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Film, Video Wyatt Tee Walker oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Richmond, Virginia, 2014 July 09

Wyatt Tee Walker oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Richmond, Virginia, 2014 July 09

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About this Item

Title

  • Wyatt Tee Walker oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Richmond, Virginia, 2014 July 09

Summary

  • Dr. Walker reflects on his involvement in the freedom movement, especially his work as Martin Luther King's chief of staff and as the Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) from 1960-1964. He recalls helping to organize the Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, and supporting Dr. King in transcribing and publishing "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." He also remembers preaching in Petersburg, Virginia, and Harlem, New York, and becoming involved in several later movements, including anti-apartheid and pro-charter schools activism. Towards the end of the interview, his wife, Theresa Ann Walker, joins him on camera to talk briefly about her experiences in the movement.

Names

  • Walker, Wyatt Tee, interviewee
  • Walker, Theresa Ann, interviewee
  • Cline, David P., 1969- interviewer
  • Bishop, John Melville, videographer
  • Civil Rights History Project (U.S.)

Created / Published

  • 2014.

Headings

  • -  Walker, Wyatt Tee--Interviews
  • -  Walker, Theresa