Penn Valley Community College

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 Lydia Rocha Estevez about her life and Kansas City's Westside neighborhood. Born in 1919, she recalls living within a few blocks in the Westside neighborhood for over 50 years, memories of school and social activities from her youth, protesting public swimming pool segregation, the poor condition of Adams School, which served the predominantly Mexican Westside neighborhood, and being punished for speaking Spanish at school. She also discusses working with her father and brother in wheat fields during the Great Depression, working as a B-25 bomber riveter during World War II, moving away from Kansas City with her husband's job in the foreign service, and working at the Kansas City Public Library and Penn Valley Community College after their return to the area. She notes that her son, Richard Estevez, was principal of Douglass School at the time of her interview.

Interview with Manuela "Nellie" Cruz Lozano about her life in Kansas City's Westside neighborhood. She recalls people and businesses that populated the neighborhood during her youth, her parents' immigration to Kansas City from Mexico, and the stress of attending English language school after being raised in a Spanish-speaking home. She also shares memories of the 1951 flood, raising her family, furthering her education, working at an area daycare, and dancing at local fiestas.

Interview with Catherine Reyes about her life and experience in Kansas City's Westside neighborhood. Born in 1931, she recalls her early life and education in Mexico City after being born in Independence, Kansas, their struggles during the Great Depression, her realization that she was a foreigner in Mexico, and moving to Kansas City on her own at the age of 17. She discusses working as an inspector and seamstress in a garment factory, marrying and raising children, being joined in Kansas City by her brother and mother, continuing to learn English, and going to work in the bilingual education program with Kansas City Public Schools.