Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2016-035
Evangeline H. Tierney served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1962 to 1964 as a social worker. Training occurred at Saint Louis University and in Puerto Rico, where the physical activities pushed her to her breaking point. As part of Honduras I, she attended social functions hosted by the First Lady of Honduras, who had sponsored the program. Tierney was assigned to Tela and worked as a social worker and community organizer with the Carib people on the north coast of Honduras. She notes that the Carib people, who speak the Garifuna language, are descendants of Africans who escaped from slave ships. She discusses how the villagers did not know what to make of her because they had never met an African American person before. Tierney also talks about the violence that followed a military coup that ousted the Honduran government, and the outpouring of grief among her Honduran friends when President Kennedy was assassinated. Interviewed and recorded by Evelyn Ganzglass, May 13, 2016. 1 digital audio file.