(Auto-)Biographical Notes by Lois Orr

The following paragraphs provide elements towards a personal-political biography of Lois Orr. Except for the first two brief statements, they are transcripts of an interview held on 9 January 1983 in Louisville, Kentucky. I thank Ellen Poteet for transcribing the tape for me, which is held in the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan’s main Ann Arbor library. To convey some of the flavour of the interview and the personality of the main protagonist of this book, Lois Orr, here are some comments Ellen Poteet, a southerner herself, wrote as an introduction to her transcript:

The interviewer was Paul Garing (sp.?). There was one other man present who was not identified. He appeared to be either a friend or relative of Orr. All quite informal. Throughout, the sound of the interviewer lighting another cigarette and taking that first long puff. Then, with the second side of the tape, began the background sound effects of ice chinking against glasses. And there is this way that ice sounds in a glass when iced tea is at issue, and when gin and bourbon are at issue, and in this case Sir Lipton was not profiting. Orr has a long southern drawl. At the beginning of the interview she drew out each word sotto voce so that one had to strain to hear. But she became more forceful in tone as the interview continued, though the unhurried rhythms were constant.¹