Interview with Ralph Ellison, February 25, 1964

Project: Who Speaks For The Negro? The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project

Interview Summary

This interview is available in transcript only.

Ralph Ellison was an American teacher and writer. He is the author of the American classic, The Invisible Man, and he was the first African American to receive the National Book Award. In this interview, Ralph Ellison describes his family and growing up without his father. He explains his views on the philosophy of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He discusses the difference between black American and mainstream American values and describes dealing with both Northern white liberals and Southern segregationists. Ellison states that there has been a real change in the climate and attitudes towards black Americans over the last 100 years, and he discusses what he feels are the causes of these changes. He also provides his views on historic Americans including Thomas Jefferson, John Brown, and Robert E. Lee.

Interview Accession

2003oh043_rpwcr032

Interviewee Name

Ralph Ellison

Interviewer Name

Robert Penn Warren

Interview Date

1964-02-25

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Restriction

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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Ellison, Ralph Interview by Robert Penn Warren. 25 Feb. 1964. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Ellison, R. (1964, February 25). Interview by R. P. Warren. Who Speaks For The Negro? The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Ellison, Ralph, interview by Robert Penn Warren. February 25, 1964, Who Speaks For The Negro? The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.





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