RALPH J. BUNCHE ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION (S-Z)
SALVATORI, Henry (n.d.) RJB
418
Campaign manager for Samuel Yorty in his third-term bid for mayor of
Los Angeles. Discusses the campaign in relation to Yorty's leading opponent,
Black candidate, Thomas Bradley. Explains why Bradley polled a large per
cent of the total vote in the primary, attributing it to "Black sympathy."
Discusses "Communist and militant influences" in the Bradley
camp.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 18, 1969
Format: Transcript, 21 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SAMPSON, Albert Richard (1938- ) RJB
229
Staff member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
Recalls origin of idea of Poor People's Campaign. Discusses the marshalling
of forces for Campaign and some problems of Resurrection City.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: July 8, 1969
Format: Transcript, 39 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SANDERS, Emma (n.d.) RJB 472
Leader, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). Head, Haynes County
Head Start Program. Reminisces about the character and activism of her
college classmate Medgar Evers, recalling the Jackson community's reaction
to his murder. Offers explanation for the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) subsequent moratorium on demonstrations
in Mississippi and describes the mounting disillusionment of several local
NAACP field workers. Discusses the roles of the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) workers
(especially Bob Moses) in the Freedom Vote project, and identifies areas
of conflict between local ministers and community leaders and outside activist
groups. Gives a history of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party: its
supporters and detractors; and the challenge raised by it, the Loyal Democrats,
and Young Democrats to the established Mississippi Democratic Party. Discusses
Head Start and Child Development Group of Mississippi antipoverty program
activities, contending the co-option of civil rights activists into the
latter and its spin-off groups (Mississippi Action for Progress and the
Friends of the Children of Mississippi). Cites the dangers involved in
civil rights work in southern Mississippi. Reflects on CORE's and SNCC's
decisions to withdraw from civil rights activity in the state. Speculates
on the future of the civil rights movement locally and nationwide.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: July 8, 1969
Format: Transcript, 91 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SAUNDERS, Bill (n.d.), joint with RJB 204
PHENIX, Roger
Community organizer, Johns Island, South Carolina. Discusses public
school education in Johns Island, and why he now prefers Black schools
for Black youth, rather than integrated education. Reveals some of his
ideas and programs for Black school system. Discusses employment conditions
for Black hospital workers in his city.
Interviewer: Leeson
Date:
Format: Transcript, 63 pages (incomplete); tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SAVAGE, Philip (1932- ) RJB 44
Field director, Tri-State Area, National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP). Discusses his experiences in student protests
at Morgan State College, Baltimore. Relates activities with NAACP in voter
registration and anti-segregation measures in Cambridge, Maryland.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: September 26, 1967
Format: Transcript, 52 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository. No
quotation or citation during the lifetime of the oral author without his
written permission. Upon his death MSRC may give permission to quote or
cite. No reproduction in any form, except with permission from the oral
author, his heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
SCATTERGOOD, Charles (1941- ) RJB
576
Former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) worker in Mississippi
during the 1960's. Describes his involvement in civil rights, including
protest demonstrations in Washington and California. Discusses his association
with SNCC, especially his difficulty in being accepted by the organization
after it embraced "Black Power." Also discusses friction between
Black and white workers, reaction of white community to civil rights workers,
voter registration, and reaction of Black local residents to white SNCC
members. Comment on Black Panthers and why they are supported by elements
of the "radical left."
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: July 2, 1970
Format: Transcript, 61, 65 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SCHERMER, George (n.d.) RJB
76
Author. White House consultant on inner-city problems. Recounts his Depression-New
Deal era entry into interracial reconciliation/mediation activities and
public housing management on Chicago's south side. Describes racial divisions
and violent conflicts in that city (and also in Detroit) in the 1940s due
to deliberate and discriminatory tenant selection practices. Recalls his
experiences as director of Philadelphia's Commission on Human Relations
and appraises that Commission's vanguard efforts in advancing the concept
and model of affirmative action in housing and employment. Discusses contemporary
federal urban renewal and public housing efforts. Argues the need for broad
social change to effect Black economic advancement and assesses the status
of the civil rights movement.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: November 14, 1967
Format: Transcript, 125 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SCHINGLE, Frank E. (n.d.) RJB
248
Local leader, John Birch Society, Memphis, Tennessee. Comments on the Memphis
garbage strike within the framework of his organization's philosophy. Suggests
alternative methods to striking by which sanitation workers could have
achieved their demands. Comments on the "Communist" influence
in the civil rights movement.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 1968
Format: Transcript, 36 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SCHNEIDER, Charles (n.d.) RJB
249
Editor, Memphis Press-Scimitar. States why his paper opposed local garbage
strike in 1968. Comments on why strike developed into racial issue. Discusses
the effect of the newspaper boycott on his paper. Assesses the mood of
Memphis after the strike.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 12, 1968
Format: Transcript, 22 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SCHWARZCHILD, Henry (1925- ) RJB
314
Former executive director, Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee, an
organization of volunteer lawyers formed to represent the Black community
and civil rights workers in the South. Discusses some of the initial problems
of the Committee and its funding and impact on legal rights in the South
in relation to Blacks. Discusses relevance of civil rights movement to
him as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: July 26, 1968
Format: Transcript, 72 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SCOTT, C. A. (1908- ) RJB 127
Editor-publisher of The Atlanta Daily World, one of few Black daily newspapers
in U. S. A. Discusses origin and political effect of the Daily.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: January 25, 1968
Format: Transcript, 25 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SEALE, Bobby (1936- ) RJB 346
Chairman, Black Panther Party. Discusses origin, development, philosophy,
and programs of the Black Panthers.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: November 14, 1968
Format: Transcript, 20 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SEAY, Solomon, Jr. (1932- ) RJB
269
Attorney. Discusses some of the civil rights cases in which he was counsel.
Gives insight into the legal problems involved in the Selma-to-Montgomery
March.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: August 2, 1968
Format: Transcript, 42 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SEIGENTHALER, John (n.d.) RJB 234
Former administrative assistant to the late Robert F. Kennedy during part
of his tenure as Attorney General of the U. S. Remembers the civil rights
activities of Kennedy and his staff, including his relationship with Martin
Luther King Jr. Discusses the Justice Department's role in freedom rides,
voter registration, and the employment of Blacks in the Department.
Interviewer: Robert Campbell
Date: July 10, 1968
Format: Transcript, 64 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SELLER, Barney (n.d.) RJB 491
Formerly of Project Enforcement, Office of Economic Opportunity. Discusses
the 350 page study he compiled in which he examined the efforts of private
civil rights groups in Washington, D. C., and Federal agencies having powers
to enforce civil rights. Relates the results of his study and its acceptance
by various groups.
Interviewer: Helen Hall
Date: December 23, 1969
Format: Transcript, 50 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Researchers must seek written permission from oral author
to use transcript during his lifetime.
SHAGALOFF, June (1928- ) RJB
308
First director of education, National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP). Recalls her activities in preparing communities
for integrated education prior to the Supreme Court decision of 1954, and
methods of implementing desegregation after the ruling.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: September 5, 1967
Format: Transcript, 92 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SHAKOW, Patricia Connell (n.d.) RJB
410
Legislative aide, Senator Jacob Javits (R.-New York), U. S. Congress.
Explains why some civil rights bills passed and others did not, recalling
the strategies and tactics employed by pro-civil rights congressmen and
their staffs to get the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 out of committee and
onto the Senate floor for a vote. Discusses also the 1965 voting rights
bill and the open housing bill of 1966. Identifies key figures in congressional
activity around civil rights legislation, notably the roles played by senators
Everett Dirksen, Sam Ervin, Hubert Humphrey, Jacob Javits, Richard Russell,
and Strom Thurmond. Cites the influence of church and labor groups, especially
the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, in shaping congressional and
public opinion on civil rights issues. Speculates on the incoming Nixon
administration's position on civil rights enforcement and the future of
civil rights legislation.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: June 19, 1969
Format: Transcript, 37 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SHANKER, Albert (n.d.) RJB 531
President, American Federation of Teachers. Provides the teachers' perspective
of the bitter conflict that developed between the predominantly white teachers'
union and the Black and Puerto Rican parents and members of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville
(New York City) community which organized to form an independent, community-
controlled school district. Describes the union's objectives in its negotiations
with community leaders, and gives reasons for teachers' resistance to the
kind of community control the residents sought to implement. Discusses
the role played by Ford Foundation advisors in the creation and advancement
of the demonstration district. Criticizes the actions and tactics of central
district school board members as union-busting in their intent, and attributes
much of the tension between the parents and teachers to the central board.
