Manual High School

Interview with educator and community leader Dr. Girard T. Bryant. Bryant discusses his childhood and early education in St. Louis, his career as an educator at Western Baptist College, Kansas City Junior College, several Kansas City high schools, and in Thailand, before becoming the president of Penn Valley Community College. Bryant also discusses his involvement in organizations including the YMCA, the Urban League, the Beau Brummell Club, and various church and hospital boards, as well as his travels and his assessments of contemporary politics and religious issues. Bryant's wife Louise also offers thoughts and recollections.

Interview with educator Daisy Hoskins Young about growing up near Waldron, Missouri, and later in Parkville, Missouri. She recalls daily life in Parkville, her family's history dating back to enslavement, and her family's experience with Parkville's Banneker School and Park College. She also discusses her high school education in Kansas City, obtaining bachelors and masters degrees, and her memories of the 18th and Vine neighborhood. Young also describes her work with the Platte County Historical Society and Banneker School Foundation, and the area's Black history.

Interview with Harry Brown about his family, childhood, and education in Kansas City, Missouri, working for the William Volker Company, and later being joining the civilian war effort by working for North American Aviation and Technicraft assembling and inspecting aircraft and aircraft components at their Fairfax Airport facilities. Mechanical aspects of the job and test flights are discussed in detail. He also discusses his day-to-day life as an adult, his rejection from the draft, and the 1951 Flood.

Interview with LeRoy Gore about his career in the Merchant Marines during World War II. He discusses growing up in Independence, MO, going to bootcamp in Florida, and then shipping out to Africa and Europe on the liberty ship George Taylor (and later John Hathorn), from which they transported aircrafts, munitions, and other supplies to ports throughout the Mediterranean. He discusses aspects of the ships and cargo, attacks from submarine torpedos and airplanes, visiting Naples and Pompeii while in port, and bringing German and Italian prisoners of war back to the United States, with some going to Camp Clark in Nevada, MO. Gore also discusses leaving the Merchant Marines in 1944, meeting his wife, his later work at Standard Oil and DIT-MCO, and his family.

Interview with Jessie Garcia Nieto about her parents' immigration to Kansas City from Mexico via Texas, attending Our Lady of Guadalupe and Manual High schools, her sister and cousins' work in the local garment industry, life in the Westside neighborhood, and her experiences working and raising a family. She also shares memories of Ralph Sifuentes and the accomplishments of her children.

Interview with Geneva Migrone about her life as part of an Italian-American family in the Columbus Park neighborhood. She recalls Black and Jewish neighbors, holidays, life in the neighborhood, and working outside the home after having several children. She discusses her family and members of the community enjoying the Don Bosco Community Center, recalls New Deal relief including WPA jobs, and notes the influx of Vietnamese immigrants in the 1970s and '80s.

Interview with Mary Bustamante, resident of the West Side of Kansas City, Missouri. Bustamante was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 2, 1924. Her parents, Manuel Lopez and Elvira Garcia de Lopez escaped the Mexican Revolution by migrating from San Luis Potosi, Mexico to Texas and then moved permanently to Kansas City. Bustamante attended Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Missouri for elementary school and partially completed her high school education at Manual Training High School. In her later years, Bustamante led Guadalupe Center fiestas from small locations up to a larger event at Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri. She recalls the challenges of creating a kitchen and handling those large scale culinary responsibilities for the fiesta.

Interview with Elizabeth Cipolla about her experience as "Lizzie" the Riveter, building B-25s at the Fairfax plant during World War II, and her husband and other family members' service in Europe during the war. She also discusses making skirts and curtains out of fabric from sugar bags, civil defense practices, rationing, war bonds, and other aspects of life on the homefront, as well growing up in the Northeast area of Kansas City before the war, and her family life after, including a period of time when her husband was hospitalized with what would likely later be understood as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Two-part interview with Esther Rocha about her life and experience in Kansas City's Westside neighborhood. She recalls migrant agricultural and railroad work as motivations for her parents' immigration to the United States, Westside businesses and events, and her family life growing up. She also discusses the history of the Westside prior to it becoming a majority Mexican neighborhood, attending an "open air" elementary school, Guadalupe Center serving as housing for Rockhurst students, limitations on education and housing opportunities for the Mexican community, and not having proof of American citizenship despite being born in Texas. In part two of the interview, Rocha discusses her work with Catholic Charities and Model Cities program, attending college at Penn Valley and Avila, and her plans to retire.