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Collected Item: “Cherilyn Holloway Oral History, 2022/07/12”

Title

Cherilyn Holloway

Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.

Kit Heintzman

Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.

Cherilyn Holloway

Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.

kheintzman@gmail.com

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#abortion, #Black, #BornAgain, #children, #Christian, #church, #Dobbs, #GeorgeFloyd, #God, #guns, #individualism, #isolation, #marriage, #masking, #media, #motherhood, #Ohio, #proBlack, #prolife, #race, #racism, #rural, #school, #teacher, #vegan

What is the format of your recording?

Video

In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.

Elyria, Ohio

What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*

Female/She, Her, Hers

What is the age of the interviewee?

35 to 44

How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*

Black American

Describe the oral history.

Some of the things we discussed include:
- Learning about the pandemic through social media. Avoiding the news.
- Being very social pre-pandemic and settling into isolation well.
- Working as a substitute teacher and noticing children getting sick in November 2019; son getting sick in December 2019.
- Founding a nonprofit, Pro-Black Pro-Life, in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.
- Black friends and white friends wanting support on issues of racial justice.
- Becoming a Born-Again Christian at 15, getting saved, path to discipleship, testing of faith.
- Hearing calls to action from God and following them; the sound of God’s voice.
- The difference between talking to God through prayer and listening to God.
- Owning responsibility when someone lets you know that you’ve said something harmful.
- Feeling out of place in the pro-life movement for its lack of interest in racial justice; white pro-life rhetoric using racism as a justification for the pro-life stance without talking to Black people or supporting anti-racism.
- Bipartisan work on childcare after Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
- Black voting power.
- Having 8 children and 2 grandchildren during the pandemic, online education, and their different ways children make sense of the pandemic; (2 grandkids?)
- Shifting parenting priorities; less privacy in the home.
- Going to marriage counseling.
- No longer attending church in person.
- Political inconsistencies on issues like abortion and gun control.
- Relationships with women; ideas about femininity.
- In person and online conflicts.
- Covid safety and making others feel safer: masking, social distancing, isolating; respecting different safety boundaries.
- Churches stepping up to serve their communities.

Other cultural references: Richard Michael DeWine, YouTube, ABC News, Facebook

See also:
https://problackprolife.com/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/black-christians-discuss-faith-informs-stances-abortion/story?id=76398415

On what date did you record this oral history?

2022-07-12T13:34
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