The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Voices of black women of Boulder County

Repository: Boulder Public Library. Carnegie Branch Library for Local History

Collection Description (CRHP): Each interview discusses involvement with civil rights issues and organizations in Boulder and other areas of the country, including the United Black Action Committee (created after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.), United Black Women of Boulder County (Valley), and the development of a Heritage (freedom) School in Boulder; they also discuss as range of incidents involving racism, segregation, and interracial cooperation.

Collection Description (Extant): These interviews were recorded by undergraduate students at the University of Colorado in 2001 for "Historical and Contemporary Issues of Black Women," taught by Professor Polly McLean. The interviews chronicle the life histories and contributions of Black women to the development and culture of Boulder County. They also present a variety of snapshots of life in Boulder for the African American portion of its population throughout various decades.

Subsequently, students in the class wrote biographical essays about their interviewees based on the oral histories that they recorded. These essays were published in 2002 as the book A Legacy of Missing Pieces: The Voices of Black Women of Boulder County, (R305.48896L).

We thank the Boulder Public Library Foundation for its generous support, which made it possible to archive these interviews as a Special Collection within the Maria Rogers Oral History Program Collection.Thanks also to Silvia Gentile for all the work she has done in developing this Special Collection.

Access Copy Note: Sound cassettes have been transferred to CDs; audio and abstracts or transcripts for most interviews are also online.

Collection URL: http://www.boulderlibrary.org/oralhistory/

Date(s): 2001

Digital Status: Yes

Extent: sound cassettes

Language: English

Interviewees: Martie Bauduit, De Laris Carpenter, Jewell Emanuel, Alfreda Hall, Pauline Lewis, Carole Matthews, Mildred Nilon, Mary Sampson, Ellen Tate, Eileen Walker

Rights (Extant): All interviews are copyrighted to The Maria Rogers Oral History Program. Researchers may quote portions of interviews in non-commercial projects, unless otherwise noted.

Subjects:

African American educators--Colorado
African American women civil rights workers--Colorado
African American women--Colorado
African Americans in medicine
African Americans--Civil rights--Colorado
Discrimination in housing
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., 1963
Racism in education
Segregation
United States--Armed Forces--African Americans
Women--Societies and clubs

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings
Transcripts