Title Page & Abstract
An Interview with Twila Terrell
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project
Interview # T20-A-L-2022-14
Twila Terrell, a Peoria Public Schools bus driver, was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project.
Interview dates & location:
Date: March 28, 2022
Location: Peoria Public Library—Lakeview Branch, Peoria, Illinois
Interview Format: Digital audio
Interviewer: Amanda Riggenbach, Tumultuous 2020 project manager
Total Time: 1:20 / 1.33 hrs.
Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on June 2, 2022.
The interview is archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.
© 2022 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Abstract
Twila Terrell, Tumultuous 2020, T20-A-L-2022-14
Biographical Information/Overview of Interview: Twila Terrell was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1964. When she was a child, her family was one of the first African American families to move into the predominantly Caucasian village of Creve Coeur. Terrell describes her experiences there as positive, despite the discrimination she occasionally faced. She attended school in East Peoria, graduating from East Peoria High School in 1982. After high school she attended H. Councill Trenholm State Technical College in Montgomery, Alabama, where she studied to become a seamstress. She lived in Los Angeles, California, for a number of years before returning to Illinois in 1992 with her two young sons, James and Semaj Treadwell. In 1996, she began working for Peoria Public Schools as a bus driver and was still working as a bus driver at the time of the interview.
Terrell describes the changes that occurred in the school district and bus system over the course of her tenure. Terrell also details her experiences with the pandemic as a bus driver. When the COVID-19 pandemic became prevalent in Illinois in March of 2020, Peoria Public Schools moved to remote learning. Terrell details these early days and the uncertainty she and other bus drivers experienced. She outlines the next semester, fall of 2020, and the district’s response with A-B schedules. Students assigned to the A group would come Mondays and Wednesdays while B group students would come Tuesdays and Thursdays. The groups would alternate Fridays. Terrell describes how this worked and the occasional confusion with the alternating days. Terrell also details the measures that were taken to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Terrell concludes the interview with a description of her personal views on the virus as they’ve shifted throughout the pandemic.
Subject Headings/Key Words: Tumultuous 2020; tumultuous 2020 oral history; Creve Coeur, Illinois; East Peoria, Illinois; Peoria, Illinois; Montgomery, Alabama; Los Angeles, California; Peoria Public Schools; district 150; bus driver; school bus; COVID-19 pandemic; COVID-19
Notes to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.
COPYRIGHT
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