Vidor, Texas is a town learning to manage its past with the Ku Klux Klan and the subsequent legacy of racial intolerance it now carries into the twenty-first century. By utilizing oral history, interviews with the residents (current and former) clarify how Vidorians see their past and form a collective memory. This memory study oral history project chronicles the historical narrative of Vidor and Vidorians based on oral histories of the interviewee’s point of view. It then highlights my mastery of relevant public history and oral history literature while reviewing the best practices of oral history as both a methodology and technique in the professional field of oral history. The goal of this project was not to prove or disprove Vidorians historical truthfulness or pass ethical judgment of their perceptions, but to better understand the historical narrative and collective memory of Vidor and its people.
","abstract_html":"<p>Vidor, Texas is a town learning to manage its past with the Ku Klux Klan and the subsequent legacy of racial intolerance it now carries into the twenty-first century. By utilizing oral history, interviews with the residents (current and former) clarify how Vidorians see their past and form a collective memory. This memory study oral history project chronicles the historical narrative of Vidor and Vidorians based on oral histories of the interviewee’s point of view. It then highlights my mastery of relevant public history and oral history literature while reviewing the best practices of oral history as both a methodology and technique in the professional field of oral history. The goal of this project was not to prove or disprove Vidorians historical truthfulness or pass ethical judgment of their perceptions, but to better understand the historical narrative and collective memory of Vidor and its people.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Saylor, Amanda Michel"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts - History","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Paul J. P. Sandul","Perky Beisel","M. Scott Sosebee"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:22Z","subjects":["Vidor","Ku Klux Klan","Race Relations","Oral History","Memory"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/241","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Paul J. P. Sandul","Perky Beisel","M. Scott Sosebee"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Saylor, Amanda Michel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-08-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts - History"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Vidor","Ku Klux Klan","Race Relations","Oral History","Memory"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/241"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Vidor, Texas is a town learning to manage its past with the Ku Klux Klan and the subsequent legacy of racial intolerance it now carries into the twenty-first century. By utilizing oral history, interviews with the residents (current and former) clarify how Vidorians see their past and form a collective memory. This memory study oral history project chronicles the historical narrative of Vidor and Vidorians based on oral histories of the interviewee’s point of view. It then highlights my mastery of relevant public history and oral history literature while reviewing the best practices of oral history as both a methodology and technique in the professional field of oral history. The goal of this project was not to prove or disprove Vidorians historical truthfulness or pass ethical judgment of their perceptions, but to better understand the historical narrative and collective memory of Vidor and its people.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reputation versus Reality: An Oral History of Vidor, Texas"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Paul J. P. Sandul","Perky Beisel","M. Scott Sosebee"],"dc:creator":["Saylor, Amanda Michel"],"dc:date.available":["2019-08-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Vidor, Texas is a town learning to manage its past with the Ku Klux Klan and the subsequent legacy of racial intolerance it now carries into the twenty-first century. By utilizing oral history, interviews with the residents (current and former) clarify how Vidorians see their past and form a collective memory. This memory study oral history project chronicles the historical narrative of Vidor and Vidorians based on oral histories of the interviewee’s point of view. It then highlights my mastery of relevant public history and oral history literature while reviewing the best practices of oral history as both a methodology and technique in the professional field of oral history. The goal of this project was not to prove or disprove Vidorians historical truthfulness or pass ethical judgment of their perceptions, but to better understand the historical narrative and collective memory of Vidor and its people.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/241"],"dc:subject":["Vidor","Ku Klux Klan","Race Relations","Oral History","Memory"],"dc:title":["Reputation versus Reality: An Oral History of Vidor, Texas"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts - History"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:22Z"}