creating an interview essay about Oral History (10 pages)
Oral History (interview) paper instructions:Â
 Historians turn to primary sources to construct historical narratives. Oral History projects involve interviewing people who can speak to a specific experience or
experiences with firsthand knowledge. Â One basic acceptable format, for our purposes, is to write two or three pages on the topic itself, followed by a transcribed
interview with someone who can speak to your topic with specific personal knowledge. Â Another is to incorporate your interview throughout your paper as you explore
your topic. Â The research part of the paper will require citing at least two sources and at least one of them must be a primary source (an excerpt from a document,
political speech, whatever). Â The other may be another primary source, or a secondary source. Â A citations page will therefore be necessary. Â For reference, please
read the handout posted about writing an Oral History paper, as well as some examples posted. Â
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Oral History handout (file #1) : is the fully detailed instruction for the paper
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The rest of three attachment(file#2,3,4) are the examples.
Please chat with me if you read the whole instruction, which is file#1
Oral History
What this handout is about
This handout will help you figure out how to use oral histories in essays. It will give you suggestions for how to
prepare for and conduct oral history interviews and help you determine, based on your context and purpose,
how to integrate raw material into your essay.
Introduction
If we aren’t experts on a particular time or culture, our knowledge of it is often limited to major events and
sweeping trends. This doesn’t necessarily help us understand the everyday experience of life in the past or in
another culture. However, we do know a great deal about everyday experience in our own time and culture, and
a large part of that knowledge comes not from textbooks but from talking to others. We learn about the
histories of our families through conversation with those who remember them and about what various cultures
value by observing their celebrations and listening to their music, among other things. So if you want to learn
about another culture, country, era, etc., why not use a version of this strategy and talk to people who are or
were part of it about their experiences and memories?
Oral history involves interviewing a person or group to get an inside perspective into what it was like to live in a
particular time or is like to live as the member of a particular group within a society. Interviewing a group of
people can create a picture of that experience, and a large project of this kind (such as UNC’s Southern Oral
History Project) can be a way of preserving a piece of history. When we interview one person, we gain
knowledge of an individual’s experiences, which may or may not be typical of his or her time and culture. We
can also learn more about the experiences of groups from all sections of society, including the ones whose
experience is not always thoroughly known or well documented, such as the working class, ethnic or religious
minorities, or women.
When professors use oral history projects in classes, they usually ask you to interview only one or two people.
The interview stage of the process requires effective question-making and interviewing skills. Usually, the
project consists of taking raw material from an interview and shaping it into an essay. This step requires you to
make some decisions about how you want to present the material and analytical skill to help you interpret what
you learn.
History: Historians use evidence to understand the experiences of people in the past. Oral history can be a
valuable source of evidence for understanding the experiences of individuals or groups within a certain
historical period. Oral testimony cannot replace analysis of traditional historical materials (official documents,
letters, newspapers, secondary sources, etc.). It can, however, reveal the role of individuals in shaping the past
and/or how larger trends impacted the individual. When an oral history essay places the experiences of an
individual within the context of a historical period, it can help illuminate both the individual’s experience and
the historical period.
Preparing for the interview
Before the interview, familiarize yourself with the history and characteristics of the culture your interviewee is
from. That way, you’ll have a context for what you learn. Some interviews may be fairly unstructured, with only
general guidance from you. For instance, you may just choose some topics to discuss, allowing the interviewee
to lead the way. This is appropriate when your goal is relatively broad, such as the preservation of the person’s
voice, memories, and perspective, as opposed to using the interview to construct a focused argument.
Some interviews are more highly structured and take the shape of a list of questions and responses. This is
especially useful when you hope to use the raw material of the interview to make a particular point or are
looking to address very focused issues. If you are planning a more structured interview, prepare a list of
questions, including some basic ones about aspects of the person’s identity (such as age, level of education, and
occupation). In devising your questions, consider the interviewee’s cultural context. Think about what kinds of
issues would be most helpful for you to learn about. For instance, learning how the person felt about major life
events might help you understand how your interviewee sees his or her life as a whole. Questions about what it
was actually like to live through segregation or the Vietnam War might give you a new perspective on a
historical time period. As you ask your questions, work from your list, but be ready to ask follow-up questions
in case you don’t understand the response or want to know more.
