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Film, Video Thomas Walter Gaither oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2011 September 12

Thomas Walter Gaither oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2011 September 12

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[ 1 transcript ]

About this Item

Title

  • Thomas Walter Gaither oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2011 September 12

Summary

  • Thomas Gaither recalls growing up in Great Falls, South Carolina, attending Claflin College, and leading the college's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter. He remembers the student sit-ins in Orangeburg, South Carolina, joining the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and being arrested for protesting in Hollywood, Florida. He discusses organizing the Freedom Rides, his belief in nonviolence, and earning his PhD in biology at the University of Iowa.

Names

  • Gaither, Thomas Walter, 1938- interviewee
  • Mosnier, Joseph, interviewer
  • Civil Rights History Project (U.S.)

Created / Published

  • 2011.

Headings

  • -  Gaither, Thomas Walter,--1938---Interviews
  • -  Claflin College (Orangeburg, S.C.)
  • -  Congress of Racial Equality
  • -  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • -  African American civil rights workers--Interviews
  • -  African American college students--Interviews
  • -  Civil rights demonstrations--Florida--Hollywood
  • -  Civil rights demonstrations--South Carolina--Orangeburg
  • -  Civil rights movements--United States
  • -  Freedom Rides, 1961
  • -  Nonviolence--Southern States--History--20th century

Genre

  • Filmed Interviews
  • Interviews
  • Oral histories
  • Video recordings

Notes

  • -  Recorded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 12, 2011.
  • -  Civil Rights History Project Collection (AFC 2010/039), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  • -  Copies of items are also held at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (U.S.).
  • -  The Civil Rights History Project is a joint project of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of individuals who participated in the Civil Rights movement.
  • -  Thomas Gaither was born in 1938 in Great Falls, South Carolina, married Diane Jenner in 1968 and had two children. He attended Claflin University, Atlanta University, and the University of Iowa. He worked as a construction laborer, civil rights activist, forester, and biology professor at Slippery Rock University.
  • -  In English.
  • -  Finding aid http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af013005

Medium

  • 9 video files of 9 (HD, Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (131 min.) : digital, sound, color.
  • 1 transcript (63 pages).

Source Collection

  • Civil Rights History Project collection AFC 2010/039: 0043

Repository

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2015669142

Access Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The individuals documented in these collection items retain copyright and related rights to the use of their recorded and written testimonies and memories.  They have granted the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution permission to provide access to their interviews and related materials for purposes that are consistent with each agency’s educational mission, such as publication and transmission, in whole or in part, on the Web. Their written permission is required for commercial, profit-making distribution, reproduction, or other use beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. See our Legal Notices and Privacy and Publicity Rights for additional information and restrictions.

The American Folklife Center, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. 

Credit Line

Civil Rights History Project collection (AFC 2010/039), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Gaither, Thomas Walter, Interviewee, Joseph Mosnier, and U.S Civil Rights History Project. Thomas Walter Gaither oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2011. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/2015669142/.

APA citation style:

Gaither, T. W., Mosnier, J. & Civil Rights History Project, U. S. (2011) Thomas Walter Gaither oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2015669142/.

MLA citation style:

Gaither, Thomas Walter, Interviewee, Joseph Mosnier, and U.S Civil Rights History Project. Thomas Walter Gaither oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2011. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2015669142/>.