Interviews and oral histories

Residents have deep expertise on the impacts of coal dust pollution in Southeast Newport News and Lambert's Point, organizing in resistance, and priorities around solutions and visions for the future. Several themes emerge in these interviews and oral histories, including life in the now-demolished Harbor Homes public housing complex, effects of coal dust on property, home value, and household finances, and the prevalence of health impacts on residents, especially respiratory illness.

Repair Lab Oral Histories, 2023–2025

Name	Date	Type	Notes	Audio	Transcript
Atsuko Bernot and Imani Newsome	8/2/2025	Resident	Comprehensive description of anti-coal dust activism in Lambert's Point, Norfolk, from 2010-2025, including key points of failure and demands for what comes next.	Atsuko Bernot and Imani Newsome Audio	Atsuko Bernot and Imani Newsome Transcript
Lawrence Turner	7/7/2023	Resident	One-on-one interview with East End Newport News resident and football coach about East End history, growing up in Harbor Homes, gentrification, and TAME.	Lawrence Turner Audio	Lawrence Turner Transcript
Donquitta Clements	6/28/2023	Resident	One-on-one with lifelong East End Newport News resident that narrates health issues, nuisance and mental health problems caused by coal dust. Also discusses gentrification due to Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) and Tidewater Air Monitoring Evaluation (TAME).	Donquitta Clements Audio	Donquitta Clements Transcript
Carl Poole	7/1/2023	Resident	One-on-one with organizer and resident of Lambert's Point, Norfolk. Touches on resident attitudes toward Norfolk Southern; history of organizing against coal dust in Norfolk; history of Lambert's Point neighborhood and Tidewater Air Monitoring Evaluation.	Carl Poole Audio	Carl Poole Transcript
Yugonda Sample-Jones	6/30/2023	Repair Lab team member	Walking interview with East End Newport News resident and leader of EmPower All about the Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) development project and the effects of coal dust on new and existing residents.	Yugonda Sample-Jones Audio (1 of 3)	Yugonda Sample-Jones Transcript (1 of 3)
Millie Taylor and Raymond Wazeeradin with Yugonda Sample-Jones	6/30/2023	Resident	Porch conversation with lifelong East End Newport News residents touching on East End's Black history, renaming projects, the Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) and gentrification, as well as the history of CSX and coal dust as a nuisance.	Millie Taylor and Raymond Wazeeradin Audio	Millie Taylor and Raymond Wazeeradin Transcript
Jannie Bazemore	5/1/2025	Resident	Porch interview with a former resident of Ridley Circle who remembers her mother's advocacy for sprinklers to be installed at Dominion Terminal in East End Newport News.	Jannie Bazemore Audio	Jannie Bazemore Transcript
Kim Williams	4/11/23	Resident	Conversation with Lambert's Point resident and organizer Kim Williams about neighborhood gentrification by Old Dominion University, TAME, her demands for Norfolk Southern to cover their coal, and the history of organizing against coal dust in Lambert's Point, Norfolk. Also with Malcolm Jones.	Kim Williams Audio	Kim Williams Transcript
Yugonda Sample-Jones	2/27/2024	Repair Lab team member	Driving tour exploring CSX's Dominion Terminal and the whole Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) redevelopment in East End Newport News. Also discusses TAME and gentrification.	Yugonda Sample-Jones Audio (2 of 3)	Yugonda Sample-Jones Transcript (2 of 3)
Uneita Scott	4/20/2024	Resident	Media interview and testimonial from former East End Newport News resident whose sister had a lung amputated at 14 years old due to diagnosed miner's lung from living adjacent to Dominion Terminal in the 1970s-80s.	Uneita Scott Audio	Uneita Scott Transcript
Anonymous 2	4/20/2024	Resident	Testimonial from a couple who regret buying their house in East End Newport News due to the coal dust.	Anonymous 2 Audio	Anonymous 2 Transcript
Renee Hoyos	5/4/2023	Government figure	Phone interview with former director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's Environmental Justice department (now defunct).	Renee Hoyos Audio	Renee Hoyos Transcript
Sheila McAllister	11/14/2023	Government figure	Short phone interview with Newport News Director of Planning about the demolition of Harbor Homes and Dickerson Court.	Sheila McAllister Audio	Sheila McAllister Transcript
Faith Harris	10/1/23	Government figure	Studio interview with co-founder of the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice and leader of Virginia Interfaith Power and Light.	Faith Harris Audio	Faith Harris Transcript
Malcolm Jones, Lathaniel Kirts and Billy Mercury	5/30/2023	Repair Lab team member	3-way studio interview with Lathaniel and Malcolm, 2 practitioners-in-residence with the Repair Lab, and their lifelong friend Billy Mercury about growing up in Park Place adjacent to the Lambert's Point Norfolk Southern coal terminal and seeing gentrification unfold.	Malcolm, Lathaniel and Billy Audio
Mr. Smiley	6/30/2023	Resident	Short interview and testimonial from East End Newport News shop owner whose business is adjacent to Dominion Terminal.	Mr. Smiley Audio	Mr. Smiley Transcript
Patricia Taylor	11/2/2024	Resident	Porch interview with East End Newport News neighborhood matriarch about what it takes to make systemic change.	Patricia Taylor Audio	Patricia Taylor Transcript
Frankie Williams	2/27/2024	Resident	Short street testimonial from East End Newport News resident about the coal dust and its effects.	Frankie Williams Audio	Frankie Williams Transcript
Anonymous	4/20/2024	Resident	Testimonial from an East End Newport News resident about his experiences growing up in Southwest Virginia, his memories of community defense against polluters there, and comparisons to the present in Newport News.	Anonymous Audio	Anonymous Transcript

