September 14th, 2009
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Interview with Mr. James Shelby
General Topic of Interview: Plantation life, Civil Rights, Education
Date: 29 October, 2008
Location: Moon Lake, Mississippi, USA
Narrator: Mr. James Shelby
Interviewers: Atandi Anyona and James Chapnick
Transcriber: James Chapnick
Biographical Information:
James Shelby’s family has lived in the Moon Lake community for many generations. He was raised in the family home, which bordered two cotton plantations. Shelby observed the lifestyle of sharecroppers firsthand while growing up on Moon Lake. After his college education, Shelby was employed as an assistant principal in Friar’s Point by W.J. Jones.
Interview Information:
Growing up between two plantations allowed Shelby to comment extensively on plantation life during the Jim Crow era. He detailed the hardships of the sharecroppers, including their perpetual debt and being cheated by the commissary store. He also described the inequities that he and his family felt growing up in the area due to racism and Jim Crow laws. Shelby explained the vast inequality present, both in modern times and in the past, in the education system in Mississippi.