Sheila B. Michaels
This is an almost complete list of interviews in the oral history collection most of which I have at Columbia University Oral History Archives, in New York.
My aim is to record the stories and histories of Movement stalwarts who might not be known outside the circle of Activists, and whose experiences and opinions have not been collected ad nauseam.
When I was trying to find an archive to interview Mary Hamilton Wesley, Columbia University Oral History's archivist suggested that I collect the oral histories of members of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality (1941-1968). Their original commitment was to archive the tapes & transcribe them when money was available. The collection, which seems to now be my personal project, has outgrown the possibility of being transcribed from petty cash.
I was a SNCC Field Secretary, as well as a member of CORE & so this grew to be the Nonviolent Direct Action project, which includes activists in SNCC & the War Resister's League.
One tape, an interview with Joseph Schwartz, is transcribed & on-line at the University of Southern Mississippi Digital Archives (Mississippi State Archive) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. There were to be more, but the gambling revenues which the State of Mississippi pledged to the University were not realized.
The tapes are freely available to those who wish to hear the tapes at Columbia University, but they must obtain my permission, due to legal restrictions on Columbia. Interviewees retain the rights to their stories & fair use conventions must be observed.
I hope to further build, on this CRMVets site, a list of all oral histories of Nonviolent activists. As of now the oral histories which have been collected are difficult to trace. It has been hard for me to find what is already out there, so that I not duplicate work which has been done & not get to other worthy people in my limited time. This list, as of now, is to let scholars know what I have collected.
A brief entry does not indicate less worth. Usually it means I became engrossed & took no notes, or took too long to recall the content.
Allen, Chude Pamela Parker
6 February 2002 San Francisco, CA
Originator of the second-wave of Feminism, in estimation of women's
movement historians, organizing Women's Liberation groups in both New
York City and San Francisco. Tapes cover being a Carleton exchange
student at Spelman College in the Spring of 1964. She was active in the
student Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta, GA. and a freedom school
teacher in Holly Springs, MS. Identified with SNCC but was never on
staff. Ralph Featherstone, platonic love. Deeply analytical. Three
tapes, San Francisco, home with sweeping view of Bay area (and utility
wires).
Arnold, Maris (Edith Snyder)
28 January 2002 Berkeley, CA
Working class Jewish girl from Brooklyn, reader of Sinclair Lewis, in
search of something "more". Olson Temp Agency sent her to work for
A.J.Muste at Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1959. She became a
committed Pacifist. Detailed account of the Montreal to Guantanamo
Peace March. Discusses Muste, pacifists & woman question, C.B. King,
poor 'white' jail-mates, cattle prods, jailings in Albany, Georgia,
fasting affects, interracial marriage. Two tapes, in her pretty Berkeley
cottage, with gardens & wildlife.
Baker, Elaine DeLott
14 November 2001, Denver, CO
Elaine DeLott left Radcliff to organize cooperatives in Batesville, MS,
in 1964-65. She was on the CORE payroll. She wrote the first "Position
of Women in the Movement" paper, anonymously, for the Waveland Meeting,
drawing on discussions & experiences of other nascent feminists. Casey
Hayden & Mary King, are widely credited for this ground-breaking
analysis, but Elaine's may have precedence. Baker examines some of the
sexual undercurrents & betrayals of the time. One tape in her suburban
tract home just outside Denver.
Bibuld, Elaine
23 May, 2000 Brooklyn, NY
Mrs. Bibuld joined CORE at her husband's suggestion, "because she was
bored." This phrase comes up whenever she mentions taking on an
Herculean task. She was a member of Brooklyn CORE. Then, in 1962, her
family moved because of a fire in their old apartment. Her children
were enrolled in a school that proved to be very inferior. The school
did not have enriched classes, as they'd had previously, they did not
permit skipping grades & would not transfer them. The school lacked
books, as well. She took the problem to the School Board, to no avail.
She took it to CORE. Inspection of the school maps showed the schools
were rigidly segregated. Brooklyn CORE had a sit-in at 110 Livingston
Street. She took her children out of school & put them into a friend's
neighborhood school. (In effect, sitting-in.) The Bureau of Child
Welfare tried to charge the Bibulds with being unfit parents, & remove
them from home, because the children were truant from their proper
school. The three children had been absent more than ten days without a
truancy officer contacting them. The (National) Grand Dragon of the Ku
Klux Klan as well as local nuts & bigots threatened the Bibuld family.
Much as she spoke & petitioned other groups to join her to make it a
class action, no one did. She won for herself alone. However, it did
lead to a revision of policy. She also served ten days for contempt of
court when she went to her husband's aid during the demonstration at
Downstate Medical Center. This was also a cause celebre. She publicized
conditions at the Women's House of Detention, when she left. She
divorced Mr. Bibuld. She is widowed from her second husband. She lives
in a lovely brownstone with a garden in Prospect Heights, which is now a
gentrifying neighborhood. The house is still not completely renovated,
having been a boarding house at one time. A grandson-in-law is working
on the renovation & the couple lives in the house. Her youngest
daughter, Beth, an absolutely charming, sunny woman, with Down's
Syndrome lives with her & in a sheltered community in New Jersey,
shuttling between them as she pleases. Tape also discusses the Indian &
Black communities of North Carolina. Mrs. Bibuld McField was an orphan,
reared by an aunt & uncle. One tape, at Mrs. Bibuld's brownstone house
in a now gentrifying neighbor near downtown Brooklyn.
Prof. Robert Belton
21 November 2000, Nashville, TN
Professor of Law Vanderbilt Law Schoold. One of 18 children of a day
laborer & housewife (who took in laundry). Discusses Rocky Mount, North
Carolina, of his childhood, his education, years in New York CORE &
National CORE, the firebombing of his law office in North Carolina & his
career in employment law & academia. Two tapes in his office at
Vanderbilt University.
Berg, Karin
9, 11, 26 April 1999, New York
Karin Berg was born in St. Louis & has been an ardent baseball fan her
whole life. Many incidents in her life & in the Movement are in the
perspective of the history of baseball. She started out with the
Riverside Democratic club, before joining NY CORE. She belonged to many
of the CORE groups around the city, including the River Rats & Downtown
CORE (Lower East Side). She began supporting herself & contributing to
her family in her early teens. After years of dispiriting secretarial
work, she began reviewing jazz for alternative newspapers. Hers has
been an enormous struggle, against high odds. She became one of the
foremost A&R people in the recording business. She is now a consultant
to Nonesuch, as she is confined to her apartment, due to her oxygen
tank. An autobiographical chapter & quotes from Ms. Berg are also
included in the autobiography of Robert Guillaume. Three tapes, in her
pretty, one-bedroom Greenwich Village apartment.
Bissinger, Karl
25 April 2000, New York
Karl Bissinger was born in 1915, in Cincinnati, into a family of Sacred
Monsters. He moved to New York & had an absolutely wonderful time. He
was a Conscientious Objector, in fact, but he was not drafted into the
Army because he is Gay. He did marry & have a child, but the marriage
did not survive. His relationship with his son & grandsons is one of
the joys of his life. Karl became one of the most important photo-essay
magazine & celebrity/society photographers of the mid-century. Fleur
Cowles' Flair magazine, for Conde Nast, was — & is
still — considered the most beautiful magazine ever
published in America. Karl Bissinger was its' staff photographer. At
the start of the Vietnam War he became an activist in the Village Peace
Center & WRL. He became a full-time draft counselor. He transported
--& arranged transport abroad for-- many people evading the Draft or
deserting the Armed Forces. He has been with War Resisters' League ever
since. Two tapes, made in his penthouse apartment in Westbeth, a city-
sponsored artists' housing complex in the West Village.
Brownmiller, Susan
27 April 2000, New York
The Saturday after the Student Sit-Ins in Orangeburg, SC, a spontaneous
sympathetic picket line — mostly older
Lefties — sprang up at the Woolworth's on 42nd Street.
Susan picketed with them, a few Saturdays. She then started her own
picket line at the Woolworth's opposite Bloomingdale's & she joined
CORE. She was a member of New York CORE. While she was a researcher at
Newsweek, she decided to take her vacation time to volunteer for
Freedom Summer, 1964. This caused many complications at the magazine.
She went down with Jan Goodman. She filed a story with The Village
Voice, from Mississippi & contributed to Newsweek stories.
Women were not reporters at Newsweek. When she returned to work,
she found she could no longer live that life. Jim Forman offered her, &
Goodman, jobs on SNCC staff. She returned to Mississippi but the
climate had changed. The job never materialized, although she was
working full time as a volunteer. Goodman went to work for SNCC in
Washington. Susan became a writer for The Village Voice.
