The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Detroit WestSiders oral history project

Repository: Wayne State University. Walter P. Reuther Library

Collection Description (CRHP): Interviews conducted in 2005 with 12 residents of Detroit's West Side discuss what the area was like in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Topics discussed include segregation, legal cases, civil rights leaders, civil disturbances in 1943 and 1967, and related issues. Clips of the interviews are available on the Detroit African-American History Project website: http://www.daahp.wayne.edu

Collection Description (Extant): Bordered by Tireman, Grand River, Buchanan and Epworth streets, the old Detroit West Side fostered a strong sense of community. Many of its residents came from the South and worked in the auto industry; as homemakers, day workers, business owners and professionals. They developed strong ties to area churches, established numerous social institutions, ensured that their children received a quality education and supported African-American-owned businesses in their community.

Access Copy Note: Audio, video, transcripts, photographs, and biographies are accessible from the collection URL as part of "The Way it Was on the Detroit West Side, 1920-1950," an on-line oral history project developed by the Wayne State University Detroit African American History Project and the Walter P. Reuther Library.

Date(s): 2005

Extent: 12 interviews

Finding Aid: Catalog records are available in the Michigan Oral History Database: http://xserve2.reuther.wayne.edu/SPT--Home.php

Language: English

Interviewees: Juanita Rosario Diggs, Felix Seldon, Amelita Mandingo-Burton, Jean Hurst Mitchell, Glenn Wash, Suesetta Talbert McCree, Horace Jefferson, George Gaines, Jean Ernst Mayfield, Catherine Carter Blackwell

Subjects:

African Americans--Michigan
Civil rights movements--Michigan

Genres:

Photographs
Sound recordings
Transcripts
Videorecordings