The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Lucy Simms oral history

Repository: James Madison University Libraries. Special Collections

Collection Description (Extant): Background paper includes a brief biography of Lucy Simms, African American educator, from Harrisonburg, Va. Sets of oral history transcripts include the recollections of Mrs. Carlotta Harris, Mr. Edgar Johnson and wife, Mrs. Wilhelmina Johnson, Louise Winston, and Mr. Elon Rhodes, former students of Lucy Simms, and Ellen Walker, current owner of the Lucy Simms house.

Lucy Simms was born a slave in 1855 or 9 and died in 1934. After graduating from Hampton Institute in 1874, she came to Harrisonburg, Va. to teach African American children in the segregated schools. She taught in Rockingham schools, mostly in Harrisonburg, for 56 years

Collection URL: http://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/OralHistory/ListofOralHistoryCollections.aspx

Date(s): 2000

Digital Status: No

Extent: 1 photograph; 4 transcripts 4 audio cassettes; 4 transcripts

Language: English

Interviewees: Carlotta Harris, Edgar Johnson, Wilhelmina Johnson, Louise Winston, Elon Rhodes, Ellen Walker

Rights (CRHP): Contact the repository which holds the collection for information on rights

Subjects:

African American educators--Virginia
African American politicians
African American politicians--Virginia
School integration--Virginia
Segregation in education--Virginia
Virginia--Race relations

Genres:

Interviews
Manuscripts
Sound recordings
Transcripts