Oral history with Captain Viola Brown Sanders

              Oral history with Captain Viola Brown Sanders
F341.5 . M57 vol. 748, pt. 2
Funding for this project provided by The Mississippi State Legislature, The Mississippi Humanities Council, The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.
This transcription of an oral history by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage of The University of Southern Mississippi may not be reproduced or published in any form except that quotation of short excerpts of unrestricted transcripts and the associated tape recordings is permissible providing written consent is obtained from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. When literary rights have been retained by the interviewee, written permission to use the material must be obtained from both the interviewee and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Viola Brown Sanders was born in Sidon, Mississippi, on February 21, 1921, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanny Sanders Sr. She is a member of the Sidon United Methodist Church.
Miss Sanders attended high school in Greenwood, Mississippi, and was graduated from Sunflower Junior College, now Mississippi Delta Community College, in Moorhead, Mississippi, and Delta State Teachers College, now Delta State University, in Cleveland, Mississippi. She taught school for two years in Glen Allan, Mississippi.
In 1943, Miss Sanders joined the United States Navy WAVES ( Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services). During her twenty- three years in the United States Navy, Miss Sanders was assigned to duties in communications, recruit training, personnel, intelligence, and administration. In her last tour of duty, she was assigned as Director of Women in the Navy ( Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Women), the only female line captain and senior woman in the Navy at that time.
After her retirement from the Navy in 1966, Miss Sanders returned to Sidon and became active in civic affairs in Greenwood and Leflore County. In 1999, she became the fourth person and the only woman to be inducted into the Greenwood- Leflore County Hall of Fame.
Table of Contents
I. Childhood
II. Solon Irving Brown
III. Dances
IV. The Depression
V. Works Progress Administration
VI. Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt
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