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

106 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
impact a step further. I argue that national histories, memories, and identities
that immigrants bring with them become intertwined with those of their host
society, inevitably leading to a struggle over meaning. For the Germans in
huntsville, this struggle was very diferent than for immigrants considered
racially and culturally diferent or economically less desirable from those in
positions of power in the 1950s in the United States. 43
there are, of course, other reasons for this group’s very unique experience,
which I will continue to interrogate as I pursue this project. I will close with the
possibly most poignant comment on the interrelated nature of the histories of
Germany and the United States I have encountered at this point. as he describes
his visits of concentration camps in Germany, Charles ray notes: “(h)ell, that
could have been here, ‘cause we have a tendency not to question power.” 44
ON SOUrCeS
the video A Century of Flight: Creating Rocket City (2003) referred to in
this paper is available at the huntsville-Madison County library in huntsville,
alabama. the transcript is in my possession.
the oral histories from which excerpts are used in this paper were
collected based on snowball sampling during the summer of 2007 when
I had the opportunity to speak to eight members of the african-american
community of huntsville. I have written permission to use the interviewees’
names for research reports and to store the transcripts for future researchers
at an interested and reputable archive or academic library when my project is
completed. Currently, the audio fles and transcripts are in my possession.
the lack of women’s voices in this paper is an obvious weakness. I have
made a deliberate efort to talk to african american women but have so far
been unsuccessful. I am aware that this may have multiple historical reasons
that challenge my project as I continue to seek interviewees.
43. this is not to say that this aspect has changed drastically for immigrants today. the spectrum of
literature on immigration to the United States is vast. here are just a few examples describing
experiences of other immigrants to the United States in the postwar period. this selection
illustrates the signifcance of professional occupation to the immigrant experience, which I will
address for the German rocket engineers in my dissertation. Chaterine Cheiza Choy, Empire of
Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History (Durham and London: Duke University
press, 2003), evelyn Nakano Glenn, Issei, Nissei, War Bride: Three Generations of Japanese American
Women in Domestic Service (philadelphia, pa: temple University press, 1986), David Guitiérrez,
Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity (Berkeley, Ca:
University of California press, 1995), pierrette hondagneu-Sotelo, Doméstica: Immigrant Workers
Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Afuence (Berkeley, Ca: University of California press,
2001), Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Diferent Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy
of Race (Cambridge, Ma: harvard University press, 1998), and reed Ueda, Postwar Immigrant
America: A Social History (Boston, Ma: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s press, 1994).
44. Smith interview, July 29, 2007.