The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

[Vermont civil rights interviews]

Repository: Vermont Historical Society

Collection Description (Extant): [The following summaries are taken from the three separate catalog entries on interviews with Governor Philip Hoff, Paul Hackel, and Irving Adler respectively.]

Philip Hoff, Samuel Hand, and Michael Sherman conversationally discuss early civil/human rights activities in Vermont in the 1960's. They also discuss various people and organizations that had been active during that time. Hoff talks about what he remembers of that time, particularly when he was governor of Vermont.

Paul Hackel talks about the early days of the Vermont Human Rights Council, the Vermont Civil Rights Union (VCRU), and the Rev. Roger MacDonald and others who went down to Williamstown, North Carolina to find out what was happening in civil rights around 1964. He also discusses all the human rights organizations in Vermont joining together to form the 'Vermont and Mississippi Project,' and the Gov. Hoff appointment of people to the newly-formed Vermont Human Rights Commission. The first chairperson was Rev. Roger Albright; Paul Hackel becomes the chair after Albright resigns and stays on for four years. Hackel discusses some of the issues the Commission handled.

Irving Adler talks with an unidentified interviewer about his background as an activist, his work with civil rights while living in Vermont, and his involvement with the Vermont in Jackson, Mississippi Project (VIM) in the early 1960's. He provides a detailed overview of the work by Vermonters in Jackson, Mississippi during that time. Other activists/organizers are mentioned by name, from Vermont and Mississippi. Adler also talks about organizing the Vermont delegates for the 1963 march on Washington, D.C. and the personal attacks he experienced because of his involvement in that activity and other civil rights activities he participated in. Also named are people in Vermont who were in opposition to civil rights activities, mentioning a group called the Green Mountain Patriots. Adler discusses what happened to some of the people who had been active in VIM after the project was discontinued. He also talks about what he has done since his 1960's civil rights activities: writing, editor, speaking engagements, etc.

Digital Status: No

Extent: 3 audiocassettes

Language: English

Interviewees: Philip Hoff, Samuel Hand, Michael Sherman, Paul Hackel, Irving Adler

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

Subjects:

Civil rights movements--Mississippi
Civil rights movements--North Carolina
Civil rights movements--Vermont
Civil rights workers--Vermont
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington, D.C., 1963
Vermont--Politics and government
Vermont--Race relations
White supremacy movements

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings