Oral history of Gladys Burrell

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Gladys Burrell, known as "Ms. Gladys" to Johns Hopkins students and staff, was a longtime food services worker on the Homewood campus. After 47 years working on the Homewood campus, she retired in 2017 from her last position as a cashier for the Fresh Food Café. She was a longtime union representative with Unite Here Local 7. Aside from her contributions to on-campus dining, she formed friendships with many students. In this interview, she discusses her early life, family, and her time working for various food services contractors at Johns Hopkins University. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral histories series.

Oral history of Levi Watkins

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Levi Watkins, Jr. was born in Parsons, Kansas. He completed his undergraduate work at Tennessee State University, where he majored in biology. He went on to become the first African American to be admitted to the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. Despite facing enormous prejudice, Watkins graduated in 1970. He completed his medical internship at Johns Hopkins, where he was the first black intern. He then went to study at Harvard Medical School's Department of Physiology. There, he completed revolutionary research on congestive heart failure. In 1975, Watkins returned to Hopkins and became Hopkins' first black chief resident in heart surgery. Watkins notably performed the first implantation of an automatic heart defibrillator. In this history, Watkins discusses his experiences as an African-American in the medical field in the middle of the 20th century as well as his career and education. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Oral history of S.B.

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"S.B." is a member of the Johns Hopkins University graduating class of 2018, and majored in biomedical engineering. S.B. was born in Ecuador and raised in Delaware. In this interview, S.B. discusses their educational journey prior to college, including their time as a student at the Delaware Military Academy. S.B. goes on to describe their experience as a first-generation student at Johns Hopkins, discussing various academic programs, internships, and life on campus. This oral history is part of the First-generation Students oral histories series.