A response to one of your questions may also trigger curiosity about some other issue, so it’s good to
be ready
to follow whatever path seems most promising. Include open-ended questions, especially “how” and “why”
questions, as they will probably yield the richest raw material for your essay; asking yes/no questions is okay
for gathering factual information. Ask for examples when you think it would help you (and the readers of your
essay) understand the person’s perspective.
Conducting the interview
To conduct the interviewing process in an ethical way, ask the person’s permission to use his/her comments in
your essay; written consent is ideal so you have a record of it. If you are recording a phone conversation, the
interviewee’s written consent is required by law. Ask if the interviewee would prefer that you not use his or her
actual name. Tape record the interview if possible. If you try to work only from notes, you won’t have an exact
record of the person’s comments and could end up distorting their meaning. Test your tape recorder, digital
voice recorder, or video camera ahead of time and bring extra batteries if necessary. If you’re recording, try to
minimize background noise. In any interview setting, try to select an environment free from distractions, so
that both you and the interviewee will be able to concentrate. Choose a spot where you will both feel
comfortable. Silence will feel awkward at first, but give your interviewee a chance to think. Don’t move on too
quickly just because there is a bit of a pause. Watch for signs of fatigue. If the person you’re interviewing begins
to seem tired, take a break or set up another time to finish the interview. Treat the person you’re interviewing
with respect, regardless of your own attitudes and opinions. Making assumptions about the person may
damage trust and skew the essay you write.
Transcribing oral histories
Sometimes, you may be asked to transcribe your oral history interview or part of it. Transcription is the process
of taking a sound file and translating it to text; it creates a written transcript of an oral conversation. One of the
goals of transcribing interviews is to give readers a sense of the interview—how was it formatted, was it formal
or informal, did the interviewer ask a lot of questions or did the interview subject do most of the talking with
just a few prompts, what language and speaking style did the participants use?
A transcript of an oral history interview is, in the words of one style guide, “at best an imperfect representation
of an oral interview. The transcriber’s most important task is to render as close a replica to the actual event as
possible. Accuracy, not speed, is the transcriber’s goal” (Baylor Style Guide). Therefore, the transcript should
reflect, as closely as possible, the words, speech patterns, and thought patterns of the interview subject. His or
her word choice, grammar, and ideas should be transcribed as accurately as possible. It’s not generally
necessary, though, to reproduce a dialect or accent, unless you have specific training in doing so. The same
style guide says, “Oral history is not an exercise in literary composition; the transcriber should avoid value
judgments about the grammar or vocabulary of an interviewee.”
Transcribing can be a long and very detailed process. It will be easiest if you take detailed notes during the
interview about the different questions, topics, and themes that you discuss. Write down any memorable
phrases or ideas, so you have some markers for different points in the interview. You will need to listen to the
entire portion of the interview to be transcribed several times. Many people find it helpful to listen all the way
through a section once, then again, transcribing as much as possible, then a third (or fourth, or fifth!) time in
order to fill in all the holes. At the end of this handout, you will find some websites that detail how to transcribe
an oral history interview.
When you have a complete transcript, it is common practice to return it to the interviewee for editing—these
changes can be noted in various ways or integrated into the document. Interviewees may need to correct things
like dates, names, or places. Or they may want to provide more elaboration or clarification on a subject.
Turning the raw material into an essay
The process you use will depend on what you want your essay to do. If, for instance, you want your essay
merely to showcase an individual’s thoughts on a time or subject, you will simply need to frame the comments
of the interviewee and shape them into a narrative. If, on the other hand, your intention is to interpret the
interviewee’s comments, using them as evidence for an argument, you will need to make a strong argument
while still letting the interviewee’s experience and insights come through. Your essay might use the
interviewee’s comments to advance an alternate interpretation of a historical time or culture, confirm a
commonly held characterization, or enrich an existing view.
Because oral history papers can vary a great deal according to their aims, make sure to develop a clear
sense of
your purpose. Place the individual’s experiences and/or perspective within a larger historical or social context.
