Gwen Armstrong

Bernice Bailey

Mary Frances Barber

Julia Barkley

Ruth Barkley

Frances Beasley

Tommie Beasley

Gladys Bolton

Eddie Mae Brownlee

Ester Cannon and Lillian Finley

Betty Cobb

Okatie Crockett

Gladys Davis

Jean Dillard

Mabel Downs

Ruby Dunlap

Nellie Dunn

Brenda Farr

Macy Ferrell

Norma Fields

Lillian Finley and Ester Cannon

Joyce Fitzgerald

Lucille Fitzgerald

Christine Gaines and Earline McCord

Joangelle Henry Gaines

Betty Gammel

Frances Gardner

Elizabeth Gladney

Anne Gregory

Lilian Hampton

Marguarite Henry

Jack Herrington

Samuel Hickman

Frances Hill

Anne Holmes

Cleo Ivy

Betty Inis

Olivia Jefferies

Varnell Kimmons

Martha Kitchens Lamar

Hazel Leaper

Margaret Ledbetter

Marjorie Livingston

Bobbye Ann McCollum

Allen McDaniel

Marie Medlin

Edna Miller

Juanita Murphree

Virginia Lee Nelms

Eloise Newell

Mary Ruth Nolley

Sherra Owen

Mary Patton

Loyce Penson and Joyce Venson

Enoch Purvis

Dale Rakestraw

Donie Rakestraw

Victoria Rakestraw

Robbie Ray

Kate Rogers

Lula Rose

Jessie Talley Sample

Libby Savely

Blanche Smith

Jill Smith

Sarah Betty Smith

Ruth Spencer

Freddy Stone

Miriam Styers

Martha Swain

Ruby Tate

O.G. Thomas

Anna Turner

Joyce Venson and Loyce Penson

Amy Vest

Dorothy Wade

Emma Wade

Annie Williams

Luddie Williamson

Mary Wynn

Betty Yarborough

Welcome.

Dr. Elizabeth Payne, UM Professor of History, and five of her doctoral students have attracted national attention with their groundbreaking research project chronicling the oral histories of older women in North Mississippi. Dr. Payne's director's notes can be found here.

The focus of Making Do is the women who came of age during the World War II era. The subjects recount their experiences with the sharecropping system and race relations, as well as share how the Great Depression and industrialization affected their lives. They come from all economic backgrounds and are both black and white.  The documentary is a valuable oral history in which Southerners born before WWII record for others the joys and hardships of a vanished way of life.  Making Do includes over 75 interviews, photos, brief biographies, and video excerpts. 

The project was supported by the Department of History and the Division of Outreach.