Title

Interview with Laverne Tootie Warner

Repository

Center for Mason Legacies - George Mason University

Date Created

June 2022

Creator

Interview by Wendi Manuel-Scott
Transcription by Jacob Connelly

Description

Transcript of an audio interview of Laverne Tootie Warner, conducted by Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott. The interview includes Marcus Howard of St. Louis. Tootie, Marcus and Wendi discuss a variety of topics surrounding life in St. Louis, and the experience of living in St. Louis during a time of change. Important discussions include the slow violence and experience of dispossession that equate to the myth of progress (see transcript below). This is visible through the loss of land under the guise of neo-colonial "discovery" of quality land, after land was once given to formerly enslaved because it was poor quality. Other discussions include Banneker Elementary, and the community members of St. Louis.

Index/Partial Transcript

"Tootie
Well it was like a swamp it was basically-

Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott
Right!

Marcus Howard
It was a swamp so-

Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott
So they like you can have this land over here.

Marcus Howard
Yeah.

Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott
So, so y’all know that folks once they were emancipated from Huntland plantation and probably neighboring plantations they were able to buy property here at St. Louis, and it was cheap because it was swampland.

Marcus Howard
And that where it-, this comes from, it was Howard, this was Howard land. When they went to develop.

Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott
Mmhmm. That was Howard land.

Marcus Howard
It was originally Howard land. It was all swamp at one point.

Tootie
The majority of it-

Marcus Howard
What’s crazy how they-, how they build on swamps [unintelligible]

Tootie
Well, most of it was…

Marcus Howard
But it’d get better and they want to come back

Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott
Right.

Marcus Howard
Its better now, come back and take it."

(page 22-23)

Research Themes

St. Louis
Loudoun County
Middleburg
Banneker Elementary School
Slow Violence
Myth of Progress
Displacement in Place
Development
Environmental Racism

Type

Audio Interview

Researcher Name

Special thanks to Alexis Beard for editing the transcript

Bibliographic Citation

Interview with Laverne Tootie Warner. Interview by Wendi Manuel Scott. Audio Interview, June 2022. Center for Mason Legacies.