Explains why the teachers went on strike in September 1967 and discusses
the community's reaction to the strike.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: March 12, 1970
Format: Transcript, 31 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SHANNON, Katherine (n.d.) RJB
297
Former staff member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and
worker in Poor People's Campaign. Discusses outstanding persons, events
and aspects of the Campaign. Relates successes and difficulties involved.
Details life in Resurrection City.
Interviewer: Claudia Rawles
Date: August 12, 1968
Format: Transcript, 81 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SHERMAN, Magnolia (n.d.) RJB
603
Intermediary worker for Welfare Rights Association, Cleveland, Ohio. Discusses
the need for her organization and some of its accomplishments.
Interviewer: Malaika Lumumba
Date: July 31, 1970
Format: Transcript, 16 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SHUMAN, Mark A. (n.d.) RJB 559
Student, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Suggests possible
reasons for the violence that accompanied a UMD student demonstration against
the Viet Nam War. Describes the violence, the police methods used to suppress
the crowd, and some of the strategies of the protesting groups. Discusses
the differences between the Black and white student movements at UMD and
nationally.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: 1970
Format: Transcript, 9 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SHUTTLESWORTH, Fred L. (1922- ) RJB
94
Founding member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Discusses
harassments he endured because of his civil rights activism, including
the bombing of his home and church in Birmingham. Recalls SCLC campaign
in Birmingham, Alabama. Discusses origin of SCLC and gives insight into
the personality of Martin Luther King Jr. Discusses idea for March on Washington
1963.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: September 1968
Format: Transcript, 94 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SIAS, Henry (1881- ) RJB 278
Chairman, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), Issaquena County,
Mississippi. Member of MFDP 1964 delegation that challenged seating of
the "regulars" at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: August 11, 1968
Format: Transcript, 47 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SIMMONS, Althea (n.d.) RJB
574
National director, Educational Services, National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP). Reflects on her career as an NAACP legal counsel,
especially her work with its voter registration and education projects
throughout the South, focusing on the activities of the NAACP youth branches.
Recalls NAACP Mississippi involvement in the Conference of Federated Organizations,
the Freedom Vote project, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
Discusses the other NAACP programs; and describes her current duties with
the NAACP: recruiting second- and third-level leadership in Black communities.
States NAACP positions on community control, Black Studies, separate dormitories
for Black students on white college campuses, consumer education, and the
cooperative movement. Highlights the relationship between the Howard University
Law School and the NAACP. Describes the reactions of NAACP-Washington,
DC-branch staffers and other civil rights figures who were actually present
at the Supreme Court building on May 17, 1954, or in the DC area when the
Brown v. Board of Education decision was handed down.
Interviewer: Malaika Lumumba
Date: June 18, 1970
Format: Transcript, 26 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SIMMONS, Samuel (n.d.) RJB 674
Assistant secretary, Equal Opportunity, U. S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Recalls his early involvement with the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as a college student "testing"
public accommodation providers' observance of desegregation laws; then
as an NAACP research staffer, a labor dispute mediator with the Michigan
Fair Employment Practices Commission, and later member of the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights. Delineates his HUD duties and objectives: administering
and enforcing the Fair Housing Law and coordinating the construction of
mass-produced federal housing projects for low- income residents. Describes
countermanding tactics used by local governments, construction companies,
and building trades unions to avoid desegregation and affirmative action
statutes, and details HUD's responses to noncompliance. Articulates a vision
of Black and minority capitalism and entrepreneurship, especially heightened
Black involvement in the housing industry. Compares the Nixon, Kennedy,
and Johnson administrations' commitment to HUD programs.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: January 14, 1971
Format: Transcript, 41 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SIMPSON, Larry (n.d.) RJB 579
President, Kent State Black Student Union. Comments on the lack of Black
student participation in the Kent State demonstrations in 1970. Discusses
the goals of the Black Student Union and the activities of its six divisions--communications,
cultural, educational, economic, social, defense.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: June 26, 1970
Format: Transcript, 19 pages; tape not available
Restrictions Standard
SIRLES, Charles (n.d.) RJB 459
Community service worker, district 4, Economic Opportunity Council, San
Francisco, California. Discusses the formation of the Black Student Union
(BSU) at Golden Gate College and that group's relatively peaceful, nonconfrontational
achievement of its demands for curricular and administrative changes aimed
at making the college more meaningful for students of color.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: July 15, 1969
Format: Transcript, 44 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SLAINMAN, Donald (n.d.) RJB
366
Director, civil rights department, AFL-CIO. Discusses objectives and programs
of his division. Explains method used to process complaints of discrimination
by workers. Relates role of unions in combating social and civil rights
problems. Discusses AFL-CIO's support of civil rights legislation and progress
Blacks have made within unions. Describes LEAP (Labor Education Advancement
Program), a project operated jointly with the National Urban League.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: January 14, 1969
Format: Transcript, 43 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMILEY, Glenn E. (1910- ) RJB
42
Associate executive director, Fellowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist
group often active in civil rights endeavors. Discusses his role as advisor
to Martin Luther King Jr., in tactical nonviolence, during Montgomery bus
boycott. Also relates his experiences in civil rights demonstrations in
other Southern centers.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: September 12, 1967
Format: Transcript, 68 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository, quoted
from and cited. No reproduction in any form including microphoto, typewriter,
photostat etc. Researchers may seek permission from the oral author, his
heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
SMITH, A. Maceo (n.d.) RJB 182
Assistant to regional director, Department of Housing and Urban Development,
Dallas, Texas. Concentrates on the activities of the Committee of Fourteen,
a bi-racial group of Black and white businessmen and civic leaders which
attempted to bring about peaceful integration in Dallas.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: May 2, 1968
Format: Transcript, 19 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Edward (n.d.) RJB 589
President, Student Government, Morgan State College, Baltimore, Maryland.
States his reasons for enrolling at Morgan State, the goals of his student
body presidency, and his personal rewards from student government involvement.
Describes the general student climate and recalls several student protests
there in 1970 after the Jackson State killings and the school administration's
reactions to the protests. Explains why MSU's student government association
broke off from the predominantly white National Students Association. Comments
on Black Baltimore congressman Parren Mitchell's political and civil rights
leadership.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: July 30, 1970
Format: Transcript, 15 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Kelly Miller (n.d.) RJB
261
Former adult leader and advisor in the Southern civil rights protest movement
of the early 1960's. Also discusses his youth in all-Negro town in Mississippi.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: December 22, 1967
Format: Transcript, 55 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Lou (1929- ) RJB 350
Former member, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Director, Operation
Bootstrap, a non-profit Black enterprise in Los Angeles, California. Traces
CORE's adoption of the Black Power concept from its 1965 convention in
North Carolina. Discusses Operation Bootstrap--its origin, philosophy,
and some of its entities, which include a school, factory, and publishing
company.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: November 18, 1968
Format: Transcript, 36 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Maxine (n.d.) RJB 251
Executive secretary, Memphis, Tennessee chapter, National Association for
the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP). Looks at Memphis during the
garbage strike and its aftermath. Discusses NAACP activities prior to and
during the strike.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 11, 1968
Format: Transcript, 34 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Melvin (1939- ) RJB 277
Elected constable on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) ticket
in Issquena County, Mississippi in 1967. Discusses his duties, his town,
and why he was the only successful MFDP candidate in that election.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: August 10, 1968
Format: Transcript, 23 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Robert L. T., Sr. (n.d.) RJB
486
Member, Jackson (Mississippi) chapter, National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP). Relates his opinions on Black voter registration
efforts in Mississippi from the 1920s through the 60s and evaluates changes
in the racial climate of the South. Recalls his involvement in civil rights
activities in Mississippi as head of the Jackson Movement after Medgar
Evers's assassination, first treasurer of the Conference of Federated Organizations
(COFO), and as an active participant in the Freedom Vote campaign and the
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Identifies several of the workers
and organizations involved in support of civil rights efforts in Mississippi
and chastises those Blacks who were more compliant and afraid to jeopardize
their privileged positions with the white power structure. Discusses the
economic status of Black Mississippians in the 1960s.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: July 10, 1969
Format: Transcript, 52 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, S. Edward (n.d.), joint with RJB 36
ATKINSON, Albert B.
Executive director, Office of Economic Opportunity, Maryland office. Describes
on-the-job training programs administered through his office. Looks at
socio-economic situation of Blacks in Baltimore.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: September 8, 1967
Format: Transcript, 76 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Scott B., Jr. (n.d.) RJB
59
Former project director, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Describes internal struggle of
CORE in Chicago, causing it to split along ideological and racial lines.
Gives eyewitness account of Southern voter registration.