You may also wish to use the individual’s experiences and/or perspective to make an argument about a larger
historical or social context.
What should you say about the interviewee’s comments?
Analyze the responses to your questions and what they illustrate about their historical or social context. You
might consider how your interviewee’s identity (his or her class, gender, and ethnicity, for instance) relates to
the nature of the interviewee’s experience or perspective. For this kind of essay, you’ll need an analytical thesis
statement, a plan for how to organize the subtopics that demonstrate your thesis, analysis/interpretation of the
interviewee’s comments, and a conclusion that draws your analysis together.
How should you structure your essay?
Your introduction should contain and explain a thesis statement that makes a claim about the nature of the
historical or social context. Organizing the body paragraphs by topic may be an effective way of explaining how
the individual’s experiences fit into the broader historical or social context.
How should you present quotes and use paraphrases?
You’ll provide framing phrases as in the previous case, but you’ll also need to include your explanation of the
significance of the quotes. A good general guideline is to include at least as much explanation of the quote as
the quote is long. Paraphrases are helpful when you need just the content of the comment to make your point—
that is, when the language the interviewee uses is not the primary issue. If you’re writing an analytical or
argumentative essay, a mixture of paraphrases and quotes will probably serve your purpose best.
Should you read and/or incorporate secondary sources?
Whether or not you need to use secondary sources is partially a matter of what the assignment calls for. But if
the assignment doesn’t specify, you’ll probably need to read and perhaps refer explicitly to some secondary
sources so that you will have the necessary evidence to create a picture of the broader historical or social
context.
Example
Here is an example of how you might handle one of your interviewee’s comments within the body of the essay.
Suppose that your paper is for a women’s studies project in which your instructor has asked you to interview a
female family member; you have chosen to interview your grandmother, Lucretia. Suppose that you asked the
following question: “How free did you feel in terms of choosing your jobs? If you felt limited, why do you think
that might have been?”
If you want to place the responses in their social context, you will need to integrate the quotes into text, paired
with either the questions themselves or paraphrases, along with some analysis of how the individual’s
experiences fit into his or her social context. You may even include some references to secondary sources,
depending on the assignment and your own sense of whether they would strengthen your analysis:
Lucretia describes feeling limited in terms of her occupational life: “I have always been good at organizing
things and getting along with people, so that made it easy for me to find receptionist jobs. But in those times,
you didn’t see women executives. That was just how things were; people simply didn’t consider women for
those jobs.” Her account reveals a sense of how fixed gender roles were in the workplace and seems fairly
typical for the time and place, as feminist historian Tammy Ixplox’s scholarship suggests (Ixplox 39).
If you want your essay to use the individual’s experiences and/or perspective to make an argument
about a larger historical or social context, consider the following questions and responses.
What should you say about the interviewee’s comments?
Use the interviewee’s comments as evidence for an argument you want to make about a particular historical or
social context. For instance, you might want to argue that working-class women’s experience in 1950s America
does not necessarily fit with popularly-held notions of the fifties housewife. Or you might want to show how
racism affected one African-American man’s everyday life to demonstrate how insidious racism can be. For
these kinds of essays, you may need some supporting research to get a better sense of the historical and social
context, so you’ll understand how the individual’s experience relates to broader cultural trends and
phenomena. In terms of what the essay will look like, you’ll need a thesis that makes a claim, an organizational
plan that reflects the main points you think will best
support that thesis, lots of explanation of how the
interviewee’s comments illustrate the thesis, and a conclusion that draws your argument together.
How should you structure your essay?
You’ll need an introduction with a strong, interpretive thesis statement that the body of the essay explains and
demonstrates. The interviewee’s comments will function as evidence for your argument, so each body
paragraph should correspond to a point in your argument.
How should you present quotes and use paraphrases?
You’ll provide framing phrases as in the previous case, but you’ll also need to include your explanation of the
significance of the quotes. A good rule of thumb is to include at least as much explanation of the quote as the
quote is long. Paraphrases are helpful when you need just the content of the comment to make your point—that
is, when the language the interviewee uses is not the primary issue. If you’re writing an analytical or
argumentative essay, a mixture of paraphrases and quotes will probably serve your purpose best.
