America Works

Kira Fobbs, an elementary school teacher who has devoted her life to teaching 3rd and 4th graders and Special Ed students in the schools of Madison, Wisconsin, is interviewed by folklorist Mark Wagler. Teaching is one of America’s largest professions, yet the voices of classroom teachers are rarely heard. Proud of her own heritage--which includes African American, Swedish and German-Jewish ancestors--she is an innovative, enthusiastic and dedicated teacher. She speaks poignantly about how her personal experiences have helped shape her teaching career.

The respected profession potter Dolores Fortuna, head of Fortuna Pottery in Galena, Illinois, is interviewed in her studio by folklorist Meredith McGriff. Fortuna, whose career includes teaching at the Art Institute of Chicago, talks about how she discovered her love of pottery as a student at University of Chicago. She recalls how she was instrumental in creating cooperative networks and studio spaces for artists in Chicago and Virginia, and how, when she moved to Galena about 20 years ago, she worked with the area’s large community of potters to establish annual “pottery tours.” These tours bring members of the public—who are also potential customers--directly into scores of potters’ studios. She speaks eloquently about what being an artist means to her. As Fortuna speaks, you can hear the gentle hiss of her kiln as it cycles on and off in the background.

Henrietta Ivey, a dedicated home health care professional, is interviewed in her Detroit home by Michigan State gerontologist Clare Luz and her colleague, epidemiologist Khalid Ibrahim, as part of an Archie Green Fellowship documenting the occupational experiences of home healthcare professionals throughout the state of Michigan. Ivey talks about how much she loves her profession and the pride she takes in making it possible for her clients to stay in their own homes safely and with comfort and dignity. She also expresses frustration about the lack of respect and challenging work environments often encountered by home healthcare professionals.

The distinguished architect Roberta Washington, who is the principal (or head) of her own firm, Roberta Washington Architects in New York City, speaks with oral historian and architect Sarah Filkins as part of Filkins’ Archie Green Fellowship to document women architects throughout the United States. Washington traces her career, her involvement in community planning and network building, and her work in designing hospitals, schools, and the African Burial Ground Interpretive Center in lower Manhattan for the National Parks Service. She talks about the challenges she faced as a woman--particularly as an African American woman--in a field that, especially when she started, was overwhelming White and male. She begins this episode by recalling how, as part a junior high school assignment to interview “someone about their job,” her life was changed when she chanced upon a Black professor of architecture, who just happened to be renting her neighbor’s home.

Mario Cervantes, a skilled factory worker who makes the tools that make the planes for Boeing aircraft in Wichita, Kansas, is interviewed by Briana O’Higgins on behalf of the Kansas Humanities Council as part of an American Folklife Center Archie Green Fellowship to document Boeing Aircraft Workers. Shortly before this interview, Boeing--which had been a community mainstay for decades--announced it was permanently closing all its factories, offices and facilities in Wichita. Mr. Cervantes talks about his family’s connection to Boeing, his pride in his trade, and his pride in working for Boeing. He also discusses his Hispanic heritage and how it has impacted his career; labor unrest and his commitment to fair employment; his union; and his disappointment that Boeing would no longer be a presence in Wichita.

Arizonian Bernardo “Bernie” Piña is the sales manager at Ciruli Brothers, a family-owned fresh produce import company in Nogales, Arizona. For generations, the city of Nogales, which is located directly on the US-Mexican border, has been a major port-of-entry for the buying, selling, and shipping of fresh fruits and vegetables imported into the US and Canada from growers throughout Mexico and Latin America. If you, like most Americans, enjoy eating fresh produce from Mexico, it probably came through Nogales. Mr. Pina, a third-generation produce worker, tells folklorist Nic Hartmann what it’s like to be a salesman in Nogales’ vibrant and close-knit produce industry.

Underwater marine diver Jim Mercer describes his year-round job checking, maintaining, and repairing commercial fishing boats in and around the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It’s a unique, challenging, and dangerous job. Jim, who grew up in the New Bedford area, is totally committed to it. He is interviewed by Madeline Hall-Arber from the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center as part of the American Folklife Center’s Archie Green Fellowship project “Working the Waterfront: New Bedford, Massachusetts.”

Electrician and journey wire-woman Kim Spicer is a proud member of The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local #3, in Queens, New York. Kim talks about how she tried numerous other, less fulfilling jobs before apprenticing to become an electrician and why she loves it. She touches on her training, some of the tasks and skills involved in her work, her daily on-the-job routines, and the challenges of being a woman in a traditionally male trade. Kim was interviewed as part of the Archie Green Fellowship project “Illuminating History: Union Electricians in New York City” by fellow electrician Jaimez Lopez and artist/documentarian Setare Arashloo.

This episode features Nurse Practitioner Jennifer Sgro, who works with The Night Ministry in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1976, The Night Ministry provides housing and healthcare to people who are homeless or who are living in low income situations. Sgro talks about providing healthcare on the Ministry’s Outreach Bus, which travels to a different low-income Chicago neighborhood every evening. In this thoughtful interview with documentarian Margaret Miles, Nurse Sgro talks about her job, her career, her clients, and the satisfaction she finds in her work.

Houston ship channel pilot Captain James Hensley has the daunting task of guiding giant ocean-going ships into and out of one of the world’s largest and busiest ports. The famous Houston Ship Channel is 52 miles long and in some places incredibly narrow. His is not a job for the faint of heart -- there is literally no room for mistakes! In this interview with folklorist Betsy Peterson, Captain Hensley talks about learning and practicing his highly-skilled occupation, his family’s longstanding maritime traditions, becoming one of the first African Americans to be officially credentialed as a captain, and the pride he takes in his work.