Interview with Richard Murphy, Gilbert Moses, February 10, 1964
Project: Who Speaks For The Negro? The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project
Interview Summary
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 America" and "Waiting for Godot." Moses left the Free Southern Theatre after pressure from Southern white supremacists and the arrest of members of the company. Moses went on to become an acclaimed theatrical, television, and film director. He won an Obie for his directorship of "Slave Ship" (1969).In this interview, Gilbert Moses recalls his decision to leave Oberlin College and become further involved with the civil rights movement. Moses went to Jackson, Mississippi to work with the Jackson Free Press. He discusses his ideas for a theater that would present the anxieties and problems of Black men and women. Moses describes the progress of the movement, the meaning of the term "Freedom Now," and why he is not as hopeful about advancement in the South as he is about change in the northern United States. Moses discusses stereotypes of white men and women, especially those involved with the civil rights movement. He also explains his positive feelings about the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) approach to civil rights. The interview includes a short conversation with Richard Murphy.
Interview Accession
Interviewee Name
Gilbert Moses
Interviewer Name
Interview Date
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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
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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Murphy, Richard Interview by Robert Penn Warren. 10 Feb. 1964. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Murphy, R. (1964, February 10). 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.
Murphy, Richard, interview by Robert Penn Warren. February 10, 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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