Interviewer Stanley H. Smith
Date: October 1968
Format: Transcript, 58 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Stanley H. (n.d.) RJB
175
Sociologist. Chairman, Social Sciences Division, Tuskegee Institute. Member,
Tuskegee (Alabama) City Council. Discusses economic and social changes
in his city as a result of Blacks being elected to the city council. Reflects
on Tuskegee's gerrymandering case. Discusses the Southwest Alabama Farmers
Cooperative Association (SWAFCA) and the Southeast Alabama Self-Help Association
(SEASHA) as economic opportunities for lower income Blacks.
Interviewer: Vincent J. Browne
Date: April 25, 1967
Format: Transcript, 31 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SMITH, Welton (n.d.) RJB 498
Poet. Student. One of the initiators of Stanford University African-American
Literary Journal. Talks about his experiences as a Black student at Stanford
University in the 1960s and about the formation of the Afro-American Association
(AAA) there. Highlights the AAA's community improvement and economic development
efforts and its cultural activities, especially the three annual "Mind
of the Ghetto" conferences it sponsored on inner-city life. Discusses
his poetry, the role of the artist in society and in the Black struggle,
and the commodification of art.
Interviewer: Malaika Lumumba
Date: January 30, 1970
Format: Transcript, 19 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SPEISER, Lawrence (n.d.) RJB
218
Director, Washington, D. C. office, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Gives origin, nature, growth and membership of his organization. Makes
reference to several ACLU cases in the civil rights area. Discusses concept
of civil disobedience. Gives ACLU's connection with Lawyers Constitutional
Defense Committee, and discusses some of LCDC's activities.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: June 1968
Format: Transcript, 44 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SPERO, Richard (n.d.) RJB 572
Professor, Howard University, Washington, D. C.
Interviewer: Henry Smith
Date: June 8, 1970
Format: Transcript, 45 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SPINGARN, Arthur (1878-1971) RJB
165
Former president, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). Discusses the NAACP in its infancy--its programs, staff, and funding.
Comments on many of the organization's outstanding personalities, including
W. E. B. DuBois, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins. Looks at today's NAACP.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: March 6, 1968
Format: Transcript, 42 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STALLWORTH, Edward (n.d.) RJB
196
First Negro desk sergeant, Tuskegee (Alabama) police force. Discusses activities
and duties of that position and changes he instituted within the police
department.
Interviewer: Stanley H. Smith
Date: June 4, 1968
Format: Transcript, 28 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STANLEY, Frank L., Sr. (n.d.) RJB
300
Editor-publisher, Louisville Defender, Louisville, Kentucky. Highlights
his newspaper career and gives a brief history of the Black press in America--its
role and contributions, present status, relationship to the white press,
and problems. Discloses The Defender's circulation and distribution. Discusses
his involvement in the civil rights involvement and describes generally
the important role of the Black press, revealing the activist roots of
many prominent Black newspaper figures. Identifies Black press "graduates"
among prominent civil rights leaders.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: September 19, 1968
Format: Transcript, 49 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STEELE, Percy H., Jr. (n.d.) RJB
427
Executive director, Bay Area Urban League, San Francisco, California. Recalls
highlights of his two-decades-plus career organizing and reorganizing offices
of the Urban League across the country to focus on race relations, police-community
relations, employment, vocational training, housing, and welfare issues
in the inner city. Focuses on the San Francisco branch's involvement with
the United Freedom Movement and other civil rights and student activist
groups in the 60s. Discusses the Third World coalition concept, Black Power,
and the Black Panthers.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: July 19, 1969
Format: Transcript, 68 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STEVENS, Jose (n.d.) RJB 667
Harlem organizer, American Communist Party. Founding member, Young Workers
Liberation League. Explains his Marxist philosophy and gives history of
the League (founded in 1970). Discusses his involvement in tenants' rights
activities and outlines his campaign platform in his bid for (undisclosed)
public office. Shares views on labor aspects of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville
school district dispute, Black capitalism and capitalists, and the class
struggle in America.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: November 20, 1970
Format: Transcript, 30 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STEWART, Darneau V. (n.d.) RJB
697
Member, School Board, Detroit, Michigan. Discusses his 1963 and 1964 platforms
and campaigns for election to the Detroit school board, the latter of which
he won for a 6-year term. Describes his duties on the board and his and
other Black board members' efforts to change teacher examination and tenure
regulations to increase the number of Black teachers and effect policy
changes aimed at integrating school system staffs.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 10, 1970
Format: Transcript, 15 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STEWART, Pearl (n.d.) RJB 670
Feature editor, Hilltop, Howard University student newspaper, Washington,
D. C.
Interviewer: Allen Coleman
Date: October 27, 1970
Format: Transcript, 67 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STOKES, Louis (1925- ) RJB 713
Representative (D.-Ohio) and chairman, Black Caucus, U. S. Congress. Discusses
his reasons for entering politics. Concentrates on Black Caucus, including
its origin and goals, divisions within the group; relationship to President
Nixon's Administration. Comments on Black National Political Convention
in Indiana (1972) and Black support of Democratic and Republican presidential
candidates.
Interviewer: Edward Thompson III
Date: March 14, 1973
Format: Transcript, 12, 16, 17 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STOKES, Sim (n.d.) RJB 661
Associate director, Management and Technical Assistance, the President's
Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise. Describes the scope of
the Advisory Council's mandate and broadly discusses minority business
enterprise and finance issues and strategies. Gives opinions on Black separatism
and political direction.
Interviewer: Norma Leonard
Date: December 14, 1970
Format: Transcript, 74 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STOVALL, Charlayne Hunter (1942- ) RJB
11
First Negro woman to matriculate and graduate from the University of Georgia.
Relates some of her experiences there, and those of her fellow Black colleague,
Hamilton Holmes.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: July 26, 1967
Format: Transcript, 34 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
STROMAN, C. F. (n.d.) RJB 655
Professor, Aerospace Studies, Howard University, Washington, D. C. Shares
highlights of his military career--particularly incidents of racism and
his reactions to them--and of his experiences as an ROTC instructor at
Howard University. Describes the campus climate and student attitudes.
Comments on the concept of Black Power and compares the effectiveness of
various civil rights groups.
Interviewer: Allen Coleman
Date: October 23, 1970
Format: Transcript, 80 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SUAREZ, Matteo (n.d.) RJB 468
Former field secretary, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Mississippi.
Discusses the creation of the New Orleans CORE chapter and the factors
leading to its dissolution as an integrated branch and later reconstitution
as an all-Black group. Comments on CORE's activities in Mississippi, particularly
with the Freedom Vote project and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
Cites reasons why CORE pulled out of Mississippi and points out broader
racial, economic, and geographical tensions and disparities between CORE's
national office staff and its field staff. Describes the scope and activities
of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference-sponsored New Orleans Consumers
League. Briefly discusses the development of the Free Southern Theater
in New Orleans. Notes the successes and goals of a cooperative trucking
firm and other entrepreneurial ventures he and other Black New Orleanians
developed with federal loan assistance.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: August 11, 1969
Format: Transcript, 48 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SUGARMON, Russell B. Jr. (n.d.) RJB
192
Representative, Tennessee State Legislature. Attorney. Recalls his experiences
as demonstrator, lawyer and advisor to protesters who sought to end segregated
public facilities in Memphis in the early 1960's. Contrasts tactics and
attitudes of present day protesters with those of early 1960's. Looks at
situation and condition of Blacks in Memphis.
Interviewer: Clayton Braddock
Date: May 25, 1968
Format: Transcript, 52 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
SULLIVAN, Leon H. (1922- ) RJB
46
Minister and community organizer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. First director,
Operation Breadbasket--campaign that selectively boycotts industries and
companies to force them to hire Blacks. Founder Opportunities Industrialization
Center (OIC), a manpower training program. Discusses these endeavors. Also
discusses other economic programs he initiated, such as housing complexes
and a shopping center financed by Blacks.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: September 25, 1967
Format: Transcript, 36 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository, quoted
from and cited. No reproduction in any form including microphoto, typewriter,
photostat etc. Researchers may seek permission from the oral author, his
heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
SULLIVAN, Neil (n.d.) RJB
79
Superintendent of the Prince Edward County, Virginia Free School Association,
when the public schools re-opened in 1964, after being closed for five
years in order to avoid integrating.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: November 17, 1967
Format: Transcript, 83 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TAITT, Adelaide L. (n.d.) RJB
296
Activist, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Describes the
Atlanta Student Movement of the late 1950s through the 60s. Highlights
the activities and tactics of Atlanta University, Morehouse, and Spelman
student members of SNCC and the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights to
integrate public theaters, restaurants, and transportation services and
to "test" desegregation progress via boycotts, sit-ins, jail-ins,
and media pressure. Discusses her own prison experiences and that of other
civil rights protesters. Reads a few entries from her jailhouse diary.
