We Bathe the World: Recording African American Histories

Hot Springs resident Kenneth Smith speaks to Park Ranger Dan Chmill after an oral history interview.

NPS Photo

Bringing Bathhouse Row to Life

In 2023, the National Park Foundation awarded two million dollars in grants to 31 national park units to create Inclusive Storytelling Initiatives. There are histories that, for a variety of reasons, have not been fully documented and shared with the public. National parks are excellent sites to recover these stories and share them with millions of yearly visitors. Hot Springs is part of this inaugural class of award recipients!

Throughout the year, via social media posts, online articles, in-person programs, and exhibits, Hot Springs National Park will share stories of African American bathhouse attendants, massage therapists, and other employees in the bathing industry. We at the park are excited to reveal the amazing stories of individuals who brought Hot Springs’ waters to those visiting from across the country and around the world.

The Power of Oral History

The best way to collect these important stories is through oral history, a discipline that, according to the Oral History Association, places individual experiences within historical context. Oral histories take the form of an interview, which represents a collaborative effort between the interviewer and the interviewee (or narrator). The National Park Service has been a leader in collecting, preserving, and sharing oral histories at park sites for decades. Listening and reading NPS oral history interviews create opportunities for the public to understand how history is created, understood, and debated.

How Can I Contribute?

• Did you ever work in the bathing industry in Hot Springs, Arkansas?
• OR, did you have family members that worked as bath attendants, massage therapists, packers, helpers, or porters?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, we would like to record and recover these important moments through oral history interviews. Your experience can uncover an essential part of Hot Springs National Park's storied past. If you are willing and able to share, please contact the national park at [phone] or by email.

 

Using Oral Histories at Hot Springs National Park

Oral histories help visitors learn about the park's past using unique historical perspectives. Hot Springs' African American bathhouse workers have so much history to share. Some of their stories are very personal and talk about success, failure, hardship, and joy. But these personal stories focus on concepts that all of us can appreciate and understand.

The staff at the national park has used some of its collected oral histories to tell the history of the park for new audiences in the digital age. Below you will find clips of interviews that show the emotion employees had sharing stories or edited videos that let oral histories add to an already exciting national park history.

 

Duration:

5 minutes, 39 seconds

Hot Springs National Park's latest oral history project asked narrators how they would like to be remembered in the park's history. Former employees, their descendants, and community members share their ideas for bathhouse workers' lasting legacy.

 

Duration:

1 minute, 56 seconds

Massage therapist Robin Higgins reacts to seeing a photo of her friend and bathhouse mentor Ernestine Guinn during an oral history interview with Hot Springs National Park ranger Dan Chmill.

 

Duration:

1 minute, 10 seconds

Iola Matson reacts to a photo of Myrtle Cheatham, a bath attendant at the Fordyce Bathhouse and her mother, during a 2024 oral history interview with Hot Springs National Park ranger Dan Chmill.

 

Duration:

3 minutes, 27 seconds

Explore the ways Hot Springs National Park influenced African American art in the twentieth century through a vibrant Black community in town along with residents who created lasting legacies in Black art and music.

 

Duration:

3 minutes, 9 seconds

Jimmie Lemons worked as a bath attendant at the Majestic Hotel's bathhouse for over 60 years. During this time he not only developed the knowledge to make him succeed at his job, but developed a reputation as a respected member of his community.