Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

94 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
friends of some of the German families. 11 My approach counters these mostly
monolithic accounts and acknowledges British social historian paul thompson’s
statement that the aim of oral historians is to make history “more democratic”
by “shifting the focus and opening new areas of enquiry . . . by bringing
recognition to substantial groups of people who had been ignored” and by
radically “questioning . . . the fundamental relationship between history and the
community” because “the self-selected group will rarely be fully representative
of a community.” 12
When talking about the impact of the Germans on huntsville, the lack
of voices from the african american community in a southern town is hard
to ignore. I frst became aware of this when reviewing a public forum titled
“Creating rocket City,” recorded on video in 2003 as a contribution to the
public library’s celebration of the centennial of the Wright brothers’ frst fight. 13
as the title implies, this panel was intended to discuss the city’s development
since the 1950s. It included one african american speaker, hanson howard,
who was, according to the organizer, included “for diversity.” 14 a camera scan
over the audience reveals that howard was apparently also the only african
american person in the room. When I asked him about that, he noted simply,
“I fgured that’s the way it would be . . . You know, it wasn’t a surprise.” 15
11. the following are examples of longer articles or book-length accounts illustrating to what I
am referring and do not include numerous local newspaper articles. erik Bergaust, Rocket City,
U.S.A.; from Huntsville, Alabama to the Moon (New York: Macmillan, 1963); placide D. Nicaise,
Huntsville and the Von Braun Rocket Team: The Real Story, ed. Scientists and Friends (Monterey,
California: Martin hollmann, 2003); Frederick Ira Ordway, III and Mitchell r. Sharpe, The
Rocket Team, 1st MIt press pbk.ed.(Cambridge,Ma:MIt press,1982); ruth G.von Saurma and
Walter Wiesman,“the German rocket team:a Chronology of events and accomplishments,”
The Huntsville Historical Review 23, no. 1 (1996), 20-29; ruth G. von Saurma, “personal
recollections of huntsville’s rocket and Space highlights, 1949-1980,” The Huntsville Historical
Review 27, no. 1 (2000), 37-52; ruth G. von Saurma,“Growing up in huntsville,” The Huntsville
Historical Review 23, no. 1 (1996), 13-19; ernst Stuhlinger, “German rocketeers Find a New
home in huntsville,” The Huntsville Historical Review 23, no. 1 (1996), 3-12; ernst Stuhlinger,
“Sputnik 1957—Memories of an Old-timer,” The Huntsville Historical Review 26, no. 1 (1999),
26-31; ernst Stuhlinger and Frederick Ira Ordway, III, Wernher Von Braun, Crusader for Space:
A Biographical Memoir, Original ed. (Malabar, FL: Krieger pub., 1994); the Marshall retiree’s
association, “reminiscence of Space exploration history Fireside Chats, February 17 2000,”
video available at http://media.eb.uah.edu/NASA_ARCHIVES/farside_chats/index.htm; Bob
Ward, Dr. Space:The Life of Wernher Von Braun (annapolis, MD: Naval Institute press, 2005).
12. paul thompson, “the Voice of the past: Oral history,” in The Oral History Reader, ed. alistair
thomson, robert perks (London, New York: routledge, 1988), 26.
13. David Lilly, A Century of Flight:‘Creating Rocket City’ (huntsville,aL: huntsville public Library, 2003).
14. David Lilly, e-mail correspondence, October 10, 2005.
15. hanson howard interview, huntsville, aL, May 10, 2006. hanson howard is a retired warrant
ofcer who moved to huntsville from Maryland with the army in 1960. he was stationed in
Germany twice, as well as to White Sands, New Mexico, and Vietnam. he currently works
as Business Counselor at Northeast alabama region Small Business Development Center
and is executive director of the Service Corps of retired executives. howard requested to be