Susan's old boss offered her an opportunity, in Philadelphia, to be one
of the first female reporters on television. One tape, recorded in her
pretty penthouse apartment in western Greenwich Village. She has
stunning, uninterrupted views of lower Manhattan from both her terraced,
bi-level living room & her office. Her kitchen & tiled dining room &
terrace have northern views of mid-town & the Village.
Cade, Cathy
31 January 2002, Oakland, California
Topics: Leadership development in Unitarian Church. Memphis high school
boy's rejection of strong girls. Comparison Carleton & Spellman
Colleges as exchange student, changed relationship with men & attitudes
about sex. Albany, GA & father's nervous collapse following arrest.
Work in Atlanta office. Tulane graduate studies & New Orleans
organizing. Jackson, MS. & Canton MS. projects. Growing number of
relationships with Black men & unawareness of resentment of Black women.
Discussions about that with Jeanne King. Canton project after Freedom
Summer: Flukie Suarez, Curtis Hayes. Interracial relationship with
fellow graduate student. Starting `Women's Liberation' group in New
Orleans & member's discussions about importance vis-a-vis oppression of
African-Americans. Move to San Francisco for greater activism. Self-
discovery & coming out as a Lesbian. Motherhood & much, much more.
Two tapes in well-organized but very personal office which is in garden
behind her bungalow in Oakland, CA
Cahill, Owen
20 February 2002, New York City
Catholic education, service in armed forces, Catholic Worker, travel
agent, New York CORE. Career in Welfare, which began as a temporary job.
Met wife in theological discussion group, she is on the board of their
cooperative. One tape in their Mitchell-Lama Co-op (built under a NY
State initive) at 94th & Columbus.
Carey, Gordon
26 July 1999, North Carolina
Gordon Carey supervised Projects, Programs, & Personnel for National
CORE. He participated in CORE from the late-`40s, when he was still in
his teens & met Jim Farmer through his father, a minister. He was active
in the Freedom Highways Project. He left CORE to found a utopian
community in North Carolina, with Floyd McKissick, a former Chairman of
CORE. He now heads a firm that creates & markets software for nonprofit
agencies. Two tapes, in his office in a suburban office strip.
Coleman, Val
6 January 1999 New York
Val Coleman had been a movie publicist. He was looking for something
more suited to his idealism. His sister had been an early member of
CORE. He went to work for CORE in 1960, was part of the planning of the
Freedom Rides. He was the last of the National CORE staff to leave. He
stayed on until around 1968, when the national office had moved to
Harlem & a suspicious fire destroyed many of the records of the
organization. He protests too much that he did not write parts of Jim
Farmer's autobiography, but often quotes it instead of speaking of his
own life. As Farmer was an accomplished writer, & one of the Movement's
great speakers, this — if it did
happen — might have been a collaboration of friends. He
worked for many years with the NYC Dept of Housing & Preservation. He
now teaches at Columbia. His is the nation's only course on Public
Housing. He also has done performances of monologues. He has written a
number of books, mostly fiction, & has overcome a drinking problem,
about which he has written at length. One tape in the apartment at
Independence Plaza in which he camps out once a week, while teaching. He
has a farmhouse, where he lives the rest of the week.
Edwin, Marjorie (nee Schaffer) Swann
26 January 2000,
In the late 1930s-1941 Ms. Schaffer was involved in Civil Rights work
with the YWCA in Evanston, Ill, while she was a scholarship student at
Northwestern. (E.g., allowing Black students into campus housing.) When
the first CORE group formed in Chicago, she became a commuting member
there, as well. She has spent her entire life in the Civil Rights &
Peace Movements. Once, after getting out of Federal Penitentiary in
Lexington, in the 1950s, she & her family took a cross-country trip to
become reacquainted. Her youngest child was then about three years old.
They camped along the highways in segregated states, where Black people
could not eat or stay. They visited the children of women who had become
her friends in jail. This included trips to all the children of her
roommate, who had been scattered to schools on different Indian
reservations. Her first husband became a carpenter & worked with Frank
Lloyd Wright & with a developer building an integrated community in
Maryland, in the late '40s.. They lived in Oberlin, Ohio. Her baby-
sitter there was Coretta Scott (later, King) & she organized
demonstrations to allow Scott to give a recital in a hall which barred
Negroes. Wally & Juanita Nelson frequently lived with them. She is
married for the third time. Her husband, 75, is a Bishop, in Ghana. She
has remained in the United States, as guardian for his orphaned 16-year-
old daughter, but longs to be with him. She moved to the West Coast to
be near her grown children. Her finances are extremely tenuous, she has
been unable to find work, because of her age (79). She is a Social
Worker for the elderly with St. Mary's Hospital, at minimum wage. She
still drives, but like a true pacifist, she grants every other vehicle
the right of way. She is also working a little on an autobiography. Four
tapes, recorded in her living room-office which is completely taken over
by paperwork for various organizations. She has a one-bedroom apartment
in a publically subsidized senior apartment complex in Berkeley,
California,
Faegre, Tor
31 August 2000, Chicago, IL
Tor Faegre was a Union carpenter for many years & now makes rustic
furniture which he sells through crafts fairs. His family were Left
academics. He joined the first protest against nuclear submarines the
summer after high school. He was in Chicago CORE from 1961-65. He
participated in the school protests against using trailers for
classrooms instead of integrating nearby white schools. One tape, at his
brown wood & shingle house. House is a double, with two addresses on the
same lot. It is full of his & Susan Sommer's art & books. There is wood
& driftwood for use on the porch.
Feely, James
15 July, 23, September 1999, St. Louis
Jim Feely was the son of a minister. He taught English at Lindenwood
College & is now retired. He was in the St. Louis CORE group which split
& became ACTION, a group which concentrated on opening working class
opportunities to Blacks. He was the victim of an FBI "Dirty Tricks"
campaign which threatened his marriage (he is now widowed). Two tapes in
his pretty, new townhouse in an interracial community in an isolated
area of downtown St. Louis.
Feingold-Real Mimi
25 January 2002, Mill Valley, CA
Parents fired by Brooklyn red-hunting Board of Education. Father became
pioneer educator of retarded. Mimi organized for Youth March on
Washington when 16. Attended Swarthmore. Started political discussion
group, then became involved in anti-war & civil rights work. Volunteered
for Freedom Rides in sophmore year. First bus routed through Alabama:
describes the family which sheltered them in Montgomery. Bus ride in
with hostile driver, arrest while carrying cake given them by passenger.
Comraderie among women in Hinds County jail & Parchman Farm. Summer
volunteer American Friends project in Tennessee. Voter registration in
Plaquemines town, 1963. Police riots, tear gassed & hunted down. Put off
graduate school to stay through the year. Library sit-ins. Agricultural
cooperative organizing. Graduate school, summers in Louisiana. Rejection
of Whites. Starting civil rights archives for Wisconsin: collecting oral
histories. (She's a pioneer in the field, I believe.) SDS white working
class project in Hoboken. Draft resistance & Women's Movement in
California. Postal delivery job which led to Oral History work in
Berkeley. Developing interest in Judaism, became a first-time mother
after 50, now assoc. director Hebrew Day School. Two & a half tapes in
her semi-attached house set into the hill, in Marin County, with
beautifully catalogued library.
Friedman, Selma
2 March 2000, New York
Selma participated in the Civil Rights Movement in Israel. She worked
for a woman's Zionist organization, & for Israeli Arab civil rights on
her own time. Two tapes, made in her living room, in Manhattan.
Gammon, Donald
14 September 1999, St. Louis, MO
St. Louis CORE, the public transport boycott over the revocation of car
service licensing, other actions. One tape, in his pretty, suburban
house, in a formerly white suburb of North St. Louis.
Gammon, Evelyn Haney
16 September 1999, St. Louis, MO
As a recent high school graduate, Evelyn Gammon heard from her
beautician that the NAACP was looking for telephone operators to break
segregation in hiring at AT&T. She was their first hire & is still
employed there, as a technician. She joined CORE during the Jefferson
Bank demonstrations & met her husband on the picket line. She covers
the various splits in St. Louis CORE & conflicts in the community, as
well as the workings of CORE. I loved making this interview: everything
clicked. One tape, her pretty suburban house in a formerly white suburb.
A niece was on her lap, night fell, none of us moved to put on a light.
Goldwag, Arnold
23 April, 5 May 1999, 9 March 2001, New York, NY
Ed Lewinson said that he thought Brooklyn CORE was actually named
"Goldwag CORE". Arnie Goldwag lived in a converted coal bin, which was
also the office of Brooklyn CORE. He had been thrown out by his
conservative father. He was not only dedicated, he was a maniac
trickster. He would call Southern Sheriffs pretending to be government
agencies, in order to buy time for prisoners. He would hitchhike to
spots where his talents were needed. He would trick the police into
showing up at the wrong spot while his group pulled an action in another
place. Tapes discuss founding & functions of Brooklyn CORE. Last tape
also discusses the Route 40 campaign & his friendship with Stokely
Carmichael (Kwame Ture), including Stokely's last days & death upon
returning to New York. Arnie now inspects the working conditions of the
members of the Social Service Employees Union. Five tapes, recorded in
his office, one only on original tape: not copied because of odd format.
