DTB 061 Violetta Simpson

In this interview, Violetta Simpson is interviewed by Ryan Morini in the McCall Library on the University of South Alabama campus. The interview focuses on Ms. Simpson’s experiences growing up and living in the Down the Bay community of Mobile, Alabama, and some of the details of her family history that relate to it. She also offers her thoughts on the ways that urban renewal played out for people Down the Bay, as well as the impacts that it and the construction of I-10 had on the community and its future. She further discusses the role of the Mobile Housing Board, and the I-10 bridge expansion that was in progress at the time of the interview. Ms. Simpson recalls people and businesses that she grew up with Down the Bay, describes community dynamics and mores, and relates some of the community service and organizing work of her mother, Clara J. Simpson