Frank Wright Oral History Interview

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

An oral history interview with Frank Wright. It consists of a single WAVE file (.wav). Mr. Frank Wright was interviewed by Kelly Elaine Navies on August 19th, 2012, at his daughter’s home in Hebron, Maryland. At the time of the interview, Mr. Wright was 75 years old. The purpose of the interview was to record Mr. Wright’s memories of being a third-generation waterman on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and supplements several objects from the oyster boat of Mr. Wright’s father, Ira Samuel Wright in the NMAAHC collection. The interview begins with Mr. Wright recounting his earliest memories of going out on the oyster boat with his father, Ira Wright. He recalls how he learned to cull, and later, to tong oysters, and he describes a typical day working on the water, including singing spirituals while they worked.

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