Geneva Tisdale has worked at Woolworth's Lunch Counter for years. She was working there when African Americans were allowed to clean and cook, but they were not allowed to serve food, and everyone knew that African Americans could not be served food either. Geneva remembers the day that four African Americans came to the lunch counter and asked to be served. At first she thought they were just trying to be funny, but they insisted on being served. More African Americans came in on the second day, and enough came in on the third day to fill up every seat at the lunch counter. On the sixth day, there were a thousand demonstrators at Woolworth's. They closed the counter and opened it back up two weeks later. After five months of negotiating, Woolworth's announced that they were changing their policy. The manager told Geneva and the other workers to dress like they were customers and order food at the lunch counter. So, they all ordered food, and ate it as quick as possible. Before the news reporters and photographers got there, Geneva and the other workers were back in uniform, and none of the media knew that the workers were the first African Americans to be served. Geneva said she has not had a meal at the lunch counter since that day. She dreamed of coming back one day with her grandchildren and being served, but the owner announced that the lunch counter would be closing. They told Geneva that she can work in the store, until that too closes. Geneva said she has been working for $5.50 an hour ever since she started working there. She said, "I feel like, sometimes, if a white person had this job, that person would get paid more than me. Just because of the color of their skin."
I think that listening to the interview is much better than reading the transcript. Listening to the interview gives you more of an idea about how Geneva feels about the story she is telling. She expresses a lot of emotion that is lost when reading the transcript. It is also important to hear the story from Geneva, because she experienced it first hand as an African American. She can tell the story as it happened, and she can tell about all of the things that were only experienced by the workers.
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5 comments:
I feel the same way, there is no possible way someone could've taken this story the way it was meant to be told. We can come close even with the sound portrait but we still don't have a clue. Good job by the way.
Hearing the story from Geneva's own words leaves a larger, realistic impact on the audience than reading the transcript. With the audio Geneva could express her emotions bringing the story to life.
Nice retelling of the story Kyle. Listening to the interviewer telling a story instead of a question/answer interview was a nice transition from one part to the next. It felt more like a story instead of a planned interview.
Kyle, I agree with you that Geneva's emotion and expression is lost when reading the transcript. The fact that she had the firsthand experience of witnessing the demonstrators and then being one of the first black people to eat at the lunch-counter makes it so much more meaningful than if just anybody had told the story or written about it.
Nicely done. Kyle. I enjoyed reading your post. Makes me wonder how many other real stories are missed by someone's interpretation of what someone was or was not saying.
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