DARE Interview : Brooklyn, Connecticut; Primary Informant CT020

Goldberg, David

1969

Informant Data:
CT020: Black; female; age: 82 (old); education: college; community type: village
Media Files:
Arthur the Rat. Speaker: CT020 (4:38) [Frequent loud road noise]
Full Interview 1 (Tape 0209-S1).
Content:
00:15 Tells of Miss Prudence Crandall's private school for Blacks in 1832, and town resistance
05:20 School cut off from supplies by ostracism, well poisoned, teacher's house destroyed
08:40 Miss Crandall moves West (with husband?). Pension from town years later
11:25 Black education in early 19th century. Talking to people who knew Miss Crandall
15:00 Her work as historian of Miss Crandall, interviewing acquaintances and tracing places she lived
19:15 Miss Crandall a spiritualist, Informant's interaction with other spiritualists
24:30 Psychic experiences, dead sister helps her to find a cave when she needs one
27:10 Her Indian blood, uncertainty about whether psychic power comes from God or devil
30:10 Danger of wishing ill on others, of black magic
32:20 Tape end
Full Interview 2 (Tape 0209-S2).
Content:
00:10 Use of psychic power, man protecting house with magic powder and wishing a judge dead
03:35 Father was a slave, came north with Union Army. Grandmother was an Indian
06:50 Role of faith in her life; asking cat for food and it comes
10:50 Power of animals, time she was attacked by a pack of dogs
15:50 Arthur the Rat
20:40 Family uncomfortable with Indian heritage, so she doesn't know what tribe she is
24:30 Stories of her grandmother's
27:35 Cheated by her lawyer out of compensation after dog attack
30:00 Story of an adulterer shunned in strict church
32:30 Tape end