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Phyllis Griffin interview transcript, December 21, 2004
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PG: Um, can we pause for a minute? NL: So, uh, we’re talking about your father, Stanley Griffin, and why, uh, at this stage in his life he was, as you say, disgruntled. PG: Um, I think he wanted mom to um, spend more time on the home front, um, I think he felt that there was a lot of money going out in terms of babysitters. Um however, he continued to support her in her efforts on the civil rights front. It was just that that along with school proving to be too much, and um, it was the fifties…she was WAY ahead of her time, WAY out there, you know, she was like, circling, orbiting Mars. OK, Can we put it on pause again? NL: Um, you just said that you would like to see someone do a thesis on Stanley Griffin… PG: Oh yes. NL: What, um, why do you think he is a significant historical figure? PG: Um, you asked me about traditional roles. And normally, you know, it’s the woman who stands behind the man that creates the man, quote, being great in society. And it was flipped in terms of my mom and dad. So there was something that was non-traditional. And my father quietly stood behind my mother spiritually, emotionally, and most importantly, financially, NL: He was the reason that you came to Iowa in the first place? PG: Yes. NL: To take a job as, uh, to attend school as a Doctor. PG: Well, right. But the history behind that is yet to be deeply explored. Mary Campos is the one who probably sits on that oral history, and that’s why its real important to interview her. My Dad, was in the Carolinas, I believe he was in North or South Carolina, attempting to practice medicine with his MD, but becoming deeply disgruntled and depressed over the fact that he could not follow his patients into any of the surrounding hospitals, without handing over the case to a white doctor. That cut into him financially, and of course that cut into his treatment of the patient, I mean there was no real thru line. And I’m sure this tugged on him in another way, about the death of his father, my grandfather. Because my grandfather died on the operating table when Dad was 18. And my father believes it was a botched surgery, I think it was a hernia surgery. NL: How did your mother and father meet?
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PG: Um, can we pause for a minute? NL: So, uh, we’re talking about your father, Stanley Griffin, and why, uh, at this stage in his life he was, as you say, disgruntled. PG: Um, I think he wanted mom to um, spend more time on the home front, um, I think he felt that there was a lot of money going out in terms of babysitters. Um however, he continued to support her in her efforts on the civil rights front. It was just that that along with school proving to be too much, and um, it was the fifties…she was WAY ahead of her time, WAY out there, you know, she was like, circling, orbiting Mars. OK, Can we put it on pause again? NL: Um, you just said that you would like to see someone do a thesis on Stanley Griffin… PG: Oh yes. NL: What, um, why do you think he is a significant historical figure? PG: Um, you asked me about traditional roles. And normally, you know, it’s the woman who stands behind the man that creates the man, quote, being great in society. And it was flipped in terms of my mom and dad. So there was something that was non-traditional. And my father quietly stood behind my mother spiritually, emotionally, and most importantly, financially, NL: He was the reason that you came to Iowa in the first place? PG: Yes. NL: To take a job as, uh, to attend school as a Doctor. PG: Well, right. But the history behind that is yet to be deeply explored. Mary Campos is the one who probably sits on that oral history, and that’s why its real important to interview her. My Dad, was in the Carolinas, I believe he was in North or South Carolina, attempting to practice medicine with his MD, but becoming deeply disgruntled and depressed over the fact that he could not follow his patients into any of the surrounding hospitals, without handing over the case to a white doctor. That cut into him financially, and of course that cut into his treatment of the patient, I mean there was no real thru line. And I’m sure this tugged on him in another way, about the death of his father, my grandfather. Because my grandfather died on the operating table when Dad was 18. And my father believes it was a botched surgery, I think it was a hernia surgery. NL: How did your mother and father meet?
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