Barbara Barksdale
1952 -
Interview Length: 57 minutes
Interview Date: March 18, 2009
Interview Location: WHBG Channel 20, 223 Walnut Street, Harrisburg, PA
Raised in Steelton, Barbara Barksdale remembers a town where the mom-and-pop shopkeepers knew "who you belonged to." With this came fond memories of exciting bus trips into downtown Harrisburg during the Christmas season in the 1960s. Barksdale started first grade during the inauguration of integration and continued on to higher education. Today, she works for the Department of Public Welfare, Barksdale is also the founder of the Friends of Midland, an organization that is restoring an African American pre-Civil War cemetery in Harrisburg and uncovering a rich history of African-Americans from this area along the way.
- Barbara Barksdale states her name for the record and talks about where she was born.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about her childhood memories in Steelton and segregation.
- Barbara Barksdale describes her parents.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about life after High School.
- Barbara Barksdale describes what Harrisburg was like when she was growing up.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about downtown Steelton.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about the Friends of Midland and Midland Cemetary.
- Barbara Barksdale describes what Midland Cemetary looked like when she began the project.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about the families buried at Midland Cemetary.
- Barbara Barksdale references the Underground Railroad.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about ancestory.
- Barbara Barksdale mentions field trips to Midland Cemetary.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about the impact that some of the people buried at Midland Cemetary had on Harrisburg.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about what surprised her most about the cemetary.
- Barbara Barksdale mentions the Tuskegee Airmen.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about how the cemetery project is supported.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about the African American women buried in the cemetary.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about how many people are buried in the cemetary.
- Barbara Barksdale recalls the flood of 1972.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about the administration of the Midland Cemetary project.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about her most unforgetable memory of Harrisburg.
- Barbara Barksdale talks about salvaging history.