All interviews above collected by Adrian Wood, with transcriptions by Adrian Wood and Jackie Hertz.

Hampton Roads Oral History Project

The Hampton Roads Oral History Project (HROHP) is an audio-based history project, documenting the impact of the civil rights movement on area residents. It was established in the fall of 2012 by Christopher Newport University Prof. Laura Puaca in collaboration with the Newsome House Museum and Cultural Center and the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center. Most of the interviews were carried out by students.

Multiple interviews mention coal for heating, coal mining, and coal trains.

Mapping Lambert's Point

In 2016, a group of undergraduate and graduate students from Old Dominion University interviewed residents who grew up in Lambert’s Point during the 1950s and 1960s to learn about how the neighborhood has changed over time. The students also gathered historical accounts of life in the neighborhood from the early 20^th century in the Norfolk Journal and Guide. This archive is available to the public on Mapping Lambert's Point, featuring transcribed interviews and photographs that highlight residents's stories and mapped to the places that shaped their experiences in the neighborhood.

Media Featuring Interviews with Residents

• Council Gets Air Pollution Control Plan, Daily Press, December 18, 1956

Sister M. Euphrasia, Mary Immaculate Hospital Administrator: "...the air is constantly filled with this soot to the extent that it seeps through the window casing and accumulates on the window sills... [it has become] an increasingly serious problem to the administration and a treat to our patients."

• Dust Covered Apartments (Continued from Page 1), Daily Press, May 5, 1984

Gary Alvis, Automotive Maintenance Manager, Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority: "We're worried about getting black lung."

Gloria Tabb, Tenants' Council President: "[Coal dust] gets into the apartments, it get all over the furniture and on the clothes and on the floor."

• Vogelsong, Virginia Will Begin Monitoring Air Pollution around Hampton Roads Coal Terminals: Residents of Newport News’ East End Say There’s Been Too Many Studies and Too Little Action, Virginia Mercury, April 19, 2022
• Janney, Study Aims to Test Effects of Coal Dust, but Residents are Skeptical Change Will Come, The Virginian Pilot, November 3, 2023

Ernest Thompson, Newport News Resident: "We don’t need monitors. We are the monitors. Our homes are the monitors. All you've got to do is come out and understand. And if you think it’s a joke, power wash some of these houses and come back in two weeks and you can then begin to see what we are subjugated to on a daily and weekly basis."

• Hollingsworth, Newport News Residents Voice Concerns about Coal Pollution, 3WTKR, January 23, 2024
• Saitta, Newport News Residents Say Coal Dust is the Source of Some Health Problems, WTKR, April 20, 2024

Danielle Saitta Interviews Uneita Scott, Newport News Resident: "'My older sister and I would play and we would see coal on the windowsills," said Scott. "It was nothing for us to see coal on the ground and our mother would fuss because when we would come in our feet would be dirty from the coal.' At the time, Scott said she thought nothing of it until her older sister, Erica, became ill. 'Her diagnosis was a coal miner's lung so they had to amputate it for her to have a healthy life. At 14 years old, doctors verbatim said she had the lung of a 30-year-old that worked in the coal mines.'"