Lucy Cherry Crisp was a white woman from Pitt County, N.C., and had a varied career as a poet, journalist, religious counselor, and art museum administrator. Among her published works are two volumes of poetry, Brief Testament and Spring Fever.
In this interview, Lucy Cherry Crisp reads the dialectal verse which makes up Spring Fever. The poems are written in what Ms. Crisp perceives as African American Vernacular English, or is formerly known as "Black English" and are meant to reflect life in the Black community in Falkland, Pitt County N.C. during the early twentieth century. For related material see Collection #154.
Gift of Lucy Cherry Crisp
Encoded by Apex Data Services Updated by Jo Overstreet, December 2021 Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
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1910-1935