The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Nebraska black oral history project

Repository: History Nebraska

Collection Description (CRHP): The interviews span a wide range of subjects, including civil rights efforts at the University of Nebraska, the work of Nebraska State Senator Edward Danner, school desegregation, and labor conditions.

Collection Description (Extant): Interviews conducted over a two-year period, 1980-1982, for a project funded by the Nebraska Committee for the Humanities, and sponsored by the Black Studies Department, UNL; The Great Plains Black [History] Museum; and the Nebraska Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Interviewees were chosen for four research areas: Outstate Nebraska, Lincoln, Older Omaha Residents, and Active members of the Omaha Black Community. Sound recordings and transcripts are available.

Access Copy Note: All audiocassettes were digitized in 2006. Some photos and audio files are available online at the West Out Loud: Western Community gallery: http://www.bcr.org/dps/cdp/archive/exhibits/soundmodel/community/communitygallery.html

Excerpts of 31 interviews from the Nebraska Black Oral History Project II, with added biographical information and a descriptive catalog of all 45 interviews in the project were published in Smith, Alonzo N., ed., "Black Nebraskans: Interviews from the Nebraska Black Oral History Project II" (1982), which is also available at the Omaha Public Library.

Date(s): 1980-1982

Digital Status: Yes

Existing IDs: RG4795

Extent: 32 interviews; transcripts; audiocassettes; MP3 files

Language: English

Related Archival Items: RG0301: LINCOLN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (LINCOLN, NEBRASKA): Report, 1972, written in response to the Cleveland Randolph charge of police brutality. 2 volumes. Volume one contains transcripts of hearing proceedings, including interviews with Randolph, the police, and others. Volume 2 presents the summaries of findings of the commission and statements of facts.

RG0515: WORKS PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION: Interviews of Nebraskans conducted by WPA workers during the 1930s. The interviews are arranged by county, then by ancestry, including a large number of African Americans. (transcripts only)

RG2301: AFRICAN AMERICANS: A collection of miscellaneous photographs of and relating to African Americans in Nebraska. [photographs only]

A guide to relevant materials at the NSHS can be found online at http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/services/refrence/la_pubs/african-american.htm

Interviewees: Raymond Botts, Beulah Bradley, Bertha Calloway, Mary Chapman, Bessie Chism, Jennifer (Scott) Clark, Anna Danner, Izora Douglas, Ruby Douglas, Earl Douglas, Darryl Eure, Dorothy Eure, Ellyce Hariston, Buddy Hogan, C. Dennis Holland, R. F. Jenkins, Lerlean N. Johnson, Ethel Kirtley, Preston Love, Wayne Lowden, John Mackey, Mae Manion, Lawrence McVoy, Art McWilliam, Charlie May Moore, Rowena Moore, Rodney Mullen, Frank Peak, Lois Price, David Rice, Marie Robinson, Wright Robinson, Charles Washington, Marla Jane (McCaine) West, Mary Young

Rights (Extant): The Nebraska State Historical Society provides access to historical materials for educational and research purposes.

Subjects:

African Americans--Civil rights--Nebraska
African Americans--Nebraska
Civil rights movements--Nebraska
National Urban League
Nebraska--Race relations
Negro leagues

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings
Transcripts