This collection looks at the Civil Rights Movement in the Delta region of Arkansas. Digitized transcripts are available through the Digital Archives.
Interviewee: Evangeline Brown
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Nov. 26, 1994
Life story of Evangeline Brown focusing on her experience as a teacher and civil rights. Brown tells of the events of her forty-four years of teaching in both segregated and integrated schools in the south during the Civil Rights Movement.
Interviewee: Carolyn Cooley
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: April 5, 1995
Life of Carolyn Cooley, focusing on civil rights and her husband Dr. J. F. Cooley. The interview includes the accounts of some of the trials that Cooley and her husband faced in the late 1960’s to the mid 1970’s; for example, Dr. J. F. Cooley was fired from his teaching position in a school in Forrest City, Arkansas in 1969 for supposed insubordination. The interview also includes descriptions of the couple’s contributions to society such as establishing a program in 1976, which aided people who were in need of food and clothing.
Interviewee: Joanna Edwards
Interviewer: Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Sept. 20, 1994
The Pine Bluff Civil Rights Movement and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. The interview focuses on Edward’s involvement with Civil Rights in the 1960’s as she attended Merrill High School in Pine Bluff and AM&N College. She was involved in many protests and was affiliated with the Freedom House and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
Interviewee: Elizabeth Foreman
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: April 22, 1995
Life of Elizabeth Foreman focusing on civil rights. In the interview, Foreman recalls events in her life that were influenced by the Civil Rights Movement such as her daughter enrolling in an integrated school in Helena, Arkansas in 1966. The interview also describes Foreman’s participation in marches and boycotts throughout her life.
Interviewee: Lillian Hodges
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Aug. 27, 1994
Life of Lillian Hodges focusing on the Civil Rights era. The interview focuses on Hodges participation in the Civil Rights Movement from when, as an Arkansan, she began to take an active part in organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1955 through her transition to become a minister in Oklahoma in 1986.
Interviewee: Irene Holcomb
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Jan. 21, 1995
Life story of Irene Holcomb, focusing on the Civil Rights Movement. In the interview Holcomb shares her views on integration, and how it affected her as she taught in Arkansas school systems in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Interviewee: Future and Mary Jeffers
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Aug. 27, 1994
Life of Mary Jeffers focusing on the Civil Rights Movement. The interview focuses on Mary Jeffers’ years as a teacher at Stewart Elementary School in the Forrest City School District and describes how the faculty coped with integration.
Interviewee: Sarah Johnson
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Nov. 5, 1994
Life of Sarah Johnson, focusing on civil rights and African-American community. In the interview, Johnson explains what the African-American community in Pine Bluff, Arkansas was like during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The interview also tells of Johnson’s family’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement. For instance, Johnson and her brother were both active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Interviewee: Vivian Ann Carrol Jones
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Nov. 5, 1994
Civil Rights Movement in Pine Bluff during the 1960’s. The interview describes Jones’ participation in the civil rights movement and the effect it had on her life. For example, Jones was expelled from Southeast High School in the tenth grade for participating in demonstrations for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Interviewee: Virginia Laird
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Sept. 13, 1994
Life History of Virginia Laird, concentrating on the Civil Rights Era. The interview focuses not only on Laird’s life history, but also on the integration in Jonesboro, Arkansas with emphasis on the school systems. The interview also touches on the struggles of integration in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Interviewee: Alice Adams Mason
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Dec. 3, 1994
Life of Alice Adams Mason focusing on civil rights. The interview tells of Mason’s life as she dealt with the issue of integration throughout her life. Mason shares her views on this topic as she recollects being one of the first African-Americans to attend Pine Bluff High School and participating in civil rights activism in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Mason is now able to see her children learn about the achievements of African-Americans in their integrated schools.
Interviewee: Charlotte McGhee Philips
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Feb. 25, 1995
Life story of Charlotte McGhee, focusing on the Civil Rights Movement. In the interview, McGhee recollects many of the events she experienced in her life as a result of segregation and the fight for civil rights. For example, McGhee underwent many hardships as a result of attending Central High School, a newly integrated and still predominately Caucasian school in Helena, Arkansas.