Goodman, Bernard "Buddy"
10 September 1999, St. Louis, MO
Buddy Goodman is a WWII veteran of the Italian Campaign. He was in St.
Louis CORE, was involved in the Jefferson Bank action & in the sit-in at
the St. Louis Arch, when it was being built. This was the first
demonstration for jobs, by ACTION. He is an incredibly sweet man, in a
group which had no lack of them. He is in touch with everyone. So many
of these tapes have been great fun; but, although he was hard to pin
down, sometimes, this was one of the best times I've had. He now lives
with his second wife in a mostly Black neighborhood in University City,
Missouri. One tape, in my apartment in St. Louis.
Goodman, Jan
18 May 2000, New York City
Jan Goodman was active in New York City politics, after graduating from
U. Pennsylvania Women's College in 1957. She had also been something of
an activist at Erasmus HS, in Brooklyn. She participated in some CORE
events in NYC, but did not join. After a number of jobs with businesses
& unions, she worked with the Girl Scouts on integration in Newark. She
went to Mississippi with Susan Brownmiller in 1964. They had orientation
in Memphis & worked in Meridian, MS, just when Rita Schwerner was
leaving. They organized some mass rallies for Dr. King, (which Susan
Brownmiller's tape describes, fully.) She left the Girl Scouts to work
full time for SNCC, only to arrive during Waveland, (also described more
fully in Brownmiller.) She worked on the Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Party Challenge & after the passage of the Civil (or Voting?) Rights
Bill, went to Washington DC, to work on challenging the seating of the
Democratic Congressmen from Mississippi. The office remained to do
lobbying for two years. She worked mainly with Mike Thelwell & Larry
Guyot. She received $10 weekly, cannot remember the supplementary
housing fee (I think it was $15). She felt it was time to leave, but was
pushed to it when Bob Moses would not speak to her because she was white
& would not speak to Mike Thelwell while he was standing with her. She
worked for District Council 37 for a while, until she earned enough to
attend NYU Law School. She practices employment law. One tape, in her
attractive & comfortable, but immaculate, apartment with a gorgeous view
of the Village & lower Manhattan. The pictures are pretty, mostly chalks
of people in summer landscapes. I know of at least three other early
Feminists in this building & a huge number of Civil Rights & Peace &
Women's Movement people could be assembled by sounding a tocsin from the
roof.
Goodman, Naomi
18 May 2000, New York City
In the early 1960's, Naomi Goodman was asked to join the Jewish Peace
Fellowship "because they needed women". This was, of course, before the
Women's Movement. She was the only non-Rabbi. She headed the JPF for ten
years & the International Peace Fellowship, too. She took on the work
full-time. She had been an interior designer & worked with her late
husband, the architect & social critic/utopian Percival Goodman. (Who
wrote a number of books with his brother, the founder of Gestalt
Therapy, Paul Goodman.) She had met the Rabbi who brought her into JPF
when designing a Temple for his congregation. One tape, in her large
apartment furnished in mid-century International style, with many family
pictures & drawings. The 1928 building is half a block off Central Park
& overlooks The Museum of Natural History. When I announced my
destination, the doorman extolled both Mrs. Goodman & her late husband.
She is always chic: a great beauty with real style.
Gordon, Albert F.
16 April 2001 New York City
Al Gordon was an American History teacher in high school when the
Freedom Ride bus was burned. He ducked the end of the semester & went on
one of the first busses that continued the Ride. When he arrived, there
was as yet no procedure & no protection by the police. He served in
Parchman Farm, returning often to stand trial, when called, so as not to
sacrifice the bail money which CORE needed. He was a CORE activist for
many years, in New York & nationally. He fell, almost by accident, into
becoming an African art dealer: discovering that he had a business sense
& an eye & instinct for art, at the moment when he came into some art
which he unloaded, buying art of quality with the proceeds. He became
one of the principal dealers of tribal art in America & still travels
enormously. Two tapes, recorded in my apartment.
Grupper, Ira
4 October 2000 Louisville, KY
Ira spent a year in Mississippi, taught English in university, became an
organizer, a union & community organizer. He worked with the Bradens in
Louisville, eventually deciding to work on the factory floor. He is
legally blind, won a landmark suit, & worked 20 years for Brown &
Williamson, being active in his union. He is now retired and a
disability rights activist & legal advocate. Two tapes in his haimish
brick bungalow house in Louisville.
Green, Percy, III
28 July, 18 August, 15 September 1999
Percy Green was one of the few working class members of CORE in the
early 1960s. He was then an electrician — which he learned
by correspondence — on aircraft at McDonald Corporation.
The case in which he was fired for activism, years later, is a landmark
labor case. He led a split & founded ACTION, after St. Louis CORE became
exhausted from the Jefferson Bank case. In their first demonstration,
Mr. Green & a white man sat-in on the legs of the Gateway to the West
Arch, as it was being built. He also picketed inside the St. Louis
Cathedral during Mass & drove into hiding the Establishment's premier
social event, The Veiled Prophet Parade. One of his ACTION members
unveiled the Veiled Prophet, during the great debutante ball, swinging
down from the balcony & landing onstage. He has an inimitable flair for
publicity & for gauging public opinion. ACTION remained the central
organization for desegregating working class jobs well into the `80s. He
is a force of nature. Three tapes, made in his office.
Hall, Rev. Dr. Prathia
23 February, 10 March 1999 Princeton, NJ
The Rev, Dr. Prathia Hall was one of the most respected organizers &
speakers in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. She grew up
in Philadelphia, where her parents had a ministry to a poor
neighborhood. Her father was very race-conscious & she was his primary
disciple. She was trained in leadership by Friends Service & a number of
other groups. She worked in Southwest Georgia & in Selma Alabama. Her
doctorate, from Princeton Theological Seminary, was for studies of
Baptist Women's Groups. She taught Ethics at Princeton Theological, &
was teaching at Harvard at the time of her death. She was a great force
in the Children's Defense Fund. Two tapes, in her home in a modern
suburban apartment complex outside Princeton.
Hamilton, Mrs. Allyce
July 1999
Mrs. Hamilton was a very early member of St. Louis CORE. She is now in
her 90s. She brought her close friend Marion O'Fallon (Oldham) into the
organization (& introduced her to Charles Oldham.) She was the daughter
of socially active parents, a clergyman & teacher. She, herself, taught
in the primary schools. Mrs. Hamilton is nearly blind & almost deaf. She
had been condemned to a nursing home, albeit a good one. One of her
former students, whom she had mentored, Mrs. Charlene Dummet, a social
worker, got her out of nursing home & was given Power of Attorney. (314-
652-6266). Mrs. Hamilton is now back in her own home with a caregiver.
One tape in her tidy, peaceful bungalow house in a pretty, historically
Black bourgeois neighborhood.
Hamlett, Ed
17 November 2000 Nashville, TN
Ed worked with Ann Braden & organized white Southern students with SNCC
& later with SSOC. I will not attempt to summarize his long & dedicated
career. Tapes have fine details about Southern life & religion in the
1940s, as well as the struggle on white campuses in the Deep South.
Extraordinary. Four tapes in his 1920s craftsman house & one at the
Opreyland Hotel, where I was attending a conference.
Hartford, Bruce
5 February 2002 San Francisco, CA
His was one of two white families who stayed in neighborhood when it was
"flipped". He attended a racially divisive high school. Joined Los
Angeles CORE, 1963, when it was outnumbered by American Nazis at
demonstrations. Story of police attempts to foster riots in Watts in
1964. Selma, Alabama, SCLC. Selma March. Organizing Alabama. Director of
a SCOPE, SCLC Voter Registration Summer project 1965. James Meredith
March. SDS, San Francisco State. Work with navy & marines against war,
on & off bases in East Asia & Southeast Asia. Two tapes in his beautiful
condo loft in Mission District, San Francisco.
Hochberg, Judith Mohr(aka Sarah Joyce)
2 September 2000 Chicago, IL
Mrs. Hochberg raised a family underground in the Southwest, because she
was married to a Communist (who was also avoiding alimony, while raising
his children, himself). They came to Chicago around 1965, taught in the
schools & became active in Chicago CORE, school protests & much of the
local ferment. Like Pat Jordan, in Missouri — whom she
never met — Mrs. Hochberg was beaten up by CORE thugs, in
the office (in front of her students), because she would not abandon the
teenagers with whom she worked. This seems to suggest that Innes &
whatever federal agency was behind him had a clearly defined agenda for
driving "whites" from the Movement. One tape, in her sprawling Bohemian
apartment, from which she operates her business, & where some of her
children live & some rooms are let.
