The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Voices of freedom collection [of the National Civil Rights Museum]

Repository: National Civil Rights Museum

Collection Description (CRHP): This collection consists of sound and video recordings of oral histories, conferences, and other civil-rights-related events. It is a rich collection that includes information on both nationally known and unsung heroes of the civil rights movement as well as prominent black entertainers and sports figures. Included is information on Memphis civil rights activists Maxine and Vasco Smith, actress Ruby Dee, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference official Joseph Lowery, among others. It is also is worth noting that it includes interviews of those awarded the Freedom Award, one of the highest honors granted to civil rights activists.

Access Copy Note: For more information about this collection and access to it, please contact Marian Carpenter, collections manager, and her staff.

Digital Status: Partial

Extent: 27 sound discs (CD); 10 Panasonic Tapes; 48 video recordings

Language: English

Related Archival Items: The WHBQ Fox News affiliate in Memphis has created a web site that includes footage on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement and its aftermath in Memphis from its archive as well as the National Civil Rights Museum and television stations in Atlanta; see http://media.myfoxmemphis.com/mlk/.

Interviewees: Ann Griffith, Henry Freedman, Dr. Arthur Fletcher, Karen Drake, Ted Robinson, Dr. Molefi Asanti, Juan Williams, Dr. Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, Aubrey Lucas, L. Douglas Wilder, W. A. McMillan, Haile Gerima, Spencer Haywood, Ramona Africa, Shirley Chisholm, Dr. Rev. Vasti McKenzie, Frances Hooks, Benjamin Hooks, Darryl Tukufu, Ann Willis, Happy Jones, Alversa Lee, Dr. John Hope Franklin, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Dr. Vasco Smith, Tom Hayden, Dr. Joseph Lowery, Ruby Dee, Charles Scruggs, Stevie Wonder, Maxine Smith, Taylor Branch, Ruby Sales, Ms. Clayton, Bobbie Blakely–Jones, Lenora Fitzpatrick Ward, Myrlie Evers Williams, Dr. Vincent G. Harding, Bobby Rush, Dr. Leon Bass, Zheng Yi, Unita Blackwell

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

Subjects:

African American artists
African American athletes
African Americans--Civil rights
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Civil rights movements--Tennessee
Evers, Medgar Wiley, 1925-1963

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings
Videorecordings