doi:10.7916/d8-1mww-c127Oral history interview with May Corbin, 1984Corbin, Mayoral historiesmixed materialDrug addicts--United StatesDrug dealers--United StatesDrug traffic--History--20th century.--United StatesDrug abuse--History--20th century.--United StatesMethadone maintenance--History--20th century.--United StatesImprisonment--United StatesProstitutionJazz musiciansCorbin, MayFederal Prison Camp (Alderson, W. Va.)May Corbin describes her life as a heroin user, drug dealer, and sex trade worker in the Midwest and New York City. The interview tracks her development from a sheltered upbringing in Missouri to a singer in the Kansas City jazz world, where she knew Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, and Ray Charles. She describes living a double-life as a hotel maid living with her parents and as a secretive user of morphine, cocaine, and heroin. She discusses family dynamics with her mother and her husband during her marriage (1942-1946) and cycles of kicking her habit and then resuming use. As a heroin dealer in Kansas City from 1946-1950, she describes police corruption, the Pendergast crime syndicate, and her acquaintance with gangster Lucky Luciano, as well as the culture of the women's prison in Alderson, West Virginia where she spent seventeen months in 1952-1953. She descibes her life in New York City beginning in 1954, including life as a street prostitute, experiences with the criminal legal system, time spent in the Women's House of Detention, and her entry into a methadone program in 1971. Other topics covered include the race and class composition of user populations; the logistics and economics of drug sales and prostitution; changes in drug quality and price across different places and times; and shifts in the public culture of drug use and sales