Explore Black History

2022

An oral history interview with Mrs. Mattie Payne Morrison Holmes. It consists of a single MOV file (.mov). The interview was captured at her home in Dublin, Virginia, on May 26, 2022, as part of the NMAAHC Collection Donor Oral History Collection. Ms. Holmes donated a collection of objects related to the military service of her father, George Emmett Morrison, Sr., who served in the 367th Infantry, 92nd Division, during World War I.
The interview begins with a discussion of Mrs. Morrison Holmes’s early life in Dublin and her educational experiences in segregated schools in Dublin, Pulaski, and Christiansburg, Virginia. Mrs. Morrison Holmes also recounts how her family lost a portion of their land, including their family home, when a state highway was re-routed through their property. Throughout the interview, Mrs. Morrison Holmes talks about different dimensions of her father’s life: his role in the family, his business activities and status in the community, and his service in World War I. She also talks about the panoramas she donated to the Museum. She discusses her lifelong involvement with her church (first, Mt. Pleasant Methodist, and later, Dublin United Methodist) and her work organizing family reunions. Toward the end of the interview, Mrs. Morrison Holmes reflects on what she would like people to know about her parents and how she would like to be remembered. She also recalls the difficulties she had securing medical care for her son, due to segregation in medical facilities, when she discovered he had polio as a child. In conclusion, Mrs. Morrison Holmes discusses contemporary racial tensions.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

The Collection Donor Oral History Project

Time-based Media - Moving Images

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2024.50.1.1

oral histories
digital media - born digital
sound films
color films (visual works)

© Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

digital

Duration: 59 min., 44 sec.
File size (Total): 36.8 GB

Title • Mattie P. Morrison Holmes Oral History Interview

nmaahc_2024.50.1.1

NMAAHC

MATTIE P. MORRISON HOLMES ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1920s • 2020s • 1914-1918

Morrison, George • Dublin United Methodist Church • Morrison, George Emmett • 367th Infantry Regiment • Hutcherson, Trudy • Ku Klux Klan, 2nd • Morrison Holmes, Mattie Payne • Holmes, Brenda • Christiansburg Industrial Institute • Navies, Kelly Elaine • Calfee Training School • National Museum of African American History and Culture • Ku Klux Klan, 3rd • West Dublin Colored School • Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church

United States • North and Central America • Montgomery County • Dublin • Virginia • Christiansburg • Pulaski County

White supremacy movements • WW I • World War, 1914-1918 • Segregation • Religion • Methodist • Housing • American South • Discrimination • Education • Race • Family • Civil rights • Motherhood • Fatherhood • Race relations

City • Dublin • County • Pulaski County • State • Virginia • Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America • City • Pulaski • City • Christiansburg • County • Montgomery County

color films (visual works) • digital media - born digital • Oral histories (document genres) • sound films • Interviews

Copyright Owned