Jana Usry

In this interview, Jana Usry discusses growing up in Richmond, VA, attending Mary Washington College, working as a teacher with students with autism, attending University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University for graduate school. Teaching middle and high school special education classes, and the experience of busing in Richmond. She discusses how she was a mentor to her students and maintained lifelong friendships with her students of color, which was unusual for a white woman.

City
State
Virginia
School Level

Disclaimer

Feel free to use and cite our interviews for your research! When utilizing our oral history collection, please give attribution to the interviewer, interviewee, and the Teachers in the Movement Project. The project is housed in the UVA School of Education and Human Development.

We encourage adherence to the Oral History Association's Best Practices when accessing, using, and citing any Teachers in the Movement interview or resource. These practices include: 

"All those who use oral history interviews after they are made accessible should strive for intellectual honesty and the best application of the skills of their discipline. This includes

a. avoiding stereotypes, misrepresentations, and manipulations of the narrator’s words;
b. striving to retain the integrity of the narrator’s perspective;
c. recognizing the subjectivity of the interview, including, when possible, verification of information presented as factual;
d. interpreting and contextualizing the narrative according to the professional standards of the applicable scholarly disciplines;
e. contextualizing oral history excerpts;
f. providing a citation to the location of the full oral history."

Video, audio, or texts of Teachers in the Movement interviews and may not be used for commercial purposes without permission from the Teachers in the Movement Project. Please contact us at teachersinthemovement@gmail.com.