Should you read and/or incorporate secondary sources?
Whether or not you need to use secondary sources is partially a matter of what the assignment calls for. But if
the assignment doesn’t specify, you’ll probably need to read and incorporate some secondary sources to
complement or provide a counterpoint to the interviewee’s comments and to support your claims about the
larger historical or social context.
Example
Here is an example of how you might handle one of your interviewee’s comments within the body of the essay.
Suppose that your paper is for a women’s studies project in which your instructor has asked you to interview a
female family member; you have chosen to interview your grandmother, Lucretia. Suppose that you asked the
following question: “How free did you feel in terms of choosing your jobs? If you felt limited, why do you think
that might have been?”
To make an argument, for example, about how the interviewee’s responses reflect gender issues and roles, you
will need to integrate the quotes into your text as evidence for your argument about gender roles, perhaps with
reference to secondary sources if appropriate:
Lucretia’s experiences reveal gender roles in the workplace, in which men tended to fill the executive positions
and women the less prestigious ones. She describes feeling limited in terms of her occupational life: “I have
always been good at organizing things and getting along with people, so that made it easy for me to find
receptionist jobs. But in those times, you didn’t see women executives. That was just how things were; people
simply didn’t consider women for those jobs.” In her experience, no one questioned these roles, which reveals
how ingrained and even internalized social expectations for men and women were at the time. This
phenomenon is consistent with feminist historian Tammy Ixplox’s scholarship on this cultural context (Ixplox
39).
Relevant websites
Baylor Oral History Institute, “Transcribing Style Guide” (this website has an extensive style guide about the
purpose for transcription and about how to
handle various types of speech.):
http://www3.baylor.edu/Oral_History/Styleguiderev.htm
Library of Congress, Veterans History Project, “Indexing and Transcribing Your Interviews”:
http://www.loc.gov/vets/transcribe.html
Making Sense of Oral History (includes a section on interpreting oral history and a sample interpretation):
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/
Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History (this is geared towards large oral history projQects, but it makes points that
are relevant to a smaller project, such as
when you only interview one person):
http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html
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African Americans in Corporate America
Fifty–one years after the 1964 Civil Rights Act which banned employment discrimination based upon
race; there is still a need for laws to ensure that those who have been historically excluded from
obtaining jobs and promotions in the top Fortune 500 American companies get a fair chance to do so.
Although African Americans over the past fifty-one years have made progress in obtaining positions and
even in joining the ranks of managers and professionals in Corporate America, there is still a ways to go
to ensuring that once entering these employees are put on a path to advance from lower paying entry
level positions to higher paying management and executive level positions. Without this path, many
private sector companies fail to retain African American employees.
According to statistics obtained by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity commission, African
Americans hold 8.3% of management, professional and related occupations whereas Whites hold 78.3%.
Whites hold 91.1% of Corporate Officer positions whereas African Americans hold 2.6%. Although
African Americans make up 14.2% of the U.S. population, the unemployment rate for African Americans
in 16.1% vs. 8.7% for Whites, 12.4% for Latinos, and 6.4% for Asians. Jillian Berman of the Huffington
Post reports that of all U.S. Fortune 500 companies, less than one percent of these companies have
African American CEOs (four people) despite the fact that African Americans make up 14.2% of the U.S.
population.
The lack of diversity at the Director level, exclusionary practices and cultures as well as outright racial
bias are contributing factors to these sobering statistics. Dr. Kevin Stainback, a Sociologist for the
University of Massachusetts, responded on this subject as reported by Joi Preciphs of the Wall Street
Journal saying:
Racial bias becomes more of a problem as people advance-partly because promotions tend to
be based on more-subjective criteria, rather than on the kind of rigid guidelines used for, say,
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technical jobs. Management positions are less likely to have rigid guidelines regarding necessary
education and skills. Access to management positions is probably more about “who you know”
compared to professional positions, and unfortunately, sex and race continue to be important
status distinctions in private-sector workplaces”.
