Little Rock Central High Memory Project:Searching

From Little Rock Central High Memory Project

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When students began work on this Memory Project, they quickly noticed both similarities and differences in the stories being collected. To make it easier to search for related stories, a team of Student Editors created this list of recurring categories.

First, stories are grouped by historical Time Period. Many happened in the 1950s, but others happened in later decades. A few stories even deal with events before World War II. Some have happened recently, since 2000, and show that discrimination and acceptance can affect current generations, as well.

Stories are also grouped geographically by Place. All stories about Central High are listed together. Stories from other places in Arkansas are in one group. Likewise, stories from Other States and from Other Countries are listed together. (To search for stories from specific towns, states, etc., use the Search window at lower left.)

The stories are grouped by Setting, too. While many stories happened in Schools, a number of stories are set in Stores/Restaurants or in the Neighborhood/Public Facilities. Other stories are about experiences in the Military or in the Workplace. A smaller but noteworthy group of stories took place within the Family setting.

Another pair of categories is the Main Focus of the story and the Identity of the storyteller. The greatest number of stories deal with discrimination and/or acceptance based on Racial/Ethnic background. But some deal with discrimination against Religion, Gender, Age or Disability.

On a final note, we have not found the right terms for other categories that would tell the "personal change" in the narrator or the "lessons learned" from the experience. But students try to give a clue about one or both of these in the quote they select for their essay titles.

At any rate, we hope this Index will help you compare and contrast--and learn from--the experiences and attitudes of the people interviewed. We're still learning.