Annie Reynolds (00:02): This is Annie. I'm here with Sapp at Bare Hill Correctional Facility on October 3, 2023, and we're here, uh, during this oral history session. Um, can you introduce yourself, please, Sapp?
Horace Sapp (00:16): Yes, my name is, uh, Horace Sapp, and I'm here at the Bare Hill Correctional Facility, and I'm doin' the oral in... oral interview with Annie, um, and I'm in art class. So, nice to meet you, Miss Annie.
Annie Reynolds (00:35): Thank you for sitting with me in the final five minutes that we have before we wrap the class. Um, you were off-tape telling me a little bit about your experience doing this oral history process, and sitting in the seat as an interviewer, can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Horace Sapp (00:56): Oh, well, sure. Um, actually, it was kinda quite stunnin' You know, because, you know, I- I put off kinda shy at times, and, uh, for some reason this just fit right in. So you... It's like I felt like I'm a natural, you know, um. So, you know... You know, you never know what you can do until you do it.
(01:18):
You know, it gave me a sense of, uh, confidence in myself. You know, I'm kinda proud that I actually did this because, you know, goin' on in the future, you know, talkin' to some people, you know, I be more brave about it, you know, other then bein' shut down, shut in. You know, it brings confidence outta me that I can talk to anybody, and I can have a conversation with anybody, and it's just how you do it.
Annie Reynolds (01:50): "It's just how you do it," meaning it's just how you do the conversation?
Horace Sapp (01:54): Yes, how you come off on a conversation. You can have it with anybody. Uh, I know, and it's- it's like askin' questions, and the listenin' you know, I find that very interesting because, you know, I have a lot of conversation when I call home and speak to family, and now I know a better way of goin' about it. So, you know, i- it's a learnin' experience for me... very learnin' experience. So, you know, maybe I might try this when I get on the phone later (laughs).
Annie Reynolds (02:35): What's one thing you wanna try out when you get on that phone call?
Horace Sapp (02:41): I wanna interview my sister when I call her (laughs). Put her on the spot, you know? Might ask her some questions. I'll see how she feel about certain things.
(02:52):
Um, you know, maybe I been doin' that and not noticin' it. You know, um, because when I first started this art class, uh, we was talkin' and then I brought it up to her. I was so excited. I was like, "Oh, yeah, I'm in art class." I was sayin' "Guess what? I'm enjoyin'myself, and I'm gettin' good at it." (laughs).
(03:14):
You know, it was like, maybe I was doin'; it then. And she was like, "Well, that's great. You need to keep doin' good stuff like that. And that's what you need to do, you know. You learnin' new things." You know, uh, so, maybe I was and didn't know it.
(03:31):
Sometimes you do things and you not... do- don't- don't notice it until you actually bein' told what you're really doin'. So, by me not knowin' that this is what or- oral inter- interviews is all about and oral history. I been doin' this for a long time and didn't even know it. But now I know. So now I can pay more attention to it and use it.
(04:02):
It's a good thing to learn something that you been doin' the whole time, to learn about what it really is. That's a good learnin' experience to know that I was always oral history and didn't know it. Thank you, Annie, for showin' me what this is. So, can I ask you a question?
Annie Reynolds (04:26): Sure, you can ask me a question.
(04:27): I just wanted to thank you for, uh... to remind you that you already knew what this was. Maybe it was just a reminder, you know, bringing back to the surface something that you just named was already within you. Right?
Horace Sapp (04:42): Right, right, right. Yes.
Annie Reynolds (04:44): So, and I hear that you wanna practice that with your sister. That she recognized in you, you know, this, uh, desire to keep learning new things-
Horace Sapp (04:55): Yeah.
Annie Reynolds (04:55): ... and now you wanna teach her something new too. And so-
Horace Sapp (04:59): Right. So that's like passin' it on.
Annie Reynolds (05:02): Mm-hmm.
Horace Sapp (05:02): Yeah, that's good to know. So how do... How long have you been interested in this, sort of, field? What give you the drive to do this?
Annie Reynolds (05:16): Well, I have been a listener of other people's stories my whole life, and was always interested in hearing people's stories since I was very little. And I would always, kind of... You know, growing up I would ask tons of questions about the pasts of adults in my life, asking about their childhood, asking about, you know, "Tell me about x, y, z."
(05:44):
And I noticed really young that I really liked to watch someone else learn something new as they were telling me their story. Right? So they might... I would watch my parents, like, tell me the same stories again and again, but then every once in a while, they would add a new detail or they would have, like, a light bulb moment, like, "Oh, I never really thought about that before." You know?
Horace Sapp (06:08): Okay.
Annie Reynolds (06:08): So I noticed that I liked to watch that process happen. So I, kind of, decided I wanted to figure out something that I could do where I could experience that and be present with people while they'e learning new things about themself. So, oral history and interviewing is one way to do that, right?
Horace Sapp (06:30): Mm-hmm.
Annie Reynolds (06:30): It's, kind of, a way of, like you were saying, it's a way of, kind of, formalizing, um, something that I already loved to do.
Horace Sapp (06:38): Right, right.
Annie Reynolds (06:38): You know? So that's... I guess that's, kind of, one, uh, one answer to that questions. Um, yeah, I just... I really appreciate being a witness to other people's, um, discoveries of themselves-
Horace Sapp (06:57): Oh, okay.
Annie Reynolds (06:57): ... and of the world, and... you know? So, I think we have to close out in just a moment. So, I wanna thank you again, so much, for being part of this process, and also, I learned a lot from the way you described your relationship to being in this class and then also during this oral history process. It was really meaningful for me to hear you share your process.
Horace Sapp (07:25): You're welcome.
Annie Reynolds (07:25): Thank you.
Horace Sapp (07:27): Thank you as well for bringing this to the ca... to, uh, Bare Hill and introducin' it to us, because we didn't really know what it was but now we do. That's somethin'that you brought to us, and we appreciate it. You have a good day, Miss Annie.