Community Voices: Postville Project Oral Histories

Community Voices: The Postville Oral History Project Recording with Aaron Goldsmith

Interviewee

Aaron GoldsmithFollow

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Download Transcript (146 KB)

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Interview Conducted by RaeAnn Swanson-Evans

Interview Transcribed by RaeAnn Swanson-Evans

Keywords

Goldsmith, Aaron--Interviews; Postville Immigration Raid, Postville, Iowa, 2008;

Genre

Oral History

Interview Description

Aaron Goldsmith moved his family and his business, Transfer Master Products, Inc., to Postville in 1997. He enjoyed the safety and pace of rural America. In the interview Goldsmith discusses the way Postville has changed over time including the expansion of the kosher meatpacking plant, Agriprocessors, and the multiethnic population of Postville. Goldsmith shares his experience working on the city council, his thoughts on the media’s portrayal of Postville, and some insights into the growth of the Jewish community in Postville. The interview also includes his experience around the time of the raid, how Postville has rebuilt since then, and his work as coauthor of the book Postville U.S.A: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America alongside Mark Gray and Michelle Devlin.

Interview Number

06

Interview Date

11-19-2014

File Format

audio/mp3

Disciplines

Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | United States History

Project Title

Community Voices: The Postville Oral History Project

Project Description

The Community Voices: Postville Oral History Project sought to capture the remembered past of those who experienced the “Postville story,” that is, the social context leading up to, including, and following the ICE immigration raid that occurred on May 12th, 2008. The Interviews available here showcase the unique memories of 16 interviewees living and working in or near Postville. The interviews will leave listeners with a sense of how a small town in rural Iowa has dealt with and continues to deal with vast demographic change and the aftermath of an ICE raid that threw Postville into the national conversation on immigration reform.

Publisher

Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Copyright

©2014 The Postville Project

Language

en

Community Voices: The Postville Oral History Project Recording with Aaron Goldsmith

Project Title

Community Voices: The Postville Oral History Project

Project Description

The Community Voices: Postville Oral History Project sought to capture the remembered past of those who experienced the “Postville story,” that is, the social context leading up to, including, and following the ICE immigration raid that occurred on May 12th, 2008. The Interviews available here showcase the unique memories of 16 interviewees living and working in or near Postville. The interviews will leave listeners with a sense of how a small town in rural Iowa has dealt with and continues to deal with vast demographic change and the aftermath of an ICE raid that threw Postville into the national conversation on immigration reform.

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