Who Speaks For The Negro? The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project
Gallery (43 Interviews Total):
Adam Clayton Powell,
This interview is available in transcript only.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (1908-1972) was a prominent African American politician, pastor, and Civil Rights…William Hastie, 1964
This interview is available in transcript only.
William Hastie (1904-1976) was an African American lawyer, federal judge, and governor of the Virgin Islands.…Carl T. Rowan, May 14, 1964
Carl Thomas Rowan (1925-2000) was a journalist, writer, and television commentator. Rowan was one of the first African American officers to serve in the Navy…Bayard Rustin, 1964
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) was principal organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963 and assisted in founding the Congress of Racial…Kelly Smith, February 13, 1964
This interview is available in transcript only.
Reverend Kelly Miller Smith (1920-1984) was a clergyman and civil rights leader in Nashville, Tennessee. …William Stringfellow, March…
William Stringfellow (1928-1985) was a human rights lawyer, Episcopalian lay theologian, and social activist. At the age of fifteen Stringfellow entered Bates…Ruth Turner, David Cohen, May …
Ruth Turner (now Ruth Turner Perot) was the Executive Secretary of the Cleveland, Ohio chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and a member of the…John Hervey Wheeler, 1964
John Hervey Wheeler (1908-1978) was born in Kittrell, North Carolina. Wheeler started working for the Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Durham, North Carolina in…Roy Wilkins, April 7, 1964
Roy Wilkins, a prominent civil rights movement leader affiliated with the NAACP, begins by discussing the reformation of American public schools. Additionally,…Claire Harvey, February 9,…
This interview is available in transcript only.
Claire Harvey was an influential female leader of the civil rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi and the…Robert Collins, Lolis Elie,…
This interview is available in transcript only.
This is a group interview conducted with Lolis Elie, Nils Douglas and presumably Robert Collins (Warren…Felton G. Clark,
This interview is available in transcript only.
Felton Clark was the President of Southern University from 1938 until 1969 and served during a substantial…Richard Murphy, Gilbert Moses,…
Gilbert Moses co-founded the Free Southern Theatre with John O'Neal. The theatre group toured the South during the 1960s performing plays including "In White…Robert Parris Moses, February…
Robert Parris Moses, educator and civil rights leader, was born in 1935 in New York City. He won a scholarship to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York and…Tougaloo Students, 1964
Tougaloo College was and is a Black private liberal arts college in Tougaloo, Mississippi (near Jackson), founded in 1869. A small group of people,…Ralph Ellison, February 25,…
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…Stephen Wright,
This interview is available in transcript only.
Dr. Stephen J. Wright received his PhD from New York University in 1942. He served as president of Bluefield…Avon Williams, February 14,…
This interview is available in transcript only.
Avon Williams, an influential African American attorney in Tennessee, was involved in several important civil…Andrew Young, March 17, 1964
Andrew Young (1932- ) is an African American politician who was a civil right activist and pastor. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Young received his…Whitney Young, April 13, 1964
Whitney Young, a civil rights movement leader affiliated with the National Urban League, discusses multiple issues facing African Americans during the 1960s.…Wiley A. Branton, March 17,…
Wiley Branton was an American lawyer and civil rights activist. As a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he…Martin Luther King, Jr., March…
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was a Baptist minister in Atlanta, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama and a civil rights activist. He was a major leader…Malcolm X, June 2, 1964
Malcolm X (1925-1965) was born Malcolm Little in Omaha Nebraska. After being found "mentally unfit" to fulfill his draft notice in 1943, Malcolm X was arrested…Milton A. Galamison, June 17,…
Reverend Milton Galamison (1923-1988) was a clergyman and civil rights leader in New York City. Born in Philadelphia, Galamison later received his bachelors…James M. Lawson, March 17,…
James M. Lawson (1928- ) was a longtime peace activist and served as a tutor on non-violence to civil rights leaders. Lawson began his work in Nashville,…Richard Gunn, May 7, 1964
Richard Gunn, an African American attorney in Cleveland, Ohio, was heavily involved in the push for school integration. Originally from Kansas City, he moved…William Stuart Nelson, March …
William Stuart Nelson (1895-1977), an African American educator and theologian, was born in Paris, Kentucky. After moving to Paducah, Kentucky and graduating…Jackson College Students,…
A group of college students from Jackson College discuss the civil rights movement at the time of the interview and their own participation in it. They discuss…Neil Goldschmidt, Charles…
Charles Evers was an important civil rights leader. Upon the death of his brother, Medgar, he became the Mississippi field director for the NAACP. In 1964, he…Unknown,
In this interview, an unknown male interviewee gives his opinions on subjects such as race relations prior to the Civil War, the attitudes of slaves, the…Southern University, February …
Robert Penn Warren interviews a group of students and one administrator from Southern University in New Orleans, Louisiana. They discuss the various leaders of…James Baldwin, April 27, 1964
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an American writer and nonviolent civil rights activist. Baldwin was born into poverty in Harlem, New York. At a young age he…Carroll G. Barber, February…
Carroll G. Barber was a white civil rights activist and anthropologist. He became associated with Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1961 and was…Ezell A. Blair, Jean Wheeler,…
Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998) was a civil rights activist. While a student at Howard University, Carmichael became leader of the Nonviolent Action Group…Joe Carter, 1964
Reverend Joe Carter was an African American minister from Mississippi who was among the first Black men in his area to register to vote. Reverend Joe Carter…James Forman, June 4, 1964
James Forman (1928-2005) was an African American civil rights leader who was active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as well as the Black…James L. Farmer, Jr., June 11,…
James Farmer (1920-1999) was a civil rights leader and political activist. At the age of 14 he entered Wiley College in his hometown of Marshall, Texas where…Kenneth Bancroft Clark, April …
Dr. Kenneth Bancroft Clark (1914-2005) was an educator, psychologist and civil rights leader. Dr. Clark attended Howard University where he received his…Vernon E. Jordan, March 17,…
Vernon Jordan (1935- ) is an African American lawyer who was a civil rights leader and political advisor. Born in Atlanta, Georgia he graduated from DePauw…Wyatt Walker, March 18, 1964
Wyatt Tee Walker (1929- ) is an African American civil rights leader and minister. Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, Walker moved with his family to…Aaron Henry, February 10, 1964
Aaron Henry (1922-1997) was an African American civil rights leader and politician. Born in Dublin, Mississippi, Henry enlisted in the U.S. Army and was…