Missouri State University Libraries has been interviewing African American people who hailed from the Springfield, Missouri, area for the Greater Springfield Route 66 Oral History Project.
The project, funded in part by a grant from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, has been posting the interviews every few weeks.
If you have an hour, you’ll probably enjoy this interview with Elaine Graham Estes, the only child of James and Zelma Graham, who operated Graham’s Rib Station and a motel on Chestnut Street in Springfield, Missouri, from 1932 to 1995. She is a longtime librarian who, you’ll see, has a very good memory. Given her advanced age, I’m glad someone is getting down those memories before they are lost.
More of the interviews may be found here.
I found another article from 1994 from OzarksWatch about the history of the black population in southwest Missouri.
(Image of Graham’s Rib Station via Katherine G. Lederer Collection of Ozarks African-American History)