Houser, George
5, 29 April 1999 Pomona, NY
Rev. Houser was jailed, in 1939, as a conscientious objector to the
draft, although he could have had a clerical dispensation. He was the
son of missionaries to the Philippines. He was discouraged from
returning to Union Theological Seminary. He was a founder of CORE when
he was a seminarian in Chicago. He headed CORE while employed by the
Fellowship of Reconciliation. When this was no longer possible, Jim
Robinson took over the work. Rev. Houser founded the American Committee
on Africa. He has been widely honored in South Africa for his
achievements in ending Apartheid. Two tapes in his pretty stone house
on a land trust in Pomona, NY.
Houser, Jean
29 April 1999 Pomona, NY
Mrs. Houser was the daughter of missionaries in China. We have some
discussion of missionary life in China in the 1920s & 30s. She was an
early member of CORE & worked with her husband. She was an early
innovator in the teaching of the severely retarded. One tape, recorded
in her pretty stone house on a land trust in Pomona, NY.
Jerome, Joycelyn Boyd
21 March 2000 New York, NY
Joycelyn was National CORE's secretary, then became Marvin Rich's
secretary. She was also a member of NYCORE. She was brought up on the
Lower East Side. Her mother, though from an educated family, often
worked as a maid to support them & sometimes needed welfare. Her father
did janitorial work. The family was intellectual & involved in politics.
She learned of the CORE job through Ralph di Gia of War Resister's
League. When she married Fred Jerome, many CORE people were concerned
because he was a leftist from a Communist family. His father had served
time in jail during the McCarthy era. She felt that, in the National
CORE office, attitudes changed toward her, because CORE was anti-
Communist. Two tapes, recorded in her upper West Side apartment. Huge
rooms, covered with family pictures. They are renters in a mostly coop
building & powers in the Tenant's Association.
Jones, Ina Sugihara
27 March 2000 White Plains, NY
Mrs. Jones moved to a modern middle-class condo complex in White Plains,
in 1977, when Texaco's corporate headquarters moved her job there.
Despite her husband's warnings, she brought him to a dinner for
employees. He was right & she was demoted, from contract appraiser to
file clerk, though with no diminution in pay. It took four employees to
replace her in her previous job & they never got it right. Finally, they
had to hire an outside consulting firm. She grew up in a small town in
Colorado. Her parents, immigrants from Yamanishi-ku, had to give up
farming during the Depression. She was scouted for a scholarship to
UCLA, but was rejected because she wanted to be a lawyer, rather than a
nurse, which the interviewer said was a career more suitable for an
Oriental woman. She went to a junior college, then to Berkeley. At
Berkeley the employment office was forcing her to become a maid & she
had constant battles with them to accept the jobs she found for herself
as a secretary & writer. She escaped deportation to the Japanese
internment camps, through the offer of a job in New York. She had
studied in Labor Schools & had volunteered there while she was working
her way through Berkeley. One of her teachers made the offer, which
brought her to New York. She has always supported herself with
secretarial & legal work & some writing. She was active in the Ashram
in Harlem in the early 1940s & in New York CORE & in the National CORE
office. She & the Farmers were close friends. She married a Black man in
the late 1950s & drifted away from the movement. Two tapes recorded in
her modern cooperative apartment in White Plains. It is immaculate &
crowded with furniture & papers.
Jones, Matthew
27 February 2002 New York City
The Jones' father (& family) were run out of South Carolina. He was then
an high-school principle. A white child had thrown a stone at him &
called him "nigger" He went to the boy's mother & told her he knew she
hadn't raised her child that way. Also, the senior Jones had written a
letter to a newspaper about German prisoners-of-war receiving better
treatment than African-American soldiers. He spent rest of war years
defense worker in shipyard. He was later able to attend seminary &
became Episcopal priest. They moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he
was assigned to a `missionary' (Black) Anglican Church. Father Jones
later ran for Mayor of Knoxville. Matthew's own life story started in
Movement in student sit-ins & demonstrations in Nashville, joined SNCC,
worked on organizing in Knoxville, then Danville, where suffered
injuries. Started composing music in jail. Songs became popular in
Movement, joined Freedom Singers. He tells a story of the Freedom
Singers & one white girl demonstrated during the big Klan rally at Stone
Mountain in Georgia. Story of Ruby Doris Smith keeping track of him on
the WATS-line on behalf of his
fiancee, Bobby Yancey. The tours of Freedom Singers. Conflicts between
Northern & Southern Blacks: Southerners had built Movement & Northerners
thought they were slow-witted. In favor of keeping Mississippi Movement
Black & local. Doubts about move to organize in North. Doubts about
ousting of whites from Movement. Peg Leg Bates meeting which was the
final blow to SNCC as an interracial movement. Discussion of his
friendship with Carolyn Goodman, mother of the slain Andrew Goodman. Two
tapes at his Upper West Side tenement apartment/office.
Jordan, Patricia
24 September 1999 St. Louis
Pat Jordan is from rural Missouri. She talks about the lack of
preparation & attention poor rural whites receive, as well & the
difficulty of obtaining employment either at home or in the city. She
had a child she was unable to support, struggled a long time to keep,
but finally surrendered. She lived in the center of St. Louis' jazz
scene in the late `50s-early `60s: a time some St. Louisans remember as
very heaven. But she also fought a losing struggle against red-lining &
urban renewal & lost her house. She was Corresponding Secretary of St
Louis CORE. She was eventually evicted, as white member. She was beaten
up by a nationalist thug within the organization, when it was taken
over. (See also Judith Hochberg, in Chicago) She is involved in
conservation work in Eminence. She is very poor & has many cats. Her
dream is to resume her former work with homeless, unwed mothers, but she
can get no backing. Two tapes recorded in my apartment in St. Louis.
Knable, Bobbie Brown
23 November 1999 Brookline, MA
Bobbie Brown Knable was Executive Secretary to Marvin Rich, in the
National CORE Office, after Joycelyn Boyd Jerome left to raise her
children. Orphaned of her Mother, at birth, her Grandmother before her
birth & her Great-grandmother at five, she was reared by her Great-aunt
& uncle, in Ohio. While working at the Karamou Theatre, she met Karin
Berg: it was about the time she was ready to leave home. They shared an
apartment in New York, although it was difficult finding housing. They
were both active in the Riverside Democrats & then in New York CORE.
After her marriage, Bobbie was able to take a cut in pay to become
Marvin Rich's secretary. She went on to become Dean of Students at
Tufts. She is partially retired & has moved her 97-year-old Great-aunt
to Boston, in order to oversee her care. Two tapes, recorded in her
home. It is high on a hill above Brookline, with a lovely night view.
They have wonderful African art. He is an architect, but their house is
traditional & quite warm.
Komisar, Lucy
15 May 2001 New York City
When she was at Queens College, Lucy Komisar organized a picket line
around the 42nd Street Woolworth in Manhattan after the first sit-ins in
the South. It was the picket line of choice for most people. She
attended the conference which established SNCC & subsequent annual
conferences & worked with Queens CORE as well as National. She was a
prominent Feminist activist & has written extensively about human rights
violations, & has for years been exposing the laundering of money & its
flight offshore. She has upset a great many people, from the Congo to
Russia. One tape in her one bedroom home & office in Greenwich Village.
Kruskal, Joseph
28 April 2000 Maplewood, NJ
I am amazed at the number of statisticians I have come across in the
Movement. Joseph Kruskal is a mathematician, the creator of the field of
psychometrics & an authority in a rare mathematical field, WQO: which is
his license plate. Most of his career was at Bell Labs, following a
successful academic career. He was active in CORE in Washington in 1949,
in New York in the 1950s & in Newark CORE in the early `60s. This led
him to found a group for fair housing in Maplewood, New Jersey, where he
lived. One tape recorded in the living room of his grand 1910 house in
Maplewood.
Landerman, Richard
1 January 1999 New York
Landerman is a Professor of Medical Statistics at Duke, where he has
been since he was an undergraduate. He was a student activist at Duke,
after his sophomore year, he was in Hattiesburg, MS, 1964-65. After
returning to Duke, graduating in Sociology, he was active in local
movements & was a professional organizer for a few years. He is largely
self-taught in medical statistics. One tape, in my apartment in New
York.
Lass, Kathy
25 November 2001 St. Louis
Kathy Lass spent the summer of 1965 in Southeastern Virginia, working
with the SCLC sponsored voter-registration group, SCOPE. She was a
student at the University of Missouri. One tape, in my apartment in St.
Louis.