Recalls especially the activities of her friend, activist Ruby Doris Smith,
a Spelman student, one of SNCC's founders, and its first executive secretary.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: August 20, 1968
Format: Transcript, 55 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TATE, Horace E. (1922- ) RJB
637
Associate director, Georgia Association of Educators, Atlanta, Georgia.
Reflects on his experiences as a school principal in rural "Jim Crow"
Black public schools in Georgia in the 40s, citing his behind-the-scenes
efforts to organize Black parents and community leaders to improve conditions
in these schools and to register to vote. Gives brief history of the (Black)
Georgia Teachers Association (GTA), describing its structure and purpose
and his leadership role in that organization prior to Brown v. Board of
Education. Describes the impact of desegregation on Black teachers, school
administrators, and students. Discusses the reasons for and effects of
the GTA's 1970 merger with the larger, mostly white, state teachers' association
to form the National Education Association-affiliated Georgia Association
of Educators, focusing on his new role as vice president of the desegregated
organization. Recounts discriminatory practices he was subjected to after
his appointment to the NEA national board. Discusses his 1969 Atlanta mayoral
campaign. Endorses Jimmy Carter's bid for the governorship and comments
favorably on Lester Maddox's record of Black state employment. Advocates
Black community control of schools and other community assets.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: October 14, 1970
Format: Transcript, 89 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TAYLOR, Noel C. (1922- ) RJB
621
Member, City Council, Roanoke, Virginia. First Black so elected. Comments
on his campaign, Black-white civic cooperation, Black political development
and unity, problems peculiar to Black community, and means of livelihood
in his city.
Interviewer: Malaika Lumumba
Date: August 28, 1970
Format: Transcript, 27 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TAYLOR, William L. (1931- ) RJB
18
Staff director, U. S. Civil Rights Commission. Formerly staff lawyer with
NAACP Legal Defense Educational Fund. Discusses civil rights cases handled
by Fund, and also their cost in terms of man- hours and finances. Relates
anti-discriminatory measures of Civil Rights Commission that were enacted
into law.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: August 8, 1967
Format: Transcript, 46 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
THOMAS, Antonio (1944- ) RJB
640
Associate director, Southern Center for Studies in Social Policy, which
provides "day-to-day legal assistance for Black community organizations."
Discusses duties as associate director; major programs of Center, especially
services to Black elected officials; local politics in Georgia. Recalls
sit-in activities as member of Committee on Appeal for Human Rights. Discusses
role as legal intern to civil rights lawyers in the South during the 1960's.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: October 19, 1970
Format: Transcript, 40 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
THOMAS, Larry (n.d.) RJB 595
Director, Black Unity Community Center and Black Unity House, Cleveland,
Ohio. Explains programs and classes offered. Discusses funding of organization.
Gives his definition of Black nationalism. Discusses relevancy of present
American system to Blacks.
Interviewer: Malaika Lumumba
Date: August 14, 1970
Format: Transcript, 30 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
THOMAS, Piri (n.d.) RJB 53
Author. Discusses his book, Down These Mean Streets. Recites some of his
prose and poetry which express life in inner-city ghettos. Discusses briefly
his life to date.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: September 29, 1967
Format: Transcript, 67 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TIJERINA, Reis (1926- ) RJB
194
Leader of Mexican-American contingency of Poor People's Campaign. Briefly
describes his life to date. Discusses methods allegedly used by U. S. Government
to wrest land grants from his people. Discloses his role in the Poor People's
Campaign and the difficulty between it and SCLC.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: June 12, 1968
Format: Transcript, 15 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TILLMAN, Nathaniel (n.d.) RJB
209
Academic Dean of Instruction, Delaware State College. Discusses issues
that caused student unrest at his school in 1968.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: June 13, 1968
Format: Transcript, 46 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository, quoted
from and cited. No reproduction in any form including microphoto, typewriter,
photostat, etc. Researchers may seek permission from the oral author, his
heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
TILLSON, John B. (n.d.) RJB
409
Tillson and some members of SNCC recall the murder of Jonathan Daniels,
who was shot while working on a voter registration drive in Alabama.
Interviewer: John B. Tillson
Date: January 31, 1968
Format: Transcript, 18 pages
Restrictions: Standard
TODD, Mollie (n.d.), joint with RJB
108
RAGLAND, Martha Mrs. Todd
of the League of Women Voters--Churchwomen United, and Mrs. Ragland,
Chairman, Tennessee State Advisory Committee to the U. S. Commission of
Civil Rights, discuss social and racial injustice in Nashville, Tennessee,
and personal problems they experienced as white civil rights advocates.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: December 23, 1967
Format: Transcript, 65 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TOWNES, Clarence L., Jr. (n.d.) RJB
571
Special assistant to the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Two interviews. First deals with his civil rights activities in Virginia
prior to joining the National Committee; how he became associated with
the Republican Party and subsequently the National Committee; duties with
that organization; theories on the use of political power for the vested
interest of minority groups; Nixon's "Southern strategy." Second
interview concerns Nixon's political strategy; Virginia politics; Townes'
role with the Nixon Administration.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: June 11, 1970
Format: Transcript, 41 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TRACY, Octavius (1942- ) RJB 421
Director, Upward Bound, University of San Francisco. Member, Black Student
Union, San Francisco State College (SFSC). Identifies the key leadership
of the Black Student Union at SFSC during the 1960s (notably that of Donald
Warden and Jimmy Garrett), the activities they led and their thrust to
make the college more responsive to Black students and Blacks in the local
community. Discusses the concepts of Black Power and the Third World, the
Black Panthers, Black and other ethnic group studies, white racism, Black
separatist and integrationist ideologies, and the possibility of violent
racial confrontation in America.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: July 10, 1969
Format: Transcript, 70 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TRENT, William (n.d.) RJB 584
Director of Equal Opportunities Education, George Washington University,
Washington, D. C. Discusses the need for and purpose of his service, a
remedial compensatory program for Black incoming students at George Washington.
Reviews aspects of his program, including counseling, tutorial service
and the summer remedial course. Comments on the lack of Black faculty and
Black studies program at the University.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: July 14, 1970
Format: Transcript, 32 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TUCKER, Sterling (1923- ) RJB
5/500
Director, Urban League, Washington, D. C. Traces his association with the
Urban League to date. Discusses activities and programs of the D. C. Chapter.
Gives his ideas on riots, their causes and eradication. Discusses public
education in Washington.
Interviewers: Vincent J. Browne; James M. Mosby Jr.
Dates: July 17, 1967; October 18, 1969
Format: Transcripts, 43 pages; 10 pages; tapes not available
Restrictions: Standard
TUREAUD, A. P. (1899-1972) RJB
467
Veteran activist, New Orleans Chapter, National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP). Recalls the challenges of his active legal career
as a lawyer for the New Orleans NAACP, working with Thurgood Marshall and
Charles Houston on issues of voter registration and desegregation in higher
education. Digresses to relate a colorful history of the Black presence
in Louisiana from the 18th century through Reconstruction to the 1900s
and the civil rights era. Comments on Louisiana governor Huey Long's racial
perspectives.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: August 9, 1969
Format: Transcript, 45 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TURNER, Jesse (n.d.) RJB 256
President, Memphis chapter, National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP). Cites the NAACP's position and efforts in support
of the striking Memphis sanitation workers and in the Memphis area generally.
Gives background information on the strike: the long-standing grievances
of the men and their previous attempts to unionize; the formation of the
Community on the Move for Equality (COME); and the mobilization of the
Memphis community around the issue--the related boycotts and almost daily
marches staged during the strike. Recalls Martin Luther King Jr.'s visits
to Memphis, explains why King was called, and considers the impact of King's
assassination on the strike negotiations. Compares the Loeb and Ingram
mayoral administrations' relationships with the Black Memphis community,
and outlines racial divisions in Memphis city politics.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 11, 1968
Format: Transcript, 51 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TUTT, Stacey (n.d.) RJB 617
Member, City Council, Culpepper, Virginia. First Black elected since
1887. Describes low-income housing and recreational facilities as primary
needs of Black citizens. Discusses the economic base, employment, and Black
migration in this city of approximately 6,000 inhabitants.
Interviewer: Malaika Lumumba
Date: August 28, 1970
Format: Transcript, 12 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
TYUS, Wyomie (n.d.), joint with RJB
439
RUDOLPH, Wilma
Olympic champions and gold medal winners. Administrative analysts, Black
Studies Program, University of California, Los Angeles.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: August 15, 1969
Format: Transcript, 54 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
UDALL, Morris K. (1922- ) RJB
709
Representative (D.-Arizona). U. S. Congress. Recalls childhood influences
that geared him towards career in government. Discusses Mormon Church dogma
as it relates to Blacks. Looks at civil rights legislation during Johnson
Administration and its outlook under Nixon. Examines areas of job discrimination
in Federal government. Comments on effectiveness of Congressional Black
Caucus.
