Hardiman, Dennis A., Logan Thomas, Lishawna Taylor, Anna-Lisa Cox, and Occupational Folklife Project. Dennis Hardiman and grandson Logan Thomas interview conducted by Anna-Lisa Cox, 2019-07-25. 2019. Audio recording. Library of Congress American Folklife Center. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692520/.
Students will listen closely to the life and story of Dennis Hardiman, a Black farmer from Gibson County, Indiana. The oral history offers insights into the historical experiences of rural Black folks in Indiana. Students will consider the impact of slavery and the Great Migration on farmers, interrogate and analyze stereotypes of farmers, and conduct their own oral history of a member of their community.
After being forcibly removed from their homelands, people of African descent were made to work in agriculture on the plantations and farms of wealthy white people. After emancipation, many Black folks moved to northern cities; however, some continued working in agriculture in both southern and northern rural areas as farmers, passing land and work down to their future generations. Their experiences are often erased from discussions about rural people that are often viewed as a white monolith.
- How do Dennis Hardiman’s experiences and identity as a farmer compare/contrast with what we usually think of as who farmers/rural people are?
- What do you connect to/have in common with his experience?
- What is different?
- What did you learn from Hardiman’s account? Who in your community could you learn from?
ELA Standard
8.CC.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade-appropriate topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing personal ideas clearly.
Social Studies Standard
8.H.26. Describe causes and lasting effects of the Civil War.
Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts.
- Give students a blank piece of paper and ask them to draw/sketch the images/words that come to my mind when they hear the word “rural” and/or “farmer.”
- In small groups, have students compare and contrast their pictures, jotting down notes of similarities and differences they see.
- Ask students to consider the following questions:
- What are oral histories? Why might they be important?
- Have students listen to the oral history interview and, as they listen, take note of aspects of Dennis Hardiman’s experiences that are similar to and different from their sketches and group-generated lists.
- Ask students to research the Great Migration and connect it to Dennis Hardiman’s experiences.
- Have students meet in their groups again to brainstorm who would be important to talk to in their communities to learn about how people came to live and settle in this area of the United States. What kinds of questions could students ask?
- Conduct an oral history project in which students interview members of their community.
- Publish/share students’ work with interviewees and community members through an exhibition/reading of those histories.
Morton, Phyllis Granger, Joyce M. Granger, Anna-Lisa Cox, and Occupational Folklife Project. Phyllis Morton and Joyce Granger interview conducted by Anna-Lisa Cox, 2019-08-29. 2019. Audio recording. Library of Congress American Folklife Center. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692518/.