Lesser, Michael
24 January, 2000 San Francisco
Active in CORE in Syracuse, NY & in Louisiana. CORE Field Secretary in
Louisiana & later Southern Regional Director . He was in graduate school
in sociology at Syracuse, with Rudy Lombard, & studied with Saul
Alinsky. He was a carpenter for many years. Now director in university
extension courses at Berkeley & teaches wine courses. One tape, made at
home of Frank Nelson on Portrero Hill. Very large, disabled dog we had
to carry two flights, curled at his feet, betimes sounding alarms. Some
jeering commentary by Frank Nelson & Patricia Yorck, is occasionally
added in background.
Lewinson, Edwin Ross
11 March 1999 New York
Ed Lewinson, who was never sighted, first attended CORE workshops in
1949, when he was still a student. He was with CORE until 1965. He was a
member of the National Action Council, which was the decision making
committee elected to guide CORE. He is a retired Professor of American
History at Seaton Hall University in New Jersey. He is still active in
political protest & visited Iraq & Cuba in the year before his
interview. He has a photo with his dog & Fidel Castro. One tape, in my
apartment, marred by interruptions from his very undisciplined guide
dog, Hooper, & my dog.
Lippman, Winnie
13 September 1999 St. Louis, MO
Ms. Lippman was active in Kansas City CORE. She came to Kansas City as
an ILGWU business agent. She came up from the ranks of sewing machine
operators & was a fierce champion of rights for workers & was a foe of
racism. A fighting unionist of the old school. Her clothes are
beautifully made & look like they would be strong enough to survive an
earthquake. Unfortunately, she was in the early stages of Alzheimer's &
the interview is a little uneven, as she cannot always find the words
she wants. One tape, in her immaculate, sunny apartment, with a
beautiful view into St. Louis County. Papers are stacked everywhere, but
neatly.
Lockett, Dr. Gretchen
2 October 1999 St. Louis
Dr. Lockett is Student Affairs Administrator at Harris-Stowe (formerly
Harris-Stowe Teachers College, an historically Black school, which was
the only school of higher education for Blacks in the St. Louis area.)
Dr. Lockett was formerly married to Winston Lockett, who was a CORE
Field Secretary, who started with New Haven CORE. There was time that
day to do only 1/2-tape. She talks about St. Louis CORE & the National
activity in Chicago in the later `60s. She has the low-down on everyone
& who doesn't she know? One side of a tape, in my apartment in St.
Louis.
Lombard, Rudy (PhD.)
August 2000 Chicago, IL
Lombard established himself as an anti-racist activist in Catholic
elementary school, leading children to play in a deserted white-only
playground. He had to battle the nuns in high school to obtain his
scholarship to Ann Arbor. After finding that his parents had taken extra
janitorial jobs to support his scholarship to Ann Arbor, Rudy
transferred back to Louisiana, intending to become a labor leader in the
waterfront unions. He was about to join the NAACP, when he found they
were against the sit-ins. He became an early leader (& the chief heart-
throb) in New Orleans CORE. He took his master's degree at Syracuse
(thinking it would put him near the New York jazz scene). He organized a
very effective CORE group, many of whom became major leaders, themsel
ves. He became active nationally. He is now a business consultant, & an
investment consultant for professional football players. He has one of
the best private collections of African art that I've seen. Three tapes
at his grand late-19th century house in a Black-gentrifying pocket of
the South Side of Chicago.
Lovell, Rev. William (Bill)
30 August 2000 Evanston, IL.
Rev. Lovell was one of the eight students at Union Theological who
refused to take their clerical exemption from the Civilian Draft, &
chose to go to jail in protest. When he was released, he was unable to
re-enter Union & finished seminary in Chicago. He was active in the
early CORE group & practiced Gandhian nonviolence. His church ministry
was inclusive of Japanese during & after the war. He is retired. One
tape in his condo in Evanston, where he heads the board.
Lovell, Ellen Hilton
30 August 2000 Evanston, IL
Mrs. Lovell was a Gandhian nonviolent activist in Chicago. When she was
living in the Ashram in Detroit -which included Bayard Rustin- she was
courted by the Rev. Lovell. She describes the Detroit Race Riots, part
of which she viewed from the office where she was working. She quit
Northwestern University short of retirement through moral objections to
the behavior of her bosses. One tape at her condo in Evanston, where she
was kind enough to host me so I could record oral histories in Chicago.
Lyttle, Bradford J.
1 September 2000 Chicago, IL
Brad Lyttle was one of the most notable Peace activists of the late
`60s. He was in Chicago CORE in the 1940s-1950s, as a very young boy &
young man. He participated in the Moscow walk, & the Montreal to
Guantanamo walk. He was jailed in Albany, GA, fasting for months on end.
He has lately run for President as a vegetarian. Three tapes in the
large townhouse near the University of Chicago, which he inherited from
his parents: part of it he rents to students. In the yard are beautiful
wooden & brass sailboats from the 1930s, which are his hobby & which he
sails on Lake Michigan.
McCallister, Jane Douglas
28 August 2000 Chicago, IL
Mrs. McCallister came to Chicago after ?Mt. Holyoke? She joined Chicago
CORE in 1941 or 42. She knew Shridharani, whose book, War Without
Violence set the blueprint for the nonviolent direct action course which
CORE followed. She was a friend of Bernice Fisher, founder of CORE, &
worked with her on organizing department store workers. Working as
secretary to the project, she was part of the movement which founded
Roosevelt University. She looks like a girl & is quite beautiful. Two
tapes in her apartment overlooking the drive & Lake Michigan
McClean, Daphne Wallace
12 June 1999 Reserve, LA
Daphne Wallace is from a small Creole town on the Mississippi, to which
she has returned. Most of her neighbors, near & far, are relatives. Her
house is a few hundred yards from the levee. People are bilingual in
Patois & English. She is a former high school teacher, as are most of
her siblings. She is now a caseworker for severely handicapped children.
She was a dedicated activist in New Orleans CORE & left university
because of the pressures to leave the Movement. She discusses the
everyday workings of New Orleans CORE as a democracy when picketing went
on every day after work. One tape, in her rambling house, built ad-
infinitum onto a pre-fab she purchased from an aunt, & extensively
remodeled by her late husband.
McCray, Willie
24 June 2002 Yellow Springs, Ohio
Willie McCray was the indispensable man who pulled SNCC people's irons
out of the fire in the mid-to-late '60s. When someone needed to be
bailed, he went with the money from the SNCC office, when their cars
broke down, he went to fix them or get them fixed. He was the
representative from the National Office. He saw a lot of bad situations
& it affected him. There are affectionate portraits of Ruby Doris Smith,
among others. When he was with New York SNCC he met & married Helen
O'Neal, a Mississippian who joined SNCC at the time of the Freedom
Rides. When he was working on a SNCC project in Southern Ohio, a local
businessman, impressed, had offered him a job in Yellow Springs,
whenever he wanted to leave the Movement. He came there when the
Movement expired. He was railroaded into jail for a year, somewhat
later. About 45 minutes on disk: he cut short the interview due to the
heavy trauma of telling the movement story. At their home, deep in
gardens, outside Yellow Springs.
Michaels, Sheila
5 June 1999 Hattiesburg
Two tapes, made by the University of Southern Mississippi's Oral History
Archive.
Moore, Jane Bond
30 January 2002 Berkeley, CA.
When her father headed Lincoln University in Pennsylvania he had to
bring suit on his children's behalf, to integrate the public schools .
(Dr. Bond's friendship with Dr. Barnes brought one of America's premier
art collections under the University's protection.) His involvement with
African movements & negritude led to Lincoln's Board's disaffection in
those McCarthyite times. The family moved to Atlanta University where he
headed School of Education & her mother became Librarian at Clark
University. She was at Spellman College when the sit-ins started, she
became an activist. She discusses the founding of SNCC. Support Albany
Georgia movement led to her meeting Howard Moore who was on legal
defense team. She did support work in SNCC & shared an apartment Dottie
Miller. She discusses the Georgia legislature's refusal to seat her
brother, Julian Bond, for his opposition to Vietnam War: there were
years of legal struggle. Her husband headed the Angela Davis defense &
they moved to California. She discusses her decision to become a lawyer.
She was counsel to the Oakland School Board. Now with retirement, she is
thinking of teaching law in South Africa. One tape in Berkeley house
they bought from Ron Dellums.
