Kris Davis oral history interview 2021 May 29

Description

WARNING: This interview contains a discussion of a racist word beginning at 25:38 and ending at 27:38. In this interview, Kris Davis discusses her childhood and early adulthood in North Carolina, focusing extensively on the topics of race, gender, and sexuality. Ms. Davis talks about growing up in the Charlotte neighborhood of Grier Heights, within a predominantly black community. Ms. Davis recollects her tomboy traits and behaviors in her early childhood. When Ms. Davis was in middle school, she began dating boys while also maintaining close friendships with girls that she found beautiful. Ms. Davis talks about her high school transition from Charlotte to Waxhaw, discussing racist encounters with white classmates as she transitioned from a predominately black school to a predominately white school. Ms. Davis discusses the importance of her 21st birthday, as she began a romantic relationship with her first girlfriend. She describes the exhilaration of becoming fully aware of and accepting of her lesbian identity. Near the end of her interview, Ms. Davis discusses her current community of female friends and she reflects on her personal goals for the future.

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Charlotte LGBTQ+ oral histories

Details

Title: Kris Davis oral history interview 2021 May 29
Interviewee: Davis, Kris
Interviewer: McGruder, Brianna
Place of Publication: Charlotte, North Carolina
Publisher: J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections & University Archives, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Date of Interview: 2021-05-29
Physical Description: 1 audio file (1:09:55) : Digital, MP3
Object Type: sound recording-nonmusical
Genre: spoken word
Language: eng
Interviewee Biography: Kris Davis was a 30-year-old woman at the time of the interview, which took place in the suburb of Ballantyne in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. She was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1991. She was educated at Central Piedmont Community College and was employed as a grocery clerk.
Abstract: WARNING: This interview contains a discussion of a racist word beginning at 25:38 and ending at 27:38. In this interview, Kris Davis discusses her childhood and early adulthood in North Carolina, focusing extensively on the topics of race, gender, and sexuality. Ms. Davis talks about growing up in the Charlotte neighborhood of Grier Heights, within a predominantly black community. Ms. Davis recollects her tomboy traits and behaviors in her early childhood. When Ms. Davis was in middle school, she began dating boys while also maintaining close friendships with girls that she found beautiful. Ms. Davis talks about her high school transition from Charlotte to Waxhaw, discussing racist encounters with white classmates as she transitioned from a predominately black school to a predominately white school. Ms. Davis discusses the importance of her 21st birthday, as she began a romantic relationship with her first girlfriend. She describes the exhilaration of becoming fully aware of and accepting of her lesbian identity. Near the end of her interview, Ms. Davis discusses her current community of female friends and she reflects on her personal goals for the future.
Digital Object Notes: MP3 access copy created on ingest from WAV production master file. Interview originally recorded on a Zoom H5 Handy Recorder.
Interviewee Occupations: Grocers
Subjects--Names: Davis, Kris
Subjects--Topics: African American families
African American neighborhoods
African American LGBTQ+ people
Racism in schools
Lesbian relationships
Subjects--Geographic: North Carolina--Charlotte
Subjects--Genre: Oral histories
Interviews
Coverage--Dates: 1990 - 2030
Digital Collection Title: Charlotte LGBTQ+ oral histories
Rights: This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Use of this resource is governed by the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike" license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ ).
Grant Information: Interview made possible, in part, by the Life and Legacy program, a project of the J. Murrey Atkins Library Board of Advisors.
Internet Media Type: audio/mpeg
Identifier: QH-DA0068

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