In many instances in Corporate America, the top decision makers (Whites) make decisions based upon
individuals that they are familiar and comfortable with. African Americans in this situation find
themselves having to assimilate into environments with cultures unfamiliar to them and meeting
expectations that are many times based upon stereotypes assigned to them by Whites. Below are just a
few examples of this phenomenon taken from the ReturnToGlory.org’s list of 20 Ways to Know You’re
Black in Corporate America:
• Being seen with other African American colleagues at lunch and later being asked “What was
that meeting all about?”
• After a staff meeting, the boss suggests, “you need to work at making others more comfortable
with you…why don’t you smile more often?”
• Being told you are decreasing your effectiveness with your aggressive style.
• Being told you are “rough around the edges” despite your completion of many professional
development programs and it is suggested you emulate the behavior of a White colleague.
• Continually getting more responsibility but no authority.
• While receiving an achievement award, the corporation’s top executive exclaims, “Yo homeboy,
congratulations”.
After enduring these types of situations, many African American employees are still denied promotions
and access to higher positions. The response at that point is to either leave the company and pursue a
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higher position elsewhere or stay and be labeled as “angry”; thereby ensuring that promotions in the
future will not be available.
I have asked a friend of mine for a couple of years, Phillip Nelson to give his perspective on being Black
in Corporate America. Phillip is a 54 year old African American who has spent 30 years working for
various companies in Corporate America. He currently serves as General Manager for Houston Fearless
76 Inc., a military contractor. Prior to that, he has worked in various capacities for many well known
American companies including Kaiser Permanente, Bristol-Myers Squibb, McKesson, The Quaker Oats
Company, PepsiCo, A. J. Heinz, Del Monte, New World Pasta, and Safcol, Inc. The following interview
supports the points made previously:
Chris: I would like to talk with you about your experiences working in Corporate America as a Black
man; but before doing so get some insight on your background and experiences that led you to a career
in Corporate America. Can you tell me about your childhood and early education?
Phillip: I was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and was the seventh of nine children born to my
parents. My childhood was great. Although my family lived in project housing and was considered poor
by today’s standards, I never felt poor as I got everything I wanted as a kid and quite honestly our family
was usually the first to obtain new things compared to other families where I lived. I was always teased
by my older siblings that it took me longer than normal to begin talking as a baby but when I did start, I
would not shut up (he laughs). I had the ability to read long before I entered school and this was
considered a “gift” as well as a source of pride for my parents but at the same time, I think it kind of
freaked them out as well. I remember often riding in the car with my parents and they would ask me to
read street signs and when I did, they would look at each other in amazement. As time went by, I would
be asked to read in front of my parents’ friends and somehow the idea came up that I should go to a
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school for “gifted children”. My father would have no part of that as he wanted all of his children to be
together. The matter was settled, I would go to regular school like my other siblings.
Chris: How did your siblings react to your “gift”? Did any of them have the same “gift”?
Phillip: None of my other siblings had the same ability. I think they went out of their way to keep me
grounded by constantly reminding me that I was no better than anyone else. I’m sure they didn’t enjoy
the extra attention given to me but they made things even by pointing out the things I could not do as
well as they.
Chris: When you did go to school, how did this “gift” separate you from the average child in your grade
school class and did it eventually warrant you going to a school for gifted children?
Phillip: When I did go to school, I remember being in Kindergarten for about a week. One day, my
teacher asked me how old I was (six) and asked me to read a book in front of the class. I read the book
and later that afternoon, I was taken to a new classroom – the second grade. From that point, I was
always the youngest kid in my class and the recipient of the name calling and teasing which
accompanies the resentment and jealousy of the other children. Fortunately for me, I had four other
siblings attending the same school, thanks to my father. Needless to say, the name calling and teasing
stopped. From grades 2-6, I was taught on a separate track from my classmates as I was usually further
ahead. This made teaching the entire class more difficult for my teachers and as a result, my parents
were advised many times during these years to send me to a school for “gifted” children. Each time, my
father said no. Finally toward the end of my sixth grade year, my mother was called into the school by
the principal and was told of an opportunity to send me to a private school in the suburbs that educated
the city’s elite children. After that meeting, my mother overruled my father and I attended this private
school from grades 7-12.