Interviewer: Edward Thompson III
Date: February 22, 1973
Format: Transcript, 17 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
UNGER, Paul (1914- ) RJB 84
Chairman, Cleveland (Ohio) Subcommittee, U. S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Reflects on his government and civic service activities in Cleveland, particularly
as a member of the local Civil Rights Commission whose efforts focused
on eliminating housing, hiring, and welfare discrimination against the
urban poor. Describes the efforts of the Cleveland Inner-City Action Committee
and the Businessmen's Interracial Committee to improve police-Black community
relations, increase the number of Black police, create other employment
opportunities, and renew the inner city. Comments on new (Cleveland's first
Black) mayor Carl Stokes's platform and political future and compares Stokes's
and his predecessor's race- relations records.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: November 15, 1967
Format: Transcript, 29 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
USSERY, Wilfred T. (1928- ) RJB
434
Second national vice-chairman, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and president,
Black Urban Systems, a consulting firm that advises Black communities on
acquiring control of institutions, services, and resources generated within
their environs. Discusses activities of San Francisco CORE in areas of
de facto school segregation and employment.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: July 17, 1969
Format: Transcript, 101 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
VINSON, Luther H. (n.d.) RJB
666
Assistant to the president, Freedom National Bank of New York. Former leader,
Rochdale (New York) chapter, National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP). Relates the historical importance and achievements
of Black-owned banks in the South. Gives history of Freedom National Bank
in Harlem: its 1964 establishment, backers, objectives, and growth. Comments
on the white-dominated banking industry's role in creating Black ghettos
in the urban North, citing Black banks' efforts to reverse economic decline
in Black communities. Advocates for the continued support and promotion
of Black banks.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: November 20, 1970
Format: Transcript, 22 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
VIVIAN, C. T. (n.d.) RJB 153
Former staff member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Discusses
some of the civil rights campaigns in which he was involved including the
Nashville (Tennessee) movement and St. Augustine (Florida) movement. Describes
the philosophy and guidance of Martin Luther King Jr. and other SCLC officials
in various activities and demonstrations.
Interviewer: Vincent J. Browne
Date: February 20, 1968
Format: Transcript, 76 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
VORSPAN, Albert (1924- ) RJB
107
Director, Commission on Social Action, Union of Hebrew Congregations. Discusses
the civil rights-social action thrust of his department. Looks at the attitudes
and role of Jews in the civil rights area.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: December 19, 1967
Format: Transcript, 75 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WAGNER, Freida (n.d.), see Walker, Tillie RJB
231
WAITHE, Eldridge (1908- ) RJB 73
Negro Deputy Chief Inspector, New York City Police Department. Discusses
his experiences as a law enforcement officer and the conflicts of a Black
policeman.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: November 3, 1967
Format: Transcript, 65 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository. No
quotation or citation during the lifetime of the oral author without his
permission to quote or cite. No reproduction in any form, except with permission
from the oral author, his heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
WALKER, A. Maceo (1909- ) RJB
254
Chairman of the board and president, Universal Life Insurance Company,
Memphis, Tennessee. Discusses the Memphis garbage strike, including the
grievances of the sanitation workers and why he believed the strike was
justified. Describes the protest marches.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 1968
Format: Transcript, 17 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WALKER, Thomas (n.d.) RJB 578
Member, Yale University Strike Committee. Discusses reasons for joining
the strike committee, May Day, Black students at Yale, and effect of campus
strikes.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: June 19, 1970
Format: Transcript, 18 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WALKER, Tillie (n.d.), joint with RJB
231
WAGNER, Freida
Two American Indian participants in the Poor People's Campaign. Relate
how they became involved in the movement. Discuss tribal opposition to
the movement, the gathering of Indian Participants across the country,
and life in Resurrection City. Walker describes United Scholarship Service,
a private agency devoted to higher education for Indians.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: July 1968
Format: Transcript, 40 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WALKER, Wyatt Tee (1929- ) RJB
56
Former executive director, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Describes personalities, operations, and projects connected with SCLC.
Discusses relationship of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
to SCLC.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: October 11, 1967
Format: Transcript, 102 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WALLACE, William (1937- ) RJB
273
Co-chairman, Greenwood Movement, Greenwood, Mississippi. Discusses the
"militant but nonviolent" philosophy of the Movement. Recalls
its origin. Cites reasons for the boycott in Greenwood, including the lack
of Black employment in business and government.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: August 7, 1968
Format: Transcript, 35 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WALLER, Alfred (n.d.) RJB 85
Discusses United Pastors Association, a civic and social action group in
Philadelphia.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: November 11, 1967
Format: Transcript, 16 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WALMSLEY, Arthur (1928- ) RJB
115
Acting associate director, Department of Christian Social Relations of
the Episcopal Church. Traces the development of the Episcopal Church's
attitude towards integration following the supreme Court decision of 1954.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: January 8, 1968
Format: Transcript, 56 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WALTER, Francis X. (n.d.) RJB
400
Director, Selma Inter-Religious Project, Selma, Alabama. Founder Quilting
Bee Industry, Gees Bend, Alabama. Describes his entry, as an Episcopal
minister, into civil rights activities in Alabama, noting especially his
roles in the formation of ESCRU (the Episcopal Society for Cultural and
Racial Unity) and the Selma Interreligious Project (SIP). Outlines the
purpose, composition, and achievements of both groups. Highlights their
involvement and that of other white groups and individuals before, during,
and after the 1965 Southern Leadership Conference-coordinated march on
Selma. Discusses conflicts between white and Black, local and "outside"
civil rights factions in Selma and other parts of Alabama where he worked.
Assesses the political conflicts between rural Dallas County (Alabama)
whites and Blacks. Details the conflict between Shirley Mesher, a former
Southern Christian Leadership Conference worker, and Rev. Frederick Reese
in particular. Comments on the creation and operation of an Office of Economic
Opportunity-funded antipoverty agency, Self-Help Against Poverty for Everyone,
a local Voters League organization, and a farmers' cooperative (the Southwest
Alabama Farmers Cooperative Association). Describes the activities of the
Southwest Alabama Self-Help Housing, Inc., and a Black women quilters'
cooperative in rural Wilcox County and his leadership/guidance role in
these two enterprises. Comments generally on the role of whites in the
civil rights movement and the exploitation of Blacks in the rural South.
Interviewer: Stanley H. Smith
Date: August 1968
Format: Transcript, 70 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WARDEN, Donald (1936- ) RJB 426
Founder, Afro-American Association, San Francisco, California. Reflects
on how he overcame an educationally underprivileged background to attend
Howard University and the University of California-Berkeley law school
and become an attorney/community activist. Discusses his role in the creation
of an all-Black reading/study group at UC-Berkeley, the Afro-American Association,
which evolved into a cultural organization that developed and provided
comprehensive civic programs in the Black Bay Area community. Describes
the "Mind of the Ghetto" conferences the group sponsored and
the local radio and television shows it produced, which he hosted. Notes
his relationship with singer James Brown, highlighting the political consciousness-raising
influence he had on Brown's musical directions during the 60s.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: July 25, 1969
Format: Transcript, 61 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WARREN, John (n.d.) RJB 669
Student, Howard University, Washington, D. C. Recalls student protests
and the political climate at Howard University in the late 1960s, especially
around the issue of making the university "more relevant" and
demands for a "Black university." Discusses his own involvement
in student government. Contrasts James Nabrit's administration and relationship
with students and faculty to that of his successor, James Cheek.
Interviewer: Allen Coleman
Date: January 1971
Format: Transcript, 30 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WATKINS, Hollis (1941 ) RJB
285
Former field secretary, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),
Mississippi. Recalls his teenage interest and involvement in the Freedom
Rides and voter registration efforts. Discusses his role as a Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) field secretary and trainer in Mississippi
in the early 1960s. Describes his work (and subsequent repeated arrests
and beatings) in the escalating voter registration movement in Macon County.
Delineates the responsibilities of SNCC's Bob Moses (voter registration)
and Marion Barry (direct action). Comments on the relationship between
SNCC staff and Medgar Evers of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP), and on the NAACP's role in the Conference of
Federated Organizations (COFO). Chronicles the evolution of the Freedom
Vote project--debating the pros and cons of white northern students' involvement
in it, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Discusses the origins
and objectives of the Child Development Group of Mississippi, citing reasons
for SNCC's disapproval of the program.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: August 5, 1968
Format: Transcript, 45 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WATKINS, Terry (n.d.) RJB 651
Administrative assistant, Watts Labor Committee for Community Action, Los
Angeles, California. Talks primarily about her father's (Ted Watkins) role
as director of the nonprofit center and about the center's multifaceted
functions and programs aimed at providing vocational, agricultural, and
clerical training to the people of Watts, especially the youth, and restoring
the economy of the riot-torn areas.
