The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Equal Rights Amendment oral history project

Repository: Washington State Historical Society

Collection Description (CRHP): Interviews of the following persons have some civil rights movement content: Roseane McCaughey, Mary Helen Roberts, Dorothy Sale, Rita Shaw, and Susan Lane. Interviewees discuss how the civil rights movement inspired them in their feminist actions.

Collection Description (Extant): The ERA Rights Amendment Oral History Project focuses on the views of women who worked both for and against the passage of the amendment in Washington State or who were members of organizations that were involved in these campaigns. The project incorporates the perspectives of members of pro-ERA groups including the National Organization for Women, the American Association of University Women, the League of Women Voters, and the Washington ERA Coalition as well as anti-ERA supporters of STOP ERA and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum. It also provides insights on the role of legislators, judges and attorneys who reviewed the political and legal issues associated with the amendment as well as a journalist who documented the era. The oral history interview process allows these individuals to share their own memories of the ERA campaign and their assessment of its impact on women in the state.

The Women's History Consortium sponsored this program, and interviewees were selected by the Consortium's advisory board and director based on recommendations from people throughout the state. A team of four oral historians recorded the interviews, following the guidelines of the Oral History Association, a national professional organization. The interviews were then transcribed and made available to the narrators to review and to edit where necessary. The final transcripts of these interviews are included on this website and the original recordings are deposited in the collection of the Women's History Consortium at the Washington State Historical Society.

Access Copy Note: Transcripts are available online. The original recordings are deposited in the collection of the Women's History Consortium at the Washington State Historical Society.

Collection URL: http://www.washingtonwomenshistory.org/themes/womensrights/eraoh/eraoh.aspx

Digital Status: Born-digital

Extent: 19 transcripts; 19 digital audio files

Language: English

Interviewees: Roseane McCaughey, Mary Helen Roberts, Dorothy Sale, Rita Shaw, Susan Lane

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

Subjects:

Civil rights workers--Washington (State)
Equal rights amendments
Feminism
League of Women Voters (U.S.)
Washington (State)--Politics and government
Women's rights

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings
Transcripts