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Chris: When you made it to college, what influenced you to choose your major?
Phillip: Because I went to a private school, I was groomed to believe that going to college was an
expectation not an option. My parents had high school diplomas so although they were satisfied with
my completing high school, going to college was icing on the cake. During my private school years, I
developed a love of foreign languages so I initially wanted a career as an interpreter, perhaps working
for the United Nations. I discovered however that the United Nations only hired native speakers as
interpreters so I decided to pursue a field of study that had the most impact on everyday people. I chose
to pursue a degree in Business Administration.
Chris: When you landed your first job in Corporate America, do you think it was because of the
Affirmative Action laws in place or because of the skills and or education you brought to the table?
Phillip: I learned long ago to accept any benefits associated with being African American as I have
always had to accept the burdens and stereotypes that go with the association. I really don’t know what
role Affirmative Action played in my securing my first job in Corporate America; I suspect it had a role
because the position involved sales in predominately African American areas of the city. Throughout my
career, I have found that many Whites assumed that my presence or promotion was due to Affirmative
Action. However, I know that my education and skills were equal to if not better than most of my White
counterparts.
Chris: What were some of the challenges you faced being Black in Corporate America?
Phillip: For me, the biggest challenges were not associated with getting hired but with getting promoted
within the companies once hired. I am referring to that “glass ceiling”. It was my experience that the
higher the position sought; the more subjective the criteria were to secure the position. In one example,
I had come into a company as a Regional Sales Manager and inherited the accounts that my White
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counterpart didn’t want. During the first year, I achieved 116% of my volume objective for my Region
whereas my counterpart failed to achieve his volume objective (he achieved 90% of his objective). My
counterpart was promoted and I was told that I had to duplicate the success I had that year during the
following year in order to be considered for promotion. With that criterion in mind, how could my
White counterpart be promoted after failing to meet his volume objective? In another example, I was
being considered for a promotion after a successful year and told that in order to go to the next
position; I would have to relocate to Chicago. I later found out that a White counterpart within my office
that was less experienced than I was not only given a promotion for a position that was not posted for
anyone else to interview for but also got to stay local. Why wasn’t I given the opportunity to secure this
position; especially after a successful year? I wish that I could conclude that I was the only person facing
these types of challenges. My wife was being considered for a promotion within an Aerospace company
and was literally sent home to retrieve her diploma to prove that she had a college degree. The funny
thing about that was that neither her boss nor his boss had a college degree; yet they were using this as
a criterion for her promotion.
Chris: What other type of challenges did you encounter as a Black man in Corporate America?
Phillip: Unfortunately, there are too many to list so I will stick to generalities. Outside of the glass
ceiling, my biggest complaint would be the different standards African Americans in Corporate America
are held to. These standards lead to the subjective criterion mentioned earlier when it comes time to
consider these candidates for promotion. For example, when my White counterparts were passionate
about an opinion or a position in meetings it was viewed positively by upper managers and those
expressing these opinions or taking certain positions were labeled tenacious. When I and other African
Americans were similarly passionate, it was viewed negatively and we were labeled as aggressive. In
another example, if I were talking to two or more African Americans, it was perceived by many Whites
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that we were holding a meeting; even if we were talking amidst a sea of Whites. This perception also
wore off on some African Americans at higher levels. At one company, I had a meeting with another
African American manager and when I closed the door to his office, he sprung up and practically leaped
over his desk to re-open his office door saying “ You know what these people (Whites) will think if we
meet behind closed doors!” This same manager never spent more than five minutes speaking with
other African Americans at meetings or other Company functions out of concern for this perception.
Chris: When you did secure higher positions, to what degree of respect did you receive from your
subordinates?
Phillip: For the most part, I received the appropriate amount of respect from subordinates; primarily
because I was their boss and I led by example. As I mentioned earlier, throughout my career I have
encountered Whites that assumed that I was a beneficiary of Affirmative Action and therefore was less
qualified. The periods of time where I managed other people were no exception. At one company, I had
gone out to a sales call with one of my subordinates and throughout the call; it became apparent
through the questions and the body language of the customer that the customer thought that my
subordinate was my boss instead of the other way around. The funny thing was that my subordinate did
nothing to correct this assumption, so I had to correct it myself. Believe me, it was a long ride back to
the office for that subordinate. I generally felt a great deal of pressure when achieving higher positions
because I was usually the first African American to secure the positions and felt that there was little
room for error. If I failed, I was concerned that there would be hesitation to hire another African
American in that position.