Interviewer: Nanette Freeman
Date: October 23, 1970
Format: Transcript, 28 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WATTS, Daniel H. (n.d.) RJB 516
Editor-in-chief, Liberator magazine. Discusses Liberator, its origins,
initial thrust, circulation, operational difficulties. Recalls ideological
differences with Martin Luther King Jr. Discusses various factions and
theories of Black nationalism. Comments on anti-Semitism in the Black community.
Gives origin and purpose of Freedom Now Party.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: February 27, 1970
Format: Transcript, 47 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WEAVER, Robert (1907-deceased, n.d.) RJB
377
Former Secretary, U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Two
interviews. First interview concentrates on circumstances surrounding his
appointment as Secretary, necessity of integrated housing, problems of
public housing, his meeting with the delegation from the Poor People's
Campaign, lobbying techniques used to effect the fair housing portion of
the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and assessment of his tenure as Secretary.
Second interview deals with fair housing portion of Civil Rights Act of
1968 including its origin, drafting, administration, support, opposition,
introduction into the Senate. Also discusses his opposition to housing
bill that would allow private sponsors to rehabilitate or buy homes for
resale to lower income persons.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: March 12, 1969
Format: Transcript, 64 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WEAVER, Rosetta (n.d.) RJB 557
President, Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC), Bernard M. Baruch
College. Shares her experiences as a Black American living and working
in Cuba and Ghana. Describes her OIC fundraising work and the programs
at the Center.
Interviewer: Malaika Lumumba
Date: February 4, 1970
Format; Transcript, 39 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WELSH, Mike (n.d.), joint with RJB
378
NOLAN, David
Executive secretary, Southern Student Organizing Committee.
Interviewer: Shatz
Date: Format: Transcript, 68, 69 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WESCHLER, Stuart (1942- ) RJB
106
Associate director, Baltimore chapter, Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE). Discussion of his activities with CORE--its freedom rides, voter
registration experiences in the South, and urban activities in Baltimore,
Maryland.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: December 15, 1970
Format: Transcript, 154 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WESLEY, Charles (n.d.) RJB 519
Executive director, Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
Discusses Carter G. Woodson's relationship to the Association including
its organization September 1915; launching of Journal of Negro History,
1916; Negro History Week; founding of Negro History Bulletin, 1937. Recalls
funding of Association in early years. Discusses Congressional efforts
to establish National Commission on Afro-American History.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: March 5, 1970
Format: Transcript, 31 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WHITE, Andrew (n.d.) RJB 93
Minister. Executive secretary-treasurer, Division of Christian Education,
African Methodist Episcopal Church. Recalls his attack on the Red Cross'
discriminatory policy of separating the blood of white and Black donors.
Discusses school desegregation activities in Nashville, Tennessee, prior
to 1954 Supreme Court decision. Relates the differences in Nashville in
the area of "enlightened progress" from his arrival in 1948 to
the present.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: November 28, 1967
Format: Transcript, 36 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WHITE, Charles (n.d.) RJB 660
Member, Student Council, Howard University, Washington, D. C. Discusses
his military experiences as a soldier, stateside and in Viet Nam.
Interviewer: Allen Coleman
Date: November 9, 1970
Format: Transcript, 14 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WHITECLOUD, Jim (n.d.) RJB
651
Vice-director, Los Angeles (California) Indian Center. Describes the historic
functions and future plans of the Indian Center in providing services to
Native Americans who migrate to urban areas from the reservations. Describes
conditions on the reservations and the diversity of Indian groups.
Interviewer: Nanette Freeman
Date: October 26, 1970
Format: Transcript, 8 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILCOX, Preston (n.d.) RJB 205
Former professor of social work, Columbia University. Director, Bedford-Stuyvesant
Development and Service Corporation (Educational Affiliate). Discusses
"myth" of integration and why he supports quality Black public
schools. Suggests reasons for school decentralization and community control.
Discusses curriculum of four year community-controlled and community-oriented
college planned for the Bedford-Stuyvesant area. Comments on campus dissent
at Columbia University.
Interviewer: Jim Leeson
Date: May 1968
Format: Transcript, 36 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILDER, Lawrence Douglas (aka L. Douglas) (1931-
) RJB 612
State senator, Richmond, Virginia. Discusses his legislative priorities,
problems of being the only Black senator, welfare reform and lack of employment
opportunities in Richmond.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: August 23, 1970
Format: Transcript, 19 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILEY, George (1931-deceased) RJB 335/679
Executive director, National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). Former
associate national director, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In the
first of two interviews Wiley relates his involvement as faculty advisor
to student groups at the University of California-Berkeley during the early
60s, and his later CORE affiliation in Syracuse, NY, focusing on public
housing issues. In the second interview he contrasts his New England upbringing
with his National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
voter registration experiences in rural Virginia, his Army officer status
with his community activist role, and his desire to pursue a career as
a research chemist with his commitment to civil rights work. Identifies
his early civil rights influences and recalls his first impressions of
CORE's philosophies, tactics, and activists. Traces his climb within that
organization from the local to the national level, discussing his relationships
with CORE leaders Julius Hobson, Marvin Rich, James Farmer, and Floyd McKissick,
and appraising their effectiveness and program initiatives. Recalls his
duties as CORE's Administrative Director from 1965-66. Explains his ideological
differences with McKissick.
Interviewers: Katherine Shannon; James M. Mosby Jr.
Dates: January 20, 1968, 1970
Format: Transcripts, 92 pages; 24 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILKINS, Roger (n.d.) RJB
20
Director, Community Relations Service, U. S. Department of Justice. Details
the function, purpose and some activities of his department, related to
discriminatory and/or minority group problems.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: August 14, 1967
Format: Transcript, 56 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository. No
quotation or citation during the lifetime of the oral author without his
permission to quote or cite. No reproduction in any form, except with permission
from the oral author, his heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
WILKINS, Roy (1901-1981) RJB
550
Executive director, National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP). Discusses origin and objectives of NAACP. Recalls when
he came to the national office. Remembers outstanding persons with Association
including W. E. B. DuBois, Walter White, Thurgood Marshall. Discusses organization's
role in improving working conditions for Blacks, Montgomery bus boycott,
voter registration, sit-in movement, school desegregation, civil rights
legislation, A. Philip Randolph's planned March on Washington, 1941; challenge
of Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the 1964 Democratic National
Convention. Explains why he opposed Black Power slogan. Comments on Adam
Clayton Powell.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Dates: April 29, 1970 and May 5, 1970
Format: Transcript, 89 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILKS, Gertrude (1927- ) RJB 461
Founding member, Mothers for Equal Education, Palo Alto, California. Discusses
origin and activities of her group, which was formed to secure better education
for Black students. Recalls her "sneak-out program" in which
students from her community lived in other areas and attended schools there
for a period of time. Discusses Nairobi High, a private school she organized
for Blacks, initially with volunteer staff and community funds.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: July 28, 1969
Format: Transcript, 95 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILLIAMS, Franklin H. (n.d.) RJB
632
President, Phelps-Stokes Fund. Former U. S. ambassador to Ghana. Former
civil rights attorney, National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP). Describes the racial climate and identifies Black issues
on the West Coast during the 1950s. Discusses his terms as San Francisco
NAACP president and as California's assistant attorney general. Recalls
his involvement in Republican Party politics during the Stevenson/Eisenhower
race. Explains how and why he was later lured to Washington to help set
up the Peace Corps, serving as its African regional director; and from
there to serve as member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations.
Describes his duties, challenges, and achievements in both roles. Discusses
his ambassadorship to Ghana: how he lobbied for the job, the Ghanaian economic
and political climate, his impressions of and encounters with president
Kwame Nkrumah, and his observations of the coup that overthrew Nkrumah.
Notes that attempts on Nkrumah's life began soon after Nkrumah announced
plans to visit North Viet Nam to help negotiate resolution of the Viet
Nam War. Appraises Nkrumah's effectiveness and shortcomings. Comments on
the CIA's presence in Ghana and disputes the American media's accounts
of the coup. Explains why he left foreign service to head Columbia University's
Urban Center; notes the Center's purpose and programs. Identifies his pet
projects at Phelps-Stokes and discusses the foundation community's support
for civil rights efforts. Traces the evolution of the Black struggle for
civil rights and equal opportunity. Discusses the conditions in America's
urban ghettos and offers solutions to urban crises. Offers general comments
on the War on Poverty, the War in Viet Nam, New York City Black politics,
and on improving communication and unity among Blacks.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: 1970
Format: Transcript, 41 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILLIAMS, James O. (1923- ) RJB
118
Northeast chairman, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Discusses activities,
tactics and strategy of Philadelphia CORE including its role in the termination
of the Black face Mummer's Day Parade. Examines the life of a Black man
in Philadelphia. Discusses 1962- 1963 CORE schism.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: January 11, 1968
Format: Transcript, 102 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILLIAMS, John A. (Deceased n.d.) RJB
305
Author. Responds to questions about the roles and responsibilities
of Black writers and comments on the dilemmas they face. Identifies white
writers whose work has influenced him. Discusses his own published novels
and works-in-progress. Gives his views on the economic exploitation and
oppression of Black people in Africa and throughout the Diaspora, and on
Europeans' perceptions of race. Debates the validity of the Black separatist
movement.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: September 25, 1968
Format: Transcript, 38 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILLIAMS, Maurice (1929- ) RJB
671
Professor, Military Service, Howard University, Washington, D. C. Discusses
his military career and his experiences as an ROTC instructor at Howard.