Myers, Paul
25 February, 2000 New York
Paul was a Conscientious Objector during the Second World War. He joined
the American Friends' Service program, which employed COs as orderlies
in the hospitals & worked for many years at Columbia Presbyterian. He
married a Quaker, became a Friend & was the longtime Recording Secretary
(leader) for Friends' Meetings in the New York area. After the War he
was with the NY Public Library &, for a decade, was chief of the Theatre
Collection at Lincoln Center. He was for many years on the nominating
committee for the Tony Awards. He is now a widower & nearly blind. One-
+ tapes, in his quarters at Penington House, NYC
Nelson, Frank
18 November 1998 New York
His father's family name was changed from Di Ciccio, he believes. His
mother's mother was Jewish & her father was a Plattdeutsch miner. Frank
was on the Freedom Ride, & served time at Parchman Farm. He was almost
lynched after his arrest, trying to help his future wife, during
facilities testing in Poplarville, MS. This story is also recounted on
the interviews of Patricia Smith Nelson, Jean Thompson, Alice Thompson &
Betty Rosemond. Frank was jailed a number of times in New Orleans, & was
badly beaten by the police. He stayed on & worked with New Orleans CORE,
as he had fallen in love with Patricia Smith. After they were married,
they participated in New York CORE & on the Freedom Highways Project. He
was in jail in North Carolina, then & fasted for 26 days. They threw him
out of jail, finally. One tape, recorded at my apartment. A second tape
with Mary Hamilton Wesley talking about the Freedom Rides, the Movement
& Local 1199.
Nelson, Mrs. Juanita
27 November 1999 Deerfield, MA
The Nelsons are War-Tax Resisters & earn less than a taxable income.
They live on a land trust. They have an herb farm & are without
electricity or a telephone. Mrs. Nelson & friends conducted what is
arguably the first sit-in, at "The Candy Corner", in 1942 when she was a
student at Howard. Pauli Murray, then a law student, represented them.
It still rankles that women were not allowed on the Fellowship of
Reconciliation's Freedom Ride in 1947. She became a journalist & met her
husband when he was in jail as a Conscientious Objector. One tape, made
in their farm house, at night, by gaslight.
Nelson, Wally 27 November
1999 Deerfield, MA
Mr. Nelson was born in Arkansas in 1909. His father was a self-taught
minister, & he was a younger son in a large family. He went north to
join his brothers & worked at odd jobs, while trying to get a higher
education. When he was unemployed in the 1930s, he took to the rails, as
an hobo, looking for work. He was jailed twice as a Conscientious
Objector during WW II. He was a purist & left the labor camp for
Conscientious Objectors, because he realized he did not want to
cooperate with the war effort by working for the government on the home
front. This resulted in a long jail sentence. At one point he shared a
cell with Joe Guinn, one of the founders of CORE, in Chicago. It was
there he met his future wife, Juanita Nelson, when she came as a
reporter, to do a story on jail conditions. He & George Houser were
partners on the Fellowship of Reconciliation's Freedom Ride in 1947. He
was CORE's first Field Secretary but caused controversy by not following
their policy to bar suspected Communists from participation, in those
McCarthyite times. One tape, at 10 p.m., in their farmhouse.
Nemenyi, Peter April
2000 Durham, NC
Peter was a man of such exquisite modesty that he apologized for name-
dropping when he mentioned that he worked with Eleanor Holmes (Norton).
He is the half-brother of the chess genius, Bobby Fisher, but feels that
too, is presumptuous to mention. We discussed this, off-tape with
Professor Landerman, who was curious about the matter. He was born in
Germany of parents who were refugees from Hungarian Fascism in the
1920s. His father was one of the 20th century's leading hydrologists
(fluid mechanics engineer). Peter was sent to live in a German Socialist
experimental school when he was three years old. When he was six, the
Nazis came to power & seized the school & its assets. His parents had
parted: his mother moved to Paris & died there, his father took work in
European Universities & finally was able to move to the United States.
It would appear that he was important in the development of the atomic
bomb, in Chicago & Hanford, Washington. Peter was raised in the school,
which was forced to move all over Europe ahead of the Nazis. When he was
a teenager, he was to join his father in America, but the children's
boat which departed ahead of them was torpedoed. The school's teachers
were interned as possible enemy aliens (although they were anti-
Fascists) & Peter lived in host families & hostels. Immediately after
the war he joined his father, but their political backgrounds led the
Army to draft him immediately. He did serve in the army, although he was
a lifelong pacifist & vegetarian. He went to Black Mountain College on
the G.I. Bill & took his doctorate at Princeton. His father died at a
dance in Washington, DC, with a collection of Peter's letters in his
jacket breast pocket, but they were seized by the FBI & not released
until after Peter's death. Peter was an active member of New York CORE.
He worked as a statistician & taught at Downstate Medical in Brooklyn,
in Mississippi, Oberlin, Princeton, North Carolina & later, in
Nicaragua, after the Sandinista victory. He was in Mississippi in 1962-
65. He became disabled by the loss of much of his ileum & duodenum due
to illnesses he contracted in Nicaragua & lived on SSI. Two tapes, in
his apartment in an attached house in a depressed, mostly Black,
neighborhood in downtown Durham. He had four rooms but could afford only
to heat one at a time.
Oldham, Charles
8 July 1999, 1 December 2001 St. Louis
Mr. Oldham was Chairman of National CORE for more than a decade. He was
a founder of St. Louis CORE, which was for many years the most active
CORE chapter in America & the engine which drove the national
association of chapters. He was from Marselline, MO, also the hometown
of Walt Disney. (He didn't mention this, Marv Rich did.) He was reared
by his grandfather after his father --a WWI airman-- died performing in
an air show. Mr. Oldham returned from the Asian Theatre in the Second
World War --the Burma Campaign-- & flew raids over Japan. He was a
member of the American Veterans, a radical Veterans group, while he was
at Washington University Law School. In 1950[?] he went to Chicago to
marry a St. Louis schoolteacher, Marion O'Fallon, who was a leading
member of CORE. Because their marriage was interracial, he was barred
from the ALA. The ALA claimed he allowed the directors of the homeowners
association to think his secretary was his wife, when he bought his
home: which was in a private street with a restrictive covenant. He
served nine months in jail in the Jefferson Bank demonstration, although
he was not present during the trespass & the actions were against his
wishes. Minutes of a Jefferson Bank officers meeting, obtained years
later, showed that the officers had instructed the police & judge to
arrest all former CORE officers & had dictated the length of their
sentences. Jefferson Bank was the only bank in the Black community. A
group in Southern Missouri bought it & moved it to a white neighborhood.
All non-custodial Black staff members were fired. This tape was made an
evening of the week he returned to work after a heart attack & extensive
surgery. Many clients were calling to consult with him. His son &
daughter-in-law were also moving into the house, friends were helping
them & several caretaker/residents of the house were wandering through.
It is slightly disconnected. In addition, forthcoming publication of a
book about St. Louis CORE caused Mrs. Margaret Dagan, its editor, to
request that he not discuss St. Louis CORE, or matters which related to
it. The second tape, two years later, after the Dagan book appeared,
discusses the founding of St. Louis CORE & its operations & influence.
Two tapes, recorded in the living room of his elegant house in
Westminister Place.
O'Neal-McCray, Helen
24 June 2002 Yellow Springs, OH
elen O'Neal was a Mississippian who was sent away to school as a child,
but returned when nuns opened a quality elementary school for children
of color in her home town. Her mother so approved of their work that she
became a Catholic. Helen O'Neal was a student at Jackson State when the
Freedom Rides came to Jackson & she began to work with organizers of the
Freedom Ride, because there was no local movement on her campus. She
worked in Mississippi throughout the peak Movement years. Later, in New
York she met her future husband, Willie McCray, when he lived in the
same building & came to put out a fire which started in her apartment.
She is now retired from teaching elementary school & teaches at
Wilberforce University, one of the first of America's historically Black
colleges. She is also helping one of her sons who is a single father.
One interview on two mini-discs (as I was learning to use the machine &
using up discs), in their ranch-house outside Yellow Springs, surrounded
by lovingly tended gardens.
O'Neal, Mary Lovelace
29 January 2002 Oakland, CA
Sheltered childhood on Black campuses: Arkansas & Tougaloo in
Mississippi. Howard University, founding Washington NAG (Nonviolent
Action Group), the personalities of members, influence of Ed Brown,
years of fighting & loving Stokely Carmichael. His mother's West Indian
hostility to African-Americans. Death of Medgar Evers & organizing of
protests. SNCC work, Jackson & Canton, MS. Fund-raising in North after
death of Schwerner, Goodman & Cheney. Transition to Black Power by SNCC
leadership. Marriage to John O'Neal & work with Free Southern Theater.
New Orleans activism. Due to O'Neal's conscientious objector status,
their move to New York (Harlem & the Bronx). Columbia Art School.
Divorce & move to San Francisco. Stokely's marriage to Miriam Makeba.
Death of Ralph Featherstone. First arrest of Rap Brown. Marriage to
Lolis Elie, New Orleans Movement lawyer. Teaching art at Berkeley.
