Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History

History 62

Oral History Project

Professor Jacqelyn Hall

TA: Sonya Ramsey

Tape Log

Fieldworker: Shannon Biggs

Interviewee: Jackie Kane

Mono:X Stereo: No. of Sides: 1 No. of Tapes: 1

Location: Mrs. Kane's home in Burlington, North Carolina

Topic: An oral history of Jackie Kane, of Burlington, North

Carolina, teacher, mother, grandmother, councilmember for

the ruling body and co-founder of New Mission Church.

Comments: All information is summarized except for words in

quotes(these are the words verbatim from Mrs. Kane)

Tape Index

Side A

001

004

Opening announcement

Interview begins

birthplace

Childhood:

Parents' education in relation to their way of

motivating their children

Relationship to parents: father's character,

mother and their different worlds

Relationship to grandparents: Never knew

maternal grandmother and remet grandfather

when she was sixteen. Her paternal grandmother

died when Jackie was six years old. She

remembers her grandmother's quilting frame and

Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill.

the time she went fishing with her

grandparents.

On remembering the Sunday outings to

grandfather's house.

On Aunt Louise as her positive

influence. Her Aunt was divorced with a

high school education and a ten year old son

and still managed to make a life for herself.

On her 6th and 8th grade teachers as role

models and what it was about them that made

her consider them to be role models. The 6th

grade teacher encouraged her to read, chose

her for patrol and boosted her self esteem

The 8th grade teacher fostered her creativity,

and realized the type of family Jackie was

coming from.

High School Experience: on class division in

Burlington

About being academically with the "in crowd"

Determined, motivated to prove herself

College Life: During the sixties. About her

full scholarship, teaching fellowship to

Appalachian State University. She was in love

with a man in Burlington, so she moved home,

got married and lost some of her scholarships

but not the teaching fellowship. She had to

work to get through school so did not

participate in protests

On having her first child as a senior

Career: On her twenty-six years as a teacher

On why she became a teacher: oldest of four

Her mother kept children so Jackie babysat

On going to church and having to make her

sisters behave

On her involvement in youth groups

On her idea that teaching would be a good

supplementary income to her husband's

On how teaching has changed over the years.

The children and their parents behavioral and


attitudinal changes

On the pressures from the state of NC, the

emphasis on testing, expectations of admini

strators

"Nobody will hear me." On her fear that we'll

turn out more illiterate children. "Testing is

not the answer."

On how she and her colleagues attend lots of

meetings

Her advice to young women who may be entering

the teaching profession

On her feelings of how she impacts the lives of

her students. Have the potential to do

something for each child

On her belief that it is crucial to instill in

her low income kids that an education is their

way to a better life.

On her meeting a former student in a restaurant

On how she spends many nights worrying about

her students

On the small rewards of teaching. "The one

that you've had to be the roughest on is the

one that will come back to see you and to share

things with you."

Church/Community Work: Examples of things she's

done. She has sang in the choir since the age

of fourteen. As a teenager she collected money

for the needy and for the church. As an adult

she has worked with the youth groups and taught

Sunday school.

On how she went to the same church since her

childhood until five years ago. A group

and she split and formed a new church.

On starting the new church and the conflict

with the old church

On fundraising to earn money for new church

On hiring a minister and the growth of the

church. Problems with the new minister and the

second split in the church. "Once again I found

myself going through a split in a church."


c-m

On how she stopped going to church for four

months after attending regularly all her life

On realization that the minister was destroying

the church and how she and others got up a

petition. He finally resigned but took half of

the church with him.

On how they were left with a huge mortgage and

a small congregation. Back to fundraising.

On how she organized the fundraising and the

forming of the new church. Was a council member

on the board to organize this new church.

On her being on the council that picked an

interim minister and her negotiations with the

mortgage holders who held the church building.

On the importance of the choir to this newly

forming church- "backbone of the church"

On the fact that after two years since the

second split she and the others in the church

are beginning to participate in activities

that support the community once again.

On her husband and his involvement on the

ministerial search committee. Her husband taped

interviews with the possible candidates and she

listened to the tapes and helped him by giving

her input. "So I basically lived that with

him. "

On the securing and installation of a new

minister finally after two years(Nov. 27 in the

church)

On the daycare that has helped her church

survive and her involvement in the starting of

this active daycare center. "I was in on the

ground work of helping to start that."

On her membership on the committee that formed

the daycare and researched possible workers.

And on the fact that the daycare has grown to

capacity of sixty kids.

On her doing the children's sermon every Sunday

morning.

On the emotional experience of installing the

new minister. "He gave us hope that if we all


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work together we can actually make this church

the viable part of the community that we

envisioned it would be when it was started."

On the name of the church and the reasoning

behind that name, and the high hopes for its

future. "It's name is New Mission. And that was

the whole idea of it being a 'new mission1 in

that particular area of town."

Her philosophy on why the church is such a

dominant part of her life.

On the overwhelmingness of career and church

that sometimes occurs. "I'm happier doing what

I do. "It's too much a part of my life."

On her life with her first husband who was an

alcoholic and how the church gave her direction

in life after she divorced this man and was

left to raise two small children.

On what she would have done differently in her

life if she could have.


Documents

Interview number G-0118 in the Southern Oral History