Assesses the campus/student mood and Howard students' general reactions
to and feelings about ROTC. Describes the Howard ROTC program. Comments
on the level of racial awareness in the Army and its efforts to accommodate
Black service personnel as a result of the civil rights movement. Shares
views on traditional civil rights groups, Black nationalist and separatist
movements, Black Power, and social-class issues among Blacks. Declines
comment on the justness of the Viet Nam War.
Interviewer: Allen Coleman
Date: October 20, 1970
Format: Transcript, 62 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILLIAMS, Robert F. (n.d.) RJB
588
Former director of the Monroe (North Carolina) National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Former president, Republic of
New Africa. Chronicles the discriminatory treatment he experienced while
serving in the Marine Corps. Traces the history of Monroe (Union County),
North Carolina Blacks' armed resistance movement to white racism from the
1940s through the 1960s. Describes his role and mission as leader of a
"fighting branch" of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored people (NAACP) in that community, which advocated militaristic
Black self- defense tactics and an uncompromising civil rights position.
Describes the activities of the branch, its programs, organizational structure,
membership, and conflicts with NAACP national leadership figures (particularly
Roy Wilkins and Daisy Bates). Describes numerous violent encounters of
Blacks with white supremacist groups and police, specifically recalling
four attempts on his life. Relates the situation that led to his 6-month
suspension from the NAACP and the branch's being cut off from NAACP support.
Contrasts white and Black media coverage of the conflict in Union County,
and describes The Crusader, a publication published by Black activists
there. Notes the supportive international coverage his group received,
the far-flung responses to their calls for material aid, and visits from
foreign journalists. Explains how and why Blacks in Monroe formed a National
Rifle Association-chartered gun club and resorted to openly carrying weapons.
Assesses the effects of the presence of white and Black pacifists who organized
a nonviolent demonstration in Monroe in August 1961. Gives his account
of the riots that followed when white hate groups mounted a united assault
on the protesters, a situation that led to his fleeing North Carolina and
going into exile to avoid federal prosecution. Describes his experiences
and activities in exile in Cuba (5 years) and China (3 years). Discusses
the political, racial, and economic climate in Cuba; focuses on the events
surrounding Cuban revolutionary hero Che Guevara's disappearance. Explains
why and how he left Cuba. Contrasts the reception and treatment he received
in Cuba with that in China; also contrasts the people and the two forms
of communism in these two nations. Recalls his visit with Ho Chi Minh in
Hanoi. Contrasts his experiences in Cuba and China with his experiences
in African nations en route back to the U.S. Explains why he decided to
return to America; describes efforts by diplomatic officials to get him
to denounce Black militancy and work with Martin Luther King Jr.. Describes
the events of his arrest upon arrival in Detroit. Details legal aspects
of his struggle to avoid being extradited back to North Carolina. Comments
on his en absentia roles in the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) and RAM (Revolutionary
Action Movement). Cites reasons for his increasing belief in Black separatism.
Notes changes in race relations and integration in Monroe and nationwide
that occurred during his exile, and speculates on future developments.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: July 22, 1970
Format: Transcript, 223 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILMORE, Gayraud S. (n.d.) RJB
292
Race relations specialist, Department of Social Justice, United Presbyterian
Church. Recalls his involvement in civil rights activities, from the 1930s
as a student at Lincoln University working with the Student Christian Movement
and speaking on academic freedom and race relations; to the 1950s as a
United Presbyterian Church (UPC) minister, and later as chairman of the
UPC's Division of Church and Race. Explains the duties of his present office.
Describes the activities of the UPC generally and his agency specifically
in social justice, civil rights, and urban renewal efforts--focusing primarily
on the church's financial support of church and lay groups. Discusses the
advent and thrust of the interdenominational National Committee of Negro
Churchmen; states that group's positions on Black Power and the role of
the church in the Black community. Describes the antidiscrimination/antiracism
activities of the UPC's suburban action centers. Interview concludes with
interviewer reading from a descriptive brochure about the Council on Church
and Race (COCAR).
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: August 18, 1968
Format: Transcript, 45, 46, 47 pages; tape not available
Restrictions; Standard
WILMORE, Jacques (1926- ) RJB
316
Director, Northeast field office, U. S. Civil Rights Commission. Formerly,
director, Memphis Field Office, U. S. Civil Rights Commission. Recalls
events that changed the Memphis sanitation strike into a civil rights issue.
Examines various attitudes in Black community concerning the strike. Discusses
role of Civil Rights Commission in garbage strike of 1968.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: September 26, 1968
Format: Transcript, 32 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILSON, Camille (n.d.) RJB
529
Student, Kent State University. Recalls the Kent State Black student organization's
campus activities and shares both her own and the Black Student Union's
responses to the murders of white student antiwar demonstrators there and
at Jackson State.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: 1970
Format: Transcript, 15 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILSON, Charles E. (n.d.) RJB
529
General counsel, California State Fair Employment Practices Commission.
Chronicles his role in drafting fair employment practices and fair housing
legislation as a member of the Legal Redress Committee of the San Francisco
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Recalls
his most significant legal battles to integrate Blacks into housing, schools,
employment after WWII. Describes his duties as a member of the California
Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) since 1960. Discusses the range
of interests and functions of the FEPC and its interactions with "radical"
or "militant" constituent groups. Comments on Black community
control, the Black separatist movement, and the future of traditional civil
rights groups.
Interviewer: Robert E. Martin
Date: July 22, 1969
Format: Transcript, 41 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WILSON, John (ca. 1942- ) RJB
541
Former field secretary and member, National Executive Committee. Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Chairman, National Black Anti-War
Draft Union (NBAWDU). Chronicles his civil rights/desegregation activism
in Maryland's Eastern Shore region, first as a student at Bowie State College
organizing Students Appeal for Equality (SAFE) and working with SNCC; and
later in Princess Anne County communities organizing sit-ins, mass meetings,
demonstrations, and biracial committees. Describes the increasingly violent
nature of Black-white conflict as civil rights activism accelerated in
the county, noting a lack of support for direct action efforts offered
by the local Black middle-class. Discusses the ideology, financial base,
and activities of the Black Panther Party, claiming it originated as a
SNCC spin-off group in Alabama but gathered momentum in California. Notes
ideological differences between Stokely Carmichael and Eldridge Cleaver.
Elaborates on Pan-Africanism, Black Power and community control, and Black-white
alliances. Offers comments on racism and capitalism generally.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: February 18, 1968
Format: Transcript, 69 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WINGATE, Livingston (n.d.) RJB
535
Former executive director, HARYOU-ACT (Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited).
Discusses origins of HARYOU and ACT and their subsequent unification. Recalls
the development of the program and some of its problems. Discusses the
advantages and disadvantages of anti-poverty programs for Blacks.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: 1970
Format: Transcript, 36 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WIRTZ, Willard W. (1912- ) RJB
367
Secretary, U. S. Department of labor. Referring repeatedly to the findings
of the Kerner Commission report, Wirtz broadly discusses the roots of poverty,
detailing his views on the responsibilities of government, the private
sector, civil rights groups, and the poor themselves. Weighs the effects
of rising expectations of the poor about antipoverty programs against the
realities of limited or reduced appropriations for and enforcement of these
programs. Discusses significant aspects of the Economic Opportunity Act
of 1965, the Green Amendment to it, federal manpower training programs,
and other antipoverty programs. Discusses the meaning of the term "maximum
feasible participation of the poor." Recalls Labor Department officials'
meetings with representatives of the Poor People's Campaign during its
1968 March on Washington, recounting the groups' demands and assessing
the effects of the march on national attitudes and opinion.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: December 10, 1968
Format: Transcript, 34 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WORKMAN, William D. (n.d.) RJB
257
Editor, The State, a Columbia, South Carolina newspaper. Author, Case for
the South, which attempts to explain Southern views on school desegregation
and race relations. Discusses methods used to circumvent the Supreme Court
school decision, 1954. Reviews law suits that challenged separate but equal
education in his state and the judicial decision that opened the Democratic
primary to Blacks. Discusses his book.
Interviewer: John Egerton
Date: July 16, 1968
Format: Transcript, 60 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WORTHY, William (n.d.) RJB 520
Newspaper correspondent, Baltimore Afro-American. States his philosophy
of journalism. Comments on preference for covering international news rather
than domestic affairs. Gives history of Freedom Now Party including reasons
for ineffectiveness. Discusses travels in China and Cuba. Comments on role
of "white left."
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: February 28, 1970
Format: Transcript, 44 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WRIGHT, Isaac (n.d.) RJB 665
Equipment Specialist, U. S. Marine Corps, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Recalls
his military career and World War II experiences, highlighting incidents
of discrimination and racial confrontation between Blacks of his Army unit,
the "experimental" 76th Coast Artillery battalion of highly technologically
skilled Black recruits, and white troops and civilians. Discusses the impact
of Black soldiers' involvement in the war on race relations in the U.S.
afterwards, and contrasts the experiences of Black WWII veterans with Black
Viet Nam veterans. Comments on Black urban gang violence and police-Black
community relations in Philadelphia.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: November 12, 1970
Format: Transcript, 67 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository, quoted
from and cited. No reproduction in any form including microphoto, typewriter,
photostat, etc. Researchers may seek permission from the oral author, his
heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
WRIGHT, James Skelly (1911-1988) RJB
298
Judge, U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals, District of Columbia. Recalls highlights
of his legal career: his role as a prosecuting attorney in the "Louisiana
Scandal"-Huey Long cases of the 1930s and 40s; his Supreme Court representation
of Willie Francis (a Black death-row prisoner whose case rested on Wright's
argument [the first ever] of the death penalty as "cruel and unusual"
punishment); his role as a judge in overturning Louisiana State University
law school's segregationist admissions policy; and his rulings to desegregate
New Orleans's public schools and transportation systems. Discusses the
significance of the Brown v. Board of Education decision and his personal
reactions to it. Gives examples of white southerners' noncompliance, backlash,
and evasive tactics to avoid desegregation mandates. Stresses the importance
of leveraging funding to achieve compliance. Traces the sources of his
commitment to integration and social justice and assesses the personal
price of his legal decisions. Offers general comments on the impact and
future direction of the civil rights movement and the role of the courts
in furthering it.
Interviewer: Mary Gardner Jones
Date: September 9, 1968
Format: Transcript, 76 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: The record of this tape may be read in the repository, quoted
and cited. No reproduction in any form, except with permission from the
oral author's heirs, legal representatives or assigns.
WRIGHT, Michael (1941- ) RJB
170
Discusses his experiences as a Coordinator for Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) in the North and South. Describes results of administration's
denial of student demands at Tuskegee Institute, 1968.
Interviewer: Stanley H. Smith
Date: April 23, 1968
Format: Transcript, 62 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Researchers must seek written permission from the oral author
to use transcript during his lifetime.
WRIGHT, Robert E. (n.d.) RJB
239
Former field worker, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in
Alabama and Mississippi. Discusses his Harvard experiences of the 1960s
and the challenges he and other Black American and African students there
(and at Radcliffe) faced in organizing an exclusively Black student organization
at Harvard. Recalls the goals and achievements of that group. Reflects
on his three summers (1963-1965) spent working with SNCC in Mississippi:
his arrival in Jackson on the day Medgar Evers was shot; his reactions
to police violence against Black demonstrators; his voter registration
activities in rural communities; his recruiting activities for the Freedom
Summer project; and his roles as chair of the Civil Rights Coordinating
Committee at Harvard and later as a member of the Law Students' Civil Rights
Research Council. Discusses SNCC's approach to community organizing and
explains how territories were assigned. Assesses the significance of the
Freedom Summer and its outgrowths. Explains the "parallel structure"
concept that guided the Freedom Vote project and the development of the
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and chronicles the growth of these
two efforts. Discusses SNCC's role in soliciting/providing financial support
for Black farmers' cooperatives in Alabama. Gives his impressions of SNCC
leaders Bob Moses, Jim Forman, Timothy Jenkins, and Stokely Carmichael.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: July 22, 1968
Format: Transcript, 71 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WRIGHT, Stephen J. (n.d.) RJB
712
Chairman, Policy Committee, Civil Rights Documentation Project and vice
president, College Entrance Examination Board. Discusses matters related
to the internal establishment of the Project. A former college president
and dean (Fisk, Hampton and Bluefield) expresses his views on student activism.
Appraises progress in civil rights, particularly in the field of education.
Interviewer: Vincent J. Browne
Date: 1973
Format: Transcript, 35 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
WURF, Jerry (n.d.) RJB 324
International president, American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO. Gives background on the integrated history of AFSCME
(the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees). Describes
how workers' demands for union protection and recognition led to a massive
and violent confrontation between a Black community and the white power
structure in Memphis. Explains why sanitation workers' strike leaders decided
to use a combination of union and civil rights movement strategies and
to what ends. Recalls the negotiations with city officials, his own role
in that process, and that of key others such as Mayor Loeb and local Black
ministers. Reflects on the significance and impact of the Memphis movement
on Martin Luther King, Jr., and assesses the impact of King's presence
and death on the situation locally. Estimates the monetary cost of the
strike and its economic results.
Interviewer: James J. Mosby Jr.
Date: October 21, 1968
Format: Transcript, 44 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
YANCEY, P. Q. (Johnnie) (n.d.) RJB
126
Adult civil rights protester in Atlanta during the student demonstrations
in the early 1960's.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: January 24, 1968
Format: Transcript, 33 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
YOUNG, Andrew (1932- ) RJB 32/706
Former executive vice president, Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). Representative (D.-Georgia), U. S. Congress.
Interviewers: Katherine Shannon; Edward Thompson III
Dates: July 16, 1968; December 20, 1972
Format: Transcripts, 32 pages; 25 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
YOUNG, Jack H., Sr. (n.d.), joint with RJB
685
HALL, Carsie
Attorney. Former president, Jackson (Mississippi) Chapter, National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Interviewer: James M. Mosby Jr.
Date: June 3, 1970
Format: Transcript, 29 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
YOUNG, Pete (n.d.) RJB 386
Newspaperman, reported authority on the Ku Klux Klan. Characterizes Klan
as the "white ghetto." Discusses Klan as a social movement. Examines
schism between "moderate" and "militant" North Carolina
Klansmen. Describes grievances and socio-economic plight of Klan, explaining
why the poverty programs did not aid rural white South.
Interviewer: Will D. Campbell
Date: August 18, 1969
Format: Transcript, 34 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
YOUNG, Quentin (n.d.) RJB 158
Physician. Chairman, Medical Committee for Human Rights. Describes purpose,
origin, and structure of his organization, which evolved from Southern
civil rights workers' need for medical care. Relates role of his group
in protest demonstrations. Discusses organization's present programs in
Northern ghettos. Examines discrimination in Chicago hospitals.
Interviewer: John Britton
Date: February 20, 1968
Format: Transcript, 36 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
YOUNG, Whitney M., Jr. (1921-1971) RJB
551
Executive Director, National Urban League. Recalls experiences in the Army
in World War II that influenced his decision to become a social worker.
Describes his civil rights activities in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1950's
which paved the way for the student movement and the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee. Discusses his relationship with many of the leaders
of the student movement such as Lonnie King and John Mack. Chronicles the
changes that have occurred in the Urban League over time.
Interviewer: Robert Wright
Date: May 6, 1970
Format: Cassette tape
Tape length: 90 minutes
Restrictions: No reproduction
ZELLNER, Dorothy (n.d.) RJB
684
Former press aide Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). States
reasons for joining SNCC. Concentrates on relations between Black and white
members (1961-64) and the decline of SNCC.
Interviewer: James M. Mosby
Date: May 27, 1970
Format: Transcript, 23 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
ZINN, Howard (1922- ) RJB 99
Author and historian. Briefly outlines his career to date. Also discusses
his involvement in the desegregation crisis in the South during the early
1960's.
Interviewer: Katherine Shannon
Date: November 28, 1967
Format: Transcript, 96 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Researchers must seek written permission from the oral author
to use transcript during his lifetime.
ZORZA, Richard (1949- ) RJB 592
Coordinator, Peace Action Committee, Harvard University. Discusses his
organization, its goals and activities and relations with the community
surrounding the University. Comments on the student strike at Harvard,
including the role of Black students, effect of slain students at Jackson
State College on Harvard community, and influence of demonstrations at
Harvard on other universities.
Interviewer: Jaye Stewart
Date: 1970
Format: Transcript, 20 pages; tape not available
Restrictions: Standard
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