising her children. She also talks about her relationship with her neighbors. She discusses her involvement with La Femme, which taught traditional etiquette to young girls, and talks about her involvement in her church, including its choir and working to promote black history to its congregation. She talks about racism she experienced in Portland, and how conditions for black people in Oregon have changed since the 1940s. She then briefly discusses Charles Britton Maxey's involvement with the Republican Party; shares her opinion on busing; and describes issues she had with some of her children's teachers. She also shares her memories of the civil rights movement.

In the fifth and final interview session, conducted on June 30, 1994, Maxey continues sharing her memories of the civil rights movement, and talks about how conditions for black people have changed in Oregon. She talks about black-owned businesses in North Portland, changes in the neighborhood, and changes in Portland's black community. She also briefly shares her political opinions. She speaks at length about her children, their careers, and their families. She closes the interview by talking about her grandchildren and her hopes for the future.

Maxey, Johnnie O. (Johnnie Obina), 1919-

Oral history interview with Charles B. Maxey

  • SR 4001
  • Collection
  • 1994-02-25 - 1994-11-18

This oral history interview with Charles B. Maxey was conducted by Jim Strassmaier at Maxey's home in Portland, Oregon, from February 25 to November 18, 1994. Johnnie Obina Maxey was also present and occasionally contributed to the interview. The interview was conducted in six sessions.

In the first interview session, conducted on February 25, 1994, Maxey discusses his family background and early life in St. Augustine and in Longview, Texas, including his education, growing up in a predominantly black neighborhood, and learning to navigate a racist world. He speaks at length about the importance of reading black authors in high school. He then discusses trying to find decent-paying work in Texas, Colorado, and Utah after graduating from college, and describes how he ultimately decided to settle in Portland, Oregon, in 1943. He talks about working in the shipyards in Portland during World War II and describes his frustration with being denied promotions and other job opportunities due to his youth and race. He then talks about beginning his career as a barber. He also reflects on his college experience at Texas College in Tyler, Texas, and talks about meeting Johnnie O. Maxey and his unrealized plans to go to law school. He discusses his political beliefs and involvement with the Republican Party in Oregon; talks about his first impressions of Portland; and describes how life in Oregon for black people differed from the South.

In the second interview session, conducted on March 4, 1994, Maxey revisits the topic of his early life in St. Augustine and in Longview, Texas, including racism he experienced, learning to navigate a racist world, and working at a drugstore. He also revisits the topics of his first impressions of Portland, working in the shipyards, and beginning his career as a barber. He describes racism he experienced in Portland.

In the third interview session, conducted on March 25, 1994, Maxey talks about a fight between his father and a white police officer in Texas, and how the fallout affected his family. He discusses conditions for black people in Texas, and how they changed during the lead-up to World War II; talks about his experiences working wartime jobs; and describes the development of his political philosophy at the time of the war. He talks about his involvement with the NAACP; discusses people being accused of communism for advocating for civil rights; and discusses conditions for black people in Portland after the war. He talks about the social life of the black community, racism they experienced, and the passage of Oregon's various civil rights acts. He also talks about the experiences of black members of the U.S. military during World War II, as well as his involvement in the Oregon Republican Party.

In the fourth interview session, conducted on April 1, 1994, Maxey continues discussing his involvement in the Oregon Republican Party and his involvement in the NAACP, as well as people being accused of communism for advocating for civil rights. He also continues discussing his involvement in the NAACP. He discusses the slow progress of civil rights in Oregon; talks about his own activism; and shares his thoughts on interracial marriage. He talks about experiencing discrimination at a Young Republicans convention in Utah and discusses his experiences with Oregon Republicans such as Tom McCall, Clay Myers, and Sig Unander. He describes how the black community was disproportionately affected by the state's land seizures during the construction of I-5, including his own loss of his home and first two barbershops. He then discusses owning and operating a grocery store as a family business in North Portland, as well as a barbershop and other businesses that he ran on the side. He talks about raising his children, including their education.

In the fifth interview session, conducted on May 3, 1994, Maxey discusses the reasons why many black people left the South for the West. He talks about the types of jobs that were available to black people in Oregon during World War II and the impact of Oliver Smith's campaign for the Oregon Legislature, and he revisits the topic of people being accused of communism for advocating for civil rights. He discusses his political views, his disagreements with the national Republican Party, and his reasons for remaining a registered Republican. He then revisits the topic of experiencing discrimination at a Young Republicans convention in Utah and talks about having dinner with the governor of Utah. He shares his opinion on school integration and busing; talks about racism his children faced in Portland schools; and discusses the importance of historically black universities. He also revisits the topic of working in the shipyards and describes discrimination he experienced there. He describes the subtler forms that racism took in Oregon as opposed to the South. He then talks about his children, their families, and their careers; discusses his upbringing in the African Methodist Episcopal Church; and reflects on his accomplishments.

In the sixth and final interview session, conducted on November 18, 1994, Maxey revisits the topic of experiencing discrimination at a Young Republicans convention in Utah and describes the process through which the convention passed his resolution that the Young Republicans never again hold a convention at any hotel with discriminatory practices.

Maxey, Charles B. (Charles Britton), 1917-2001

Oral history interview with Constance Beaty

  • SR 4003
  • Collection
  • 1986-02-07 - 1986-02-07

This oral history interview with Constance Beaty was conducted by Rick Harmon in Portland, Oregon, on February 7, 1986. In this interview, Beaty discusses her family background, her early life in Portland, and her childhood vacations in Seaview, Washington. She talks about the Golden West Hotel, which the first hotel in Portland to accommodate black people and was owned by her father, William Duncan Allen. She describes the interior furnishing of the hotel and talks about the clientele the hotel catered to. She discusses playing piano and organ; talks about her recreational and social activities as part of Portland's black community; and discusses her education in Portland. She closes the interview by talking about racial discrimination she experienced, and the impact her mother's death in 1924 had on her family.

Beaty, Constance (Nellie Constance), 1910-1996

Oral history interview with Mercedes Deiz

  • SR 1256
  • Collection
  • 1981-02-05 - 1981-02-27

This oral history interview with Mercedes Deiz was conducted by Linda Dodds at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, from February 5-27, 1981. At the time of the interview, Linda Dodds' surname was Brody.

In this interview, Deiz discusses her family background and early life in New York, New York, including life in a large family, her experience during the Depression, and her education. She then talks about attending Hunter College in New York, and her marriage to, and later divorce from, Billy Owens. She discusses the reason she came to Oregon in 1949, and reflects on some of her civil rights activism in New York. She talks about her first impressions of Portland, including its social life and the racism she encountered. She discusses her civil rights activism in Oregon, and her work on public accommodation legislation. Deiz talks about working for the IRS, where she met Carl Deiz, as well as their subsequent marriage. She also often discusses the difficulty of finding affordable day care for her son. She talks about working at the law library at the Bonneville Power Administration, as a legal secretary for Graham Walker, and about attending the Northwestern College of Law. She then talks about failing to pass the bar on her first try. She describes some of the cases she tried and serving as a hearing officer in worker compensation cases. She then relates the story of being appointed to the U.S. District Court of Oregon by Governor Tom McCall. She discusses her campaign to hold that seat a few months later, as well as her campaign for a new position on the Oregon Circuit Court in 1972. She describes the kinds of cases she has heard on that bench, and press coverage. She closes the interview by discussing her involvement in various professional organizations.

Deiz, Mercedes F. L. (Mercedes Frances Lopez), 1917-2005