Marriage to exiled Chilean artist ("Toro"). Years as Chair of Berkeley's
Art Department. Last American visit of Stokely Carmichael. Upcoming one-
woman show in Jackson Museum of Art. Tapes available for listening only
with written permission of Dr. Lovelace-O'Neal. They will not be
available at Columbia: only through her or through me with her written
permission. Three tapes in beautiful house they designed & built, hung
with their paintings.
Owens, Dr. David
25 September 2000 St. Louis
David Owen grew up at Cal Tech & his parents were very active in the
Friends of SNCC group after he went to Hattiesburg for Freedom Summer.
He worked in Mississippi for a year. He is no longer a practicing
physician, but works occasionally in a bookstore. Two tapes, recorded in
my apartment.
Ms. Alice Parham
21 September 1999 St. Louis
Ms. Parham is a retired elementary school teacher in St. Louis. She is
originally from southern Tennessee & taught in Mississippi. She has a
wonderful eye for furniture & her apartment is filled with gorgeous
Federal pieces she has rescued & restored. She & Mrs. Vera Rhiney staged
a sit-in, unwittingly, in a St. Louis department store. When they were
cross-examined by a Vice-President, they learned of the existence of St.
Louis CORE & joined it. They discuss the workings of the group in the
`50s, particularly. One tape, in Ms. Parham's apartment in a senior
apartment complex.
Plummer, Joanne Shane
18 March 2000 New York, NY
Joanne Shane was Executive Director of New York CORE, during Gladys
Harrington's tenure as President. She & two colleagues inspected all the
restaurants along Federal highways between Washington & Florida in 1963.
She proposed the Project which became known as Freedom Highways &
participated in it. She now directs transportation & education for
mentally retarded adults for the Public Welfare Offices of the State of
Pennsylvania. Her office is also the source for interpretation of the
state's welfare laws. Her family were Reds & artists. Three tapes,
recorded in my apartment in NYC.
Reiss, Robert
27 May 2000 New York
Robert Reiss may have been the last American to be jailed for refusal to
register, during the Vietnam War. He served six months in Allenwood &
tells the story of his incarceration affectingly. He is a professional
magician. One & one-half tapes in my apartment.
Rhiney, Mrs. Vera Williams
21 September 1999 St. Louis, MO
Mrs. Rhiney's parents were an AME(Z?) Bishop & a school teacher. She
became active in CORE after she & Ms. Parham, who taught in the same
school, staged an impromptu sit-in. One tape, in the apartment of Ms.
Parham.
Rich, Marvin
16, 29 March 1999, 4 January 2000 New York
Marv was Community Relations Director for National CORE. This was the
second highest executive position in CORE. Marv was one of the original
members of St. Louis CORE, when he was in his teens. He had worked for
integration on the Washington University campus. After graduating in
Sociology, he worked for Earnest Calloway, in the Teamster's Union.
After the Army & another stint with the Teamsters, he was sent to
Washington, DC. He married Evie Jones, & they chose not to return to
St. Louis, where their marriage was not recognized. He went to work for
Histadrut in New York, but worked almost full-time at National CORE. As
fund-raising improved, CORE was able to hire him. He is now retired &
works for the Committee Against Censorship. Four tapes, in his home & at
his office.
Robinson, James
12, 15, 20 Jan, 3, 5, 12, 17, 19, 26, Feb, 5, 8, 25 March 99 New
York
Jimmy Robinson was one of the founders of CORE in Chicago, 1941-42. He
had lived earlier in Harlem & had been active in the Peace Movement &
with the Catholic Worker, as well as Fellowship of Reconciliation, War
Resisters League, &c. He went to Talledega, to teach, in the mid-40s &
was called for the draft from there. He was in camps for conscientious
objectors, participated in medical experiments & was acquitted in an
attempted court martial. He pretty much invented the field of charitable
direct-mail fundraising & it has been his living, since. After he was
widowed, he started fund-raising for CORE, in order to revive it. He
became CORE's first paid employee. He was Executive Director of CORE,
following George Hauser. He was active in New York CORE. When James
Farmer was chosen Executive Director, he remained with CORE for a while,
before joining Hauser's American Committee on Africa. He has also worked
for the NAACP Inc Fund & for the American Indian College Fund. He and
his wife Barbara were introduced by some Jewish doctors who knew they
were both looking to marry & start a Catholic family. Jim is active in
Pax Christi, & other peace groups. 12 tapes, recorded in the Robinson's
lovely, warm penthouse coop, overlooking Riverside Drive & 76th Street.
Rosemond, Betty Daniels
5 October 2000 Cincinnati, OH
Betty Daniels was a student & worked for a restaurant owner who employed
many people in her family. She describes the local New Orleans CORE
actions & people. When Pat Smith & Frank Nelson were arrested & almost
lynched in Poplarville, MS, she got off the bus to telephone to New
Orleans to alert the chapter. The bus pulled away without her, men were
running in the streets looking for her & she was hiding in the telephone
booth. She was discovered by a Black gas station worker, who she begged
to rescue her. He borrowed the gas station truck, hid her on the floor,
& took her around looking for someone to shelter her, but no one would
risk it. He was going to leave her on the dark highway, to hitch-hike to
New Orleans, but did not have the heart. He brought her all the way to
New Orleans in the borrowed gas station truck, in the dead of night,
driving with the lights off, to avoid detection. People did know she was
missing, she found, when she returned. While attending a nonviolent
workshop in Washington, she met her future husband, a minister. They are
now divorced. Two tapes in the home of a daughter.
Salvatore, Nick
14 March 2000 New Haven, CT
Nick was active in Brooklyn CORE, Harlem Parents' Movement, & is forever
committed. Father died when he was 14 months & Mother pregnant. Reared
in working class Brooklyn by young widowed mother, who got him guidance
& scholarships from Jesuits. Left Jesuit Seminary, & was a messenger &
Fordham student when he joined CORE. Later became Teamster. Branched out
into other civil rights & anti-war movements when CORE was
disintegrating. He is American History & Labor Relations Professor at
Cornell. The techniques used in his books are followed as a "bible" by
many distinguished academics. I interviewed him at Yale, while he is on
Fellowship his Sabbatical year, writing biography of Rev. C. L.
Franklin. He's in really posh digs: furnished, two fireplaces (office &
living room), views of two quadrangles, full kitchen although meals at
Commissary come with fellowship. Departmental office also provided.
Two tapes, made at quarters, in dormitory apartment, at Yale.
Schwartz, Joe
24 July 1999 Raleigh, NC
Joe came to Mississippi in the late Fall of 1964 & worked, largely in
Hattiesburg, for about a year. He was then a physicist & is now a
psychoanalyst. He also discusses the discipline of physics & the affect
of physics on his thinking. He talks about the lack of therapeutic help
in the Movement. One tape, recorded at Richard Landerman's house in
Raleigh, NC, when we were attending Landerman's wedding.
Seay, Norman
September 2002 St. Louis, MO
Norman Seay was St. Louis CORE's youngest member, joining when he was in
high school. He met Margaret Dagan, a founder of CORE, through the
National Conference of Christians & Jews youth seminars which she
sponsored: recognizing his maturity, she told him about CORE. He follows
most of St. Louis CORE's actions through the Jefferson Bank Sit-Ins. He
has maintained an anniversary picket line there, every year, for the
last 40 years, as a reminder of the perfidy of the Establishment & the
Courts. One mini-disk at University of Missouri, St. Louis, from which
he is semi-retired.
Slobodkin, Tamara
10 May 2000 New York
Mrs. Slobodkin must have been a joy to work with in Ann Arbor CORE. She
is from an old Socialist family. She was a faculty wife in Ann Arbor, by
the age of 18, having had a couple of years at Oberlin behind her,
already. Her husband headed the first department of Ecology & later
founded that department at Stony Brook, which became pre-eminent in the
field. At Ann Arbor they picketed a barber who refused to cut black hair
& demonstrated against George Lincoln Rockwell, the Nazi. She has
brought music to venues where they have not been able to hear live
chamber music before. She now teaches a method which prevents injuries.
She & her step-sister in Israel are involved in the recycling of waste
water for communities on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian border.
