Oral History Interview with Caroline Taylor Crocker

Object Details

Names: Birney Elementary School; Campbell African Methodist Episcopal Church (Washington, D.C.); Frederick Douglass Memorial Home; Bradshaw, John; Crocker, Caroline Taylor, 1902-1996; Dale, John Henry, Jr., 1888-1973; Dale, Lucille Emma Patterson, 1889-1973; Taylor, Pierre McKinley, 1898-1996
Collection Creator: Anacostia Community Museum

Topic: African American women; African Americans; Community Organizations; Banks and banking; Segregation -- United States; Frederick Douglas; Anacostia Neighborhood Museum; exhibit

See more items in: Evolution of a Community: 1972 Exhibition Records; Evolution of a Community: 1972 Exhibition Records / Series 2: Interviews

Sponsor: Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).

Extent: 2 Digital files ((1 sound disk CD-R (00:49:14). digital, 16-bit 44.1 KhZ)); 1 Sound disc ((1 sound disk CD-R (01:02:56). digital, 16-bit 44.1 KhZ)); 2 Sound cassettes ((1 sound cassette (00:49:14))(1 sound cassette (01:02:56)))

Container: Box 1, Folder 38; Box 4, Cassette 25A; Box 4, Cassette 25B; Box 5, Disk 25

Type: Archival materials; Audio; Digital files; Sound discs; Sound cassettes; Oral histories (document genres)

Collection Citation: Evolution of a Community: 1972 Exhibition Records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Collection Rights: Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Scope and Contents note: Caroline Taylor Crocker, a woman of mixed African American and white ancestry born around 1902, recalls growing up in Anacostia until her marriage in 1924. Topics include her ancestry and schooling at Birney Elementary School. She recalls growing up with her brother, Pierre McKinley Taylor, in the Frederick Douglass Home where her parents (John W. Taylor and Gertrude Burleigh) maintained the property and attended Campbell AME Church every Sunday. Throughout the interview, Crocker talks about prominent community members, including Lucille and John Henry Dale Jr., George and Susie Cooke, and Gladys Wilkerson and her family. Crocker describes her work at Western Union and the difficulty of being a mixed woman in a predominately white job. She also touches on her father having trouble getting work as a laborer with no union. Crocker ends the interview commenting on the absence of racial tension when she was growing up but in contrast to escalating tension in recent years about the Urban League's work with the League regarding segregation and discrimination, and about her own struggles with her race. Caroline Taylor Crocker was interviewed by John Bradshaw on December 30. 1970. Digital audio files include white noise and static; interviewee can be heard clearly for most parts.

Restrictions: Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.