interview number g-0118 in the southern oral history
TRANSCRIPT
History 62
Oral History Project
Professor Jacqelyn Hall
TA: Sonya Ramsey
Tape Log
Fieldworker: Shannon Biggs
Interviewee: Jackie Kane
Mono:X Stereo: No. of Sides: 1 No. of Tapes: 1
Location: Mrs. Kane's home in Burlington, North Carolina
Topic: An oral history of Jackie Kane, of Burlington, North
Carolina, teacher, mother, grandmother, councilmember for
the ruling body and co-founder of New Mission Church.
Comments: All information is summarized except for words in
quotes(these are the words verbatim from Mrs. Kane)
Tape Index
Side A
001
004
Opening announcement
Interview begins
birthplace
Childhood:
Parents' education in relation to their way of
motivating their children
Relationship to parents: father's character,
mother and their different worlds
Relationship to grandparents: Never knew
maternal grandmother and remet grandfather
when she was sixteen. Her paternal grandmother
died when Jackie was six years old. She
remembers her grandmother's quilting frame and
Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.
the time she went fishing with her
grandparents.
On remembering the Sunday outings to
grandfather's house.
On Aunt Louise as her positive
influence. Her Aunt was divorced with a
high school education and a ten year old son
and still managed to make a life for herself.
On her 6th and 8th grade teachers as role
models and what it was about them that made
her consider them to be role models. The 6th
grade teacher encouraged her to read, chose
her for patrol and boosted her self esteem
The 8th grade teacher fostered her creativity,
and realized the type of family Jackie was
coming from.
High School Experience: on class division in
Burlington
About being academically with the "in crowd"
Determined, motivated to prove herself
College Life: During the sixties. About her
full scholarship, teaching fellowship to
Appalachian State University. She was in love
with a man in Burlington, so she moved home,
got married and lost some of her scholarships
but not the teaching fellowship. She had to
work to get through school so did not
participate in protests
On having her first child as a senior
Career: On her twenty-six years as a teacher
On why she became a teacher: oldest of four
Her mother kept children so Jackie babysat
On going to church and having to make her
sisters behave
On her involvement in youth groups
On her idea that teaching would be a good
supplementary income to her husband's
On how teaching has changed over the years.
The children and their parents behavioral and
Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.
attitudinal changes
On the pressures from the state of NC, the
emphasis on testing, expectations of admini
strators
"Nobody will hear me." On her fear that we'll
turn out more illiterate children. "Testing is
not the answer."
On how she and her colleagues attend lots of
meetings
Her advice to young women who may be entering
the teaching profession
On her feelings of how she impacts the lives of
her students. Have the potential to do
something for each child
On her belief that it is crucial to instill in
her low income kids that an education is their
way to a better life.
On her meeting a former student in a restaurant
On how she spends many nights worrying about
her students
On the small rewards of teaching. "The one
that you've had to be the roughest on is the
one that will come back to see you and to share
things with you."
Church/Community Work: Examples of things she's
done. She has sang in the choir since the age
of fourteen. As a teenager she collected money
for the needy and for the church. As an adult
she has worked with the youth groups and taught
Sunday school.
On how she went to the same church since her
childhood until five years ago. A group
and she split and formed a new church.
On starting the new church and the conflict
with the old church
On fundraising to earn money for new church
On hiring a minister and the growth of the
church. Problems with the new minister and the
second split in the church. "Once again I found
myself going through a split in a church."
Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.
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On how she stopped going to church for four
months after attending regularly all her life
On realization that the minister was destroying
the church and how she and others got up a
petition. He finally resigned but took half of
the church with him.
On how they were left with a huge mortgage and
a small congregation. Back to fundraising.
On how she organized the fundraising and the
forming of the new church. Was a council member
on the board to organize this new church.
On her being on the council that picked an
interim minister and her negotiations with the
mortgage holders who held the church building.
On the importance of the choir to this newly
forming church- "backbone of the church"
On the fact that after two years since the
second split she and the others in the church
are beginning to participate in activities
that support the community once again.
On her husband and his involvement on the
ministerial search committee. Her husband taped
interviews with the possible candidates and she
listened to the tapes and helped him by giving
her input. "So I basically lived that with
him. "
On the securing and installation of a new
minister finally after two years(Nov. 27 in the
church)
On the daycare that has helped her church
survive and her involvement in the starting of
this active daycare center. "I was in on the
ground work of helping to start that."
On her membership on the committee that formed
the daycare and researched possible workers.
And on the fact that the daycare has grown to
capacity of sixty kids.
On her doing the children's sermon every Sunday
morning.
On the emotional experience of installing the
new minister. "He gave us hope that if we all
Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.
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work together we can actually make this church
the viable part of the community that we
envisioned it would be when it was started."
On the name of the church and the reasoning
behind that name, and the high hopes for its
future. "It's name is New Mission. And that was
the whole idea of it being a 'new mission1 in
that particular area of town."
Her philosophy on why the church is such a
dominant part of her life.
On the overwhelmingness of career and church
that sometimes occurs. "I'm happier doing what
I do. "It's too much a part of my life."
On her life with her first husband who was an
alcoholic and how the church gave her direction
in life after she divorced this man and was
left to raise two small children.
On what she would have done differently in her
life if she could have.
Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.