Smith, Patricia (a.k.a. Nelson)
11 June 1999 New Orleans
Patricia Smith is from New Orleans. Her parents were Alabamians but
migrated when her father became a player in the Negro League. She & her
older sister Carleen, recently deceased, became active in their early
teens. Her mother constantly supported the picketers with food, carfare,
& a place to sleep. Mrs. "Su" Smith's support of the Movement girls is
remembered on a number of tapes. Pat turned 18 the day of the last ride
to test facilities compliance with Federal Law, in the Mississippi bus
stations. CORE rules had not allowed her to go, previously. She & her
former husband, Frank Nelson, were almost hanged in Poplarville, MS. It
turns out Poplarville was not in compliance. Louisiana law, at that
time, did not allow them an easy courtship. They were eventually married
in my apartment in New York, in 1962, by a defrocked Presbyterian
minister Jerome Smith met in a grocery. (The previously scheduled
minister — Betty Daniels future
husband — was still in Cincinnati on family matters.) This
wedding is remarked upon in the tapes of Flukie Suarez, Rudy Lombard &
Michael Lesser & will probably be in Dave Dennis' & Jerome Smith's
tapes, when we talk. All of them tell it very well. The Nelsons were
also active in New York CORE & National CORE & in the Highway 40,
Freedom Highways & other projects. Pat & I sat in at Robert Kennedy's
office in the Justice Department, in Washington, where she triumphed
over Burke Marshall. Two tapes, in her basement apartment, between
Downtown & the Garden District.
Stewart, Jaffre Lamar
31 August 2000 Chicago, IL
Jaffre was in Chicago CORE from 1945 forward. He is an anarchist,
pacifist & anti-Zionist. Tape needs follow-up, only got to the early
'50s because of time limits: I found him home so late one afternoon. He
has no telephone & I had such a hard time tracking him down. Covers his
difficulties qualifying as a conscientious objector, because he is
African-American & an atheist. His time in jail, mental institutions,
&c, his return to CORE & its projects. One tape in his top-floor
apartment in a half-abandoned Project block, which has no glass in the
lobby. Someone a bit frightening, who knew how to work the elevator,
went up to get it & accompanied me up. Jaffre's apartment had been
broken into twice that year by drug addicts & his papers were still
everywhere. No locks. I'd had to ask around the neighborhood to find
where he lived. The blocks are to be torn down & he's to be moved to
senior housing. Says he'll really miss the children. The ones in the
lobby, when he accompanied me down, seemed fond of him.
Suarez, Matteo "Flukie"
11 June 1999 New Orleans, LA
Flukie was a member of New Orleans CORE. He speaks movingly of the late
Aretha Castle, President of New Orleans CORE. He worked in Louisiana &
in Canton, Mississippi. He also speaks about the local leaders &
families in Canton & about Schwerner, Goodman & Chaney. His descriptions
of poor Creole society in New Orleans in the 1940s are wonderful, too.
Two tapes, late at night, in the office of one of his Rainbow Academy
schools. The one that adjoins his house, at the corner of N. Tonti &
LaHarpe, in New Orleans.
Thompson, Alice
13 June 1999 New Orleans, LA
Alice was one of the heroes of the Freedom Rides. In McComb,
Mississippi, she threw herself across Jerome Smith while he was being
kicked (& permanently maimed). She was so small she was picked off him &
tossed across the room. She was jailed twice in Mississippi while
testing compliance with Federal Laws, once escaping with her life. She
is overly modest & tends to remember other people as heroes of
situations in which her bravery is legendary. Because their father lost
his job as a forklift operator, due to their Civil Rights activities,
she & her sisters left University & went to work to support the family &
save their house. She has been a social worker in New Orleans for almost
three decades. She & her adopted daughter live with a widowed sister who
has been disabled by stroke. One tape, in her living room, in a suburban
ranch house (within the city limits?) Tape made on batteries, due to
electricity failure.
Thompson, Jean
26, 27, 28 November 1999 Amherst, MA.
Jean was one of the Thompson Sisters (Alice, Jean & Shirley.) She also
had to leave school to help support the family when her father lost his
job, which was due to their Civil Rights work. She talks about the daily
rounds of work & picketing in New Orleans. The ongoing CORE picketing
group at that time was Alice, Jean & Shirley, Doratha Smith, Ruthie
Wells, Sandra Nixon, Beverly Green, Pat & Carleen Smith, Daphne Wallace
& Betty Daniels. Jean was on the first Freedom Ride Bus into
Mississippi. She talks about her time in Parchman Farm. She was one of
the students who forced the continuation of the Freedom Ride when CORE &
Robert Kennedy wanted it to cease. She was involved in the compliance
testing in Mississippi, as well. She met her first husband, Moon Eng, on
the Freedom Highways Project, in North Carolina. She talks about some of
the fissures which developed in that project, which were indicative of
Movement problems. She talks about the National CORE office, where she
volunteered. She also discusses the Panthers & other Nationalist groups
in San Francisco & the early Women's Movement. She & Moon had one son,
Cheong Tseng. She discusses the problems of raising her second son,
Daniel Denton, who is autistic, but functions beautifully. She works in
adult retarded care. Jim Denton is a Professor of Statistics at Amherst.
She briefly discusses her conversion to the B'hai faith. Five tapes,
recorded in her kitchen, in the lovely President's house (18th Century),
which they had just purchased from the University, in Amherst.
Wells, Susan
29 February, 2000 New York
Sue Wells was Executive Secretary of New York CORE during the Presidency
of Gladys Harrington. She has always been a lot of fun. She has some
descriptions of the working of the Executive Committee at NY CORE under
the redoubtable Mrs. Harrington. She had been attending Baruch College,
working a job & working at CORE. One of her temp jobs (c. 1962)
eventually allowed her to persuade co-workers to teach her computer
programming, although she is a woman. She has made her career in
computers. She married another computer expert, John Slater. He has been
ill for a few years & they are semi-retired. She is an officer on the
board that oversees American Friends' schools in the New York area. She
has gone from Flatbush to having a summer cottage among the Old Rich &
Rockefellers on a tiny island off Maine. Sort of "The Way We Were", with
a better ending. One tape recorded at her large West End Avenue
cooperative, NYC.
Wesley, Mari Hamilton
19 Nov 1998, 23 December 1998, 9 January, 4, 13 February 1999, 4 March
1999
Ms. Mary Hamilton was CORE's only female Field Secretary, from 1961-
1964, & the first in the South. She was a second grade teacher in
Catholic parochial school when the Freedom Rides started. She organized
a group to go on the Freedom Rides, but only she & the co-organizer
Louise Ingram, & Claire Toomes, artist & exotic dancer, showed up. She
became a leader in jail, then was a speaker, before being put on staff.
She worked in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama & Louisiana. She
discusses Chattanooga, the walk after the shooting of Bill Moore, the
demonstrations in Birmingham. She opened up the dangerous Plaquemines
Parish, LA. She was later Southern Regional Director, before quitting &
marrying Walter Young (Andrew Young's brother.) She became an high
school English teacher, after marrying her second husband. Her "Miss
Mary" landmark case before the Supreme Court won African-Americans the
right to be called by honorifics (Miss, Mr., Mrs., Doctor) in court.
Eight tapes, in her cozy apartments in Ossining, in view of the prison
(Sing-Sing).
Wesley, Mari Hamilton & Frank Nelson
19 November, 1998
Jail in Gadsden, the Supreme Court Case, Union organizing for 1199, Drug
& Hospital Workers.
Wiley, Jean
6 February, 2002, Oakland, CA
Family decided she would continue in Black schools, after desegregation,
to assure a quality education with attentive teachers. Morgan, on
scholarship. Jailed at sit-in, 1963. Graduate school, then recruited to
teach at Tuskeegee. Became involved in Selma movement, encouraged
student activism. The "Howard crowd". Murder of Sammy Younge. Ralph
Featherstone. Move to New York & work at SNCC office. Meeting at Peg Leg
Bates Country Club & exclusion of `whites'. Feeling that `whites'
deserted Civil Rights Movement after they were expelled. Three tapes in
her 1940s deco bungalow in Oakland.
Arlene Wilkes
24 February 1999 New York
Arlene Wilkes was a high school activist who became a CORE Field Worker,
with Mari Hamilton. She was 16. She was at Gadsden, Birmingham and
Plaquemines Parish with Mari. She later moved to New York, sponsored by
a family. She finished Nursing School at Bellevue Hospital & has spent
her whole career there. She is now an ER nurse, but works occasionally
in the TB unit. She will be eligible to retire in 2000 or 2001. For now
she is living in a rented room & commutes from Westchester. She plans to
return South. One tape, recorded at my house, an evening after work.
Yorck, Patricia von
23 January, 2000 San Francisco
SNCC Volunteer, summer '64, Hattiesburg. From aristocratic family, which
resisted Nazism. Uncle, Paul von Yorck hanged in the Colonel's plot.
Father spied for the British. Pat & her pregnant mother were interned in
a Nazi camp for better-off political prisoners. Her brother was born in
that camp, but they were rescued by her grandmother, a Countess. Pat has
been involved in social action since late teens. She is a social worker
in activist mode, helping people to organize. She is divorced & widowed.
Both daughters, (+ one daughter's partner), live with her while she is
in treatment for breast cancer. One tape, made in her home, on Portrero
Hill, which she built herself, when she was in the lumber curing trade.
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