Oral history with Dr. Velvelyn Foster

              Oral history with Dr. Velvelyn Foster
F341.5 . M57 vol. 695, pt. 1
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Transcript
This is an interview for the Mississippi Oral History Program of The University of Southern Mississippi. The interview is with Dr. Velvelyn Foster and is taking place on September 3, 1997. The interviewer is Tom Ward.
Ward: It is September 3, 1997. We're in the office of Dr. Velvelyn Foster, is that right?
Foster: Yes.
Ward: At Jackson State University. Good morning, Dr. Foster.
Foster: Good morning.
Ward: I'd like to begin by asking you to give a background of yourself: where you're from, your education, your career, and so forth.
Foster: OK. I'm a native Mississippian. I was born in Lincoln County in a small town called Bogue Chitto. My parents are originally from Mississippi. My father is. My mother's family has roots in Louisiana but she was born also in Mississippi. I completed high school in Lincoln County at the county segregated high school and came to Jackson State University in 1964. Got a bachelor's degree in social science education and history. I taught for one year in Natchez, Mississippi, a junior high school, and then received a fellowship to go to Carnegie Mellon University, then Carnegie Institute of Technology, in Pittsburgh to pursue a master's degree in history. I received a master's degree and was invited to stay on in the doctoral program. Received a doctorate degree in 1970 from Carnegie Mellon and came back to Mississippi to work at Jackson State. I was invited by the president of Jackson State to come back and work because it was at a time when Jackson State was trying to get as many African American Ph. D.' s to come back to Jackson State. And I left the state with the intentions of coming back here to work. It was a commitment to go off, get an education, come back- mus- coh. fosterv. doc Page 1 of 12