Interviewee: Unknown
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Jan. 15, 1995
A record of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Service. The service is centered on reminiscing the accomplishments that resulted from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s active fight for civil rights.
Interviewee: Alice Morganfield
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Feb. 18, 1995
Life of Alice Morganfield focusing on the civil rights. The interview uses Morganfield’s life to show the reality of the African-American community in Lee County during the time of the Civil Rights Movement.
Interviewee: Mamie Nelson
Interviewee: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Nov. 19, 1994
Life of Mamie Nelson focusing on the Civil Rights Movement. The interview describes Nelson’s life pre-integration and how it changed when she became involved in the fight for civil rights in 1966. Nelson contributed in many ways. For example, she was asked to found the chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Lee County and is now the president for a branch of the organization.
Interviewee: Velma Price
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: April 21, 1995
Life history of Velma Price, focusing on her family and civil rights. In the interview, Price portrays the African-American society in Helena, Arkansas prior to the Civil Rights Movement by describing her family life. Although Price never participated in the fight for civil rights, she depicts many of the events that she witnessed relating to the cause around the 1960’s.
Interviewee: Roundtable discussion members including, Ed Freeman, June Freeman, Jane Ramos, Blanche Choate, & Dr. Rosemarie Word
Interviewee: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Nov. 1, 1994
Roundtable in June Freeman’s house, discussing the civil rights period. A group of friends recollect on the affect that integration had on their lives and communities. They describe major changes that were made, with focus on those made in the school systems, along with the events of their participation in the movement.
Interviewee: Robbie Dell Robinson
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Feb. 18, 1995
Life story of Robbie Dell Robinson focusing on teaching and civil rights. Robinson tells of the lives of her and her children and how the Civil Rights Movement affected them in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Robinson tells of the events of this time period from her perspective as a teacher.
Interviewee: Ruth Mahan Smith
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: July 11, 1995
Life story of Ruth P. Smith focusing on her family and the Civil Rights Movement. Smith tells of the events surrounding the movement in Arkansas during the 1960’s and 1970’s from her perspective as a Caucasian woman.
Interviewee: Charlotte Schexnayder
Interviewer: Jayme Stone
Date of Interview: Sept. 08, 1994
Charlotte Schexnayder, the Dumas Clarion, and civil rights. Schexnayder conveys the participation of the Dumas newspaper, the Clarion, in the fight for civil rights. For example, in 1970 the newspaper took a stand for the new integrated high school. Schexnayder also tells of the integration process within the newspaper itself in the 1960’s.
Interviewee: Georgia Mae Thornton
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: April 21, 1995
Life history of Georgia Mae Thornton, focusing on teaching and civil rights. The interview shows the transformation, mainly in Helena, Arkansas, brought about by the Civil Rights Movement from the 1960’s to the early 1980’s.
Interviewee: Lula Patillo Tyler
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Jan. 14, 1995
Life story of Lula Patillo Tyler, focusing on her experiences during the civil rights period. Tyler describes her teaching career in a segregated school in Marianna, Arkansas prior to the 1970’s. Tyler also places great emphasis on the events of 1972, the year when the school system in Marianna was integrated.
Interviewee: Kathy Gosnell Wells
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Feb. 22, 1995
Life story of Kathy Gosnell Wells, focusing on her journalism career during the civil rights era. In the interview Kathy Wells focuses not only on her years as a news reporter in Pine Bluff, which were from 1968 to 1978, but also on her present concerns for Little Rock in 1995.
Interviewee: Dr. Carey Wynn II
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: Dec. 3, 1994
Life of Dr. Carey Wynn, II focusing on civil rights and the African-American community. Dr. Wynn describes many incidents dealing with the Civil Rights Movement in and around Pine Bluff, Arkansas. For example, Wynn recalls the conditions under which African-Americans were to vote in the Faubus vs. Rockefeller election for Governor of Arkansas.
Interviewee: Lewis Yancy
Interviewer: Jayme Stone & Beth Whisenhunt
Date of Interview: March 1, 1995
Life story of Lewis Yancey, focusing on the civil rights movement. The interview includes events in Yancey’s life such as his participation in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and his founding the Freedom House to aid fourteen students who were dismissed from college for participating in the committee.