Chris: Have you ever been asked to train a White new hire only to have that same person become your
boss?
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Phillip: I was never asked to train a new hire who eventually became my boss but I was asked to train a
subordinate who was eventually promoted to my level and a manager with no experience with a
particular customer who did become my boss. In the first instance, my boss had taken a liking to one of
my subordinates because he reminded my boss of himself when he was younger (another one of those
subjective criterion used to benefit Whites). I was a seasoned veteran at this point and didn’t care about
any consequences when I refused to train the subordinate on the grounds that I received no training
when I had the same position. My boss promoted him anyway. The second instance involved the
management of the Company’s largest account which was my sole responsibility for three years despite
the fact that there were three people managing a smaller account across town. When I pointed out the
disparity of personnel between these customers, the Vice President of my Division decided to send a
manager from Corporate who had never stepped foot into the account and hadn’t called on a customer
in nine (9) years to be my boss managing the customer. To add insult to injury, I was asked to train this
manager. I taught him everything he knew but not everything I knew about the customer. I had decided
at this point that it was time for me to take my skills and capabilities (along with the company paid MBA)
elsewhere (he laughs).
Chris: Have your White co-workers ever asked questions or made comments or jokes about your hair
and or your skin color, lips, nose, etc.?
Phillip: I can’t say that I have had this situation occur; at least not to my face. I did however have a boss
at one company as a joke present to me a “Black” job application given to her by her boyfriend filled
with stereotypical and racist language. She actually thought it was funny and that I wouldn’t take
offense to it. Of course I did and you should have seen the look of astonishment on her face when I told
her that this “joke” was perfect for a harassment lawsuit. Our relationship was never the same.
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Chris: If you had ideas that indeed may help the company do better in their endeavors, how were they
received by your bosses or higher ups?
Phillip: Simply put, my ideas and many of my successes were downplayed compared to those of my
White counterparts. One instance comes to mind as I recall a particularly successful event at one of the
companies I worked for involving its largest customer. I was able to secure displays of the company’s
products in over 400 retail locations and obtain incremental shelf space of the same products. When my
boss alerted his boss (the VP) of this success, the VP sent me an email copying my boss saying “good
job.” When my White counterpart had a similar success in half as many stores, this same VP sent out an
email copying all Directors and the President of the Company emphasizing that others should follow the
example of my counterpart.
Chris: You have worked for several companies in Corporate America. Why did you switch jobs so
often?
Phillip: Part of it was because I chose not to relocate my family out of California. I saw no overall
financial gain in having my wife quit her job when the extra money from any promotion did not make up
for that loss. Part of it was because of the glass ceiling and other obstacles presented before me
throughout my career. For me it was better to gain promotions by leaving to other companies than by
fighting an uphill battle. If I were White, it is more likely that I would have been able to stay at any of the
companies I worked for longer and with my education and experience be someone’s Vice President or
even higher.
Chris: Thank you, Mr. Nelson for sharing your valuable time with me and I appreciate your insight into
this matter.
10
Works Cited
The Blackcareerzone.com – Statistics on Blacks and Women in the Workplace
http:/www.blackcareerzone.com/statistics on blacks in the workplace.htm
http:/www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/employment/jobpat-eeol/2008/us/national.html
Berman, Jillian, (2015, January 29 – updated September 2). Soon Not Even 1 Percent of Fortune 500
Companies Will Have Black CEOs. The Huffington Post
http:/www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/black-ceos-fortune-500 n 6572074.html
Preciphs, Joi. (2005, November 14) How African-Americans are faring in corporate America. The Wall
Street Journal, November 14, 2005
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2005/11/14/How-African-Americans-are -fairing-incorporate-America/html
Returntoglory.org. 20 Ways to Know you’re Black in Corporate America
https://ww.freemaninstitute.com/20ways.htm
