Otis R. Anthony African Americans in Florida Oral History Project

Interviewee

Ruth McNair

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Interviewer

Sherri Anderson

Publication Date

4-13-2011

Date

2005-11-04

Abstract

Oral history interview with West Tampa neighborhood leader Ruth McNair, the president of the West Riverfront Crime Watch Association. McNair was born in Marianna, Florida, in 1931 and was raised by her great-grandmother. As a child, she was a sharecropper on a cotton farm and left school after fifth grade. She moved to Tampa when she was sixteen and worked as a maid. She and her husband, the late Joe McNair, were married after he returned from the Korean War; they had three daughters and were married for fifty-three years. The family moved into their house in West Tampa in 1958, and McNair continues to live there. She frequented many of the businesses in West Tampa and occasionally went to Central Avenue, the primary African American business district. In this interview, McNair discusses the changes to West Tampa over the years that she has lived there, as well as her involvement with the Crime Watch Association.

Keywords

African Americans, Blacks, Social life and customs, Commercial strips, Central business districts, Race discrimination

Extent

00:59:48; 38 page transcript

Subject: geographic

Hillsborough County (Fla.); Tampa (Fla.); West Tampa (Fla.)

Language

English

Digital Date

2011

Media Type

Oral histories

Format

Digital only

Identifier

A31-00092

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Rights Statement

In Copyright