"They didn't talk much"
Ann Medley recalls that her elders rarely discussed the family connection to Monticello.
Theme: Oral History Transmission




Ann Pettiford Medley grew up in Greenfield, Ohio. She and her husband, Cecil Medley, raised five children and worked in the catering and food services field. It was her daughter Patti Jo Harding who began to research the family history and enlisted the help of her cousin Diana Redman and Getting Word consultant Beverly Gray. Mother and daughter were present at Getting Word’s first interview in Chillicothe in 1993. Ann Medley remembers Sunday visits to her grandmother Anna Young Pettiford, some of whose siblings passed into the white world, cutting ties with the family.
28 Dec. 1993, Chillicothe, OH
Interviewees: George (Jack) Pettiford, Jacqueline Pettiford, Ann Medley, Patti Jo Harding, Tony Medley
28 Oct. 1999, Chillicothe, OH
Interviewee: Ann Pettiford Medley
Ann Medley recalls that her elders rarely discussed the family connection to Monticello.
Theme: Oral History Transmission
George "Jack" Pettiford and Ann Medley describe visiting Monticello and thinking about their ancestors' lives on the plantation.
Theme: Monticello
Ann Medley, George "Jack" Pettiford and Patti Jo Harding discuss having their race called into question by both African Americans and whites.
Themes: Racial Identity, Racial Prejudice
Ann Medley, George "Jack" Pettiford, and Patti Jo Harding discuss relatives who have passed as white and no longer acknowledge their African American heritage.
Theme: Racial Identity
Ann Medley describes black children taunting her at school because of her light skin.
Themes: Racial Identity, Racial Prejudice