Interviewer: Ernesto Valdéz

Project: University of Houston

Reverend Lowell Case is one of thirteen siblings born in a historically agricultural area of southern Maryland. Lowell discusses his youth and the education he received in the Catholic schools he attended and how competitive scholarship placement tests became after integration. Lowell lists the big-time employers like Bethlehem Steel and his own experiences working thirty-three hours a week with the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company while a student at Coppin State Teacher’s College. In 1980 after a year of spiritual formation and studies at Xavier University, Reverend Case was ordained priesthood and worked with parishes in Texas around the Houston area. All the churches are dedicated to the Blessed Mother, and Reverend Case goes into detail about the network of the community’s parishes and how they resulted in stability in the Fifth Ward.