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Series 2: Interviews (continued)
Euvester Simpson oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Jackson, Mississippi, March 12, 2013 (continued)
Euvester Simpson oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Jackson, Mississippi, March 12, 2013 (continued)
Biographical History: Euvester Simpson attended Tougaloo College and Millsaps College and was a civil rights activist in Mississippi with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She later worked as a legal secretary, program administrator and business owner.
Summary: Euvester Simpson discusses her childhood in Itta Bena, Mississippi, and she describes her parents' decision to send her to Racine, Wisconsin, to attend high school because they were fed up with segregated public schools in Mississippi. For her last year of high school, Simpson returned to Mississippi, and she became active in the Civil Rights Movement. She describes attending a citizenship school in Charleston, South Carolina, going to mass meetings, and being arrested with a group of women, including Fannie Lou Hamer. She also discusses her involvement in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Council of Federated Organizations, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Simpson ends the interview by discussing the legacy of the movement.
Moving Images
7 video files of 7 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (95 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0072_mv01-07
Manuscripts
1 transcript (49 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0072_Simpson_transcript
Julia Matilda Burns oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Tchula, Mississippi, March 13, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Matilda Julia Burns was a school teacher and civil rights activist in Mississippi.
Summary: Julia Matilda Burns describes her experience in segregated schools in Humphreys County, Mississippi, where she grew up. After becoming a teacher at Marshall High School in Belzoni, Mississippi, she began to take notice of the Civil Rights Movement, but her involvement was limited because she did not want to lose her job. Burns describes protests by whites against school desegregation in Tchula, Mississippi, and her experiences as a teacher in Tchula. She also discusses her successful election for a position on the school board and the work she accomplished during her tenure.
Moving Images
2 video files of 2 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (55 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0073_mv01-02
Manuscripts
1 transcript (40 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0073_Burns_transcript
Rosie Head oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Tchula, Mississippi, March 13, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Rosie Head Howze was a civil rights activist in Mississippi. She worked in many different roles providing community services for children.
Summary: Rosie Head describes her early life in Greenwood, Mississippi, where her family lived and worked on a plantation. She discusses how her parents faced racial discrimination in their work and how they were cheated by the plantation owner and then blacklisted. In 1964, Head joined the Civil Rights Movement in Tchula, Mississippi, where her family had relocated. Head recounts the various ways she was involved in the movement: registering voters, working with Freedom Summer volunteers, helping to establish the Child Development Group of Mississippi, and campaigning for black candidates for political office.
Moving Images
7 video files of 7 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (79 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0074_mv01-07
Manuscripts
1 transcript (43 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0074_Head_transcript
Robert G. Clark, Jr., oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Pickens, Mississippi, March 13, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: The Honorable Robert G. Clark, Jr., is one of the many African American politicians who were elected to state legislatures following the Voting Rights Act of 1964. He was the first black representative elected to the Mississippi State House since the late 19th century, the first African American to serve as a committee chair in the Mississippi House and in 2004, the became the first African American to have a Mississippi state building named in his honor. He served as Speaker Pro Tempore from 1992 to 2003, when he retired as the longest serving representative.
Summary: Robert G. Clark, Jr., describes the early life experiences that led up to his successful campaign for political office in the Mississippi Legislature, where he became the first African American elected since Reconstruction. He discusses his childhood in Pickens, Mississippi, and he describes the family farm that he now owns, his relationship to his family, and the expectations that they had of him to receive an education. Clark discusses his career as an educator, and he describes how the Civil Rights Movement influenced him. After a failed campaign for school superintendent he volunteered to run for state office. Clark describes his experiences in the Mississippi Legislature, focusing on how he helped to pass the Education Reform Act.
Moving Images
8 video files of 8 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (118 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0075_mv01-08
Manuscripts
1 transcript (53 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0075_Clark_transcript
H. Jack Geiger oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in New York, New York, March 16, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Dr. Jack Geiger became active in the civil rights movement in the 1950s. He helped black medical students obtain admission to the University of Chicago. He also established the first Office of Economic Opportunity health centers in Mound Bayou and Boston.
Summary: Dr. Jack Geiger discusses his early life experiences and how he came to be a leading figure in the Medical Committee for Human Rights. He describes his childhood in New York City, where he found a mentor in actor Canada Lee, his college experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his time as a U.S. Merchant Marine. He discusses his involvement in the Commission for Racial Equality and the American Veterans Committee in Chicago during the late 1940s. While attending medical school at Case Western Reserve University, Geiger's interest in community-centered health grew, especially after a trip to South Africa. He eventually volunteered as a medical professional in Mississippi, where he helped to establish the Tufts-Delta Health Center in 1965.
Moving Images
10 video files of 10 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (212 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0076_mv01-10
Manuscripts
1 transcript (73 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0076_Geiger_transcript
Ben Caldwell oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Los Angeles, California, April 11, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Ben Caldwell was a Vietnam veteran, artist and filmmaker. He was a member of the L.A. Rebellion and the founder of the KAOS Network, a community arts center, in Los Angeles, California.
Summary: Ben Caldwell shares his family's history in the Southwest and his childhood experience in New Mexico. Caldwell describes his military service during the Vietnam War and how his experiences made him reflect on racial prejudices in the United States. He began studying art, and he eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he has been part of a black arts movement since the 1970s. He discusses the L.A. Rebellion, a collective of black filmmakers from UCLA, as well as various art projects in which he has been involved and documentary films he has produced.
Moving Images
6 video files of 6 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (127 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0077_mv01-06
Manuscripts
1 transcript (65 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0077_Caldwell_transcript
Rick Tuttle oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Culver City, California, April 11, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Rick Tuttle attended Wesleyan University and the University of California, Los Angeles, and participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961. He helped found the California Federation of Young Democrats and later became the Los Angeles City Controller and a lecturer at the School of Public Policy at UCLA.
Summary: Rick Tuttle describes his family background and when he first became aware of the sit-in movement and the Freedom Rides when he was a student at Wesleyan University. As a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he was recruited to join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1963 and went to Greenwood, Mississippi, to work on voter registration drives. He also briefly spied on white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan meetings. After being driven out of Mississippi by threats, he joined the Chatham County Crusade for Voters in Savannah, Georgia. Tuttle describes being arrested in Savannah for disturbing the peace and the subsequent trial. Tuttle discusses the work he did after leaving the Movement: as the comptroller in Los Angeles he helped to bring an end to segregation at private clubs and participated in the anti-apartheid movement.
Moving Images
6 video files of 6 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (125 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0078_mv01-06
Manuscripts
1 transcript (58 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0078_Tuttle_transcript
Joan Trumpauer Mulholland oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Arlington, Virginia, March 17, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Joan Trumpauer Mulholland attended Duke University and Tougaloo College. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961. She later worked at the Smithsonian Institution, at the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Justice and as a teacher in Arlington, Virginia.
Summary: Joan Trumpauer Mulholland shares how, as a child in Arlington, Virginia, her awareness of racial disparities grew. As a student at Duke University, she began participating in the sit-in movement. She soon moved to Washington, D.C. and joined the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG), which led her to participate in the Freedom Rides of 1961. She describes in detail serving time at Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm) with other civil rights activists. Mulholland also discusses attending Tougaloo College and her involvement in the Jackson sit-in movement.
Moving Images
8 video files of 8 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (126 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0079_mv01-08
Manuscripts
1 transcript (70 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0079_Mulholland_transcript
Martha Prescod Norman Noonan oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Cockeysville, Maryland, March 18, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Martha Prescod Norman Noonan grew up in Rhode Island and attended the University of Michigan. She was a fundraiser and a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She later worked as a community organizer in Baltimore, Maryland.
Summary: Martha Prescod Norman Noonan describes her childhood in Providence, Rhode Island, and being one of the few black families in the neighborhood. Her parents urged her to attend the University of Michigan, where she joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and learned about the Civil Rights Movement in the South. She eventually made her way to Albany, Georgia, where she worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She also worked in the Movement in Mississippi and later in Alabama. Noonan describes the March on Washington, her perception of Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the early iterations of Black Power.
Moving Images
7 video files of 7 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (93 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0080_mv01-07
Manuscripts
1 transcript (50 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0080_Noonan_transcript
Cleveland Sellers oral history interview conducted by John Dittmer in Denmark, South Carolina, March 21, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Dr. Cleveland Sellers was a civil rights activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was arrested after the Orangeburg Massacre in 1968. He later became a professor of African American studies at the University of South Carolina and president of Voorhees College.
Summary: Cleveland Sellers shares memories of growing up in Denmark, South Carolina, especially the influence of Voorhees College in the community. He organized a Youth Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Denmark, and he describes the group's activities. He discusses his first impressions of Howard University, where he joined the Nonviolent Action Group (NAG). He shares memories of the March on Washington and the role of students in organizing it, his involvement in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and his role in the Mississippi Freedom Project. He also describes the goals of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the tensions that developed within SNCC in the late 1960s.
Moving Images
5 video files of 5 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (108 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0081_mv01-05
Manuscripts
1 transcript (49 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0081_Sellers_transcript
William S. Leventhal oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in El Segundo, California, April 13, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Willy Siegel Leventhal attended the University of California, Los Angeles and worked for the Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He later became a special education teacher and baseball coach and worked on several political campaigns.
Summary: Willy Siegel Leventhal discusses his childhood in California, his experiences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the 1960s, and his involvement in the Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project (SCOPE). Leventhal describes what it was like to be a Jewish child in a mostly Catholic community and how his childhood experiences informed his later activism and identity. Baseball was especially important to him, as he witnessed the first Jewish and African American ballplayers desegregate the Major Leagues. Leventhal became active in SCOPE during his first year at UCLA, after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited campus to recruit students. Leventhal describes the SCOPE training in Atlanta, and he shares his memories of living and working in Macon and Americus, Georgia.
Moving Images
8 video files of 8 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (182 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0082_mv01-08
Manuscripts
1 transcript (113 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0082_Leventhal_transcript
Gloria Claudette Grinnell oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Ojai, California, April 14, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Gloria Claudette Collins Grinnell grew up in California and attended Virginia Union University. She participated in sit-ins in Richmond, Virginia, and later became a teacher in Los Angeles, California.
Summary: Gloria Claudette Grinnell recounts her participation in the sit-in movement in Richmond, Virginia, when she was a student at Virginia Union University. She describes her family's history on the East Coast and explains how she and her mother ended up in San Francisco. She discusses her decision to move from California to attend Virginia Union. She describes the sit-in movement that she joined in 1960. She discusses returning to California and her career with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Moving Images
4 video files of 4 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (67 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0083_mv01-04
Manuscripts
1 transcript (43 pages)
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0083_Grinnell_transcript
Clarence B. Jones oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Palo Alto, California, April 15, 2013
Digital content available
Biographical History: Dr. Clarence B. Jones attended Columbia University and Boston University school of Law. He was a former personal counsel, advisor, draft speech writer, and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also worked as an entertainment lawyer and investment banker.
Summary: Dr. Clarence B. Jones shares memories from his work as a legal advisor and speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In particular, he describes his significant contributions to the "I Have a Dream" speech, which King delivered at the March on Washington in 1963. Jones also describes his early life living in a Philadelphia home for indigent black orphans and foster children, because his parents, who were both domestic workers, could not afford to provide for him. Jones talks about his education at Columbia University, his training as a classical clarinetist, and some of his early encounters with leftist politics while in New York. Jones discusses the death of his mother and the profound effect it had on him. He describes his time spent in the military during the Korean War. Other topics discussed in the interview include Jones's marriage to Anne Norton, his studies at Boston University Law School, and his move to California to become an entertainment lawyer.
Moving Images
12 video files of 12 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (163 min.) : digital, sound, color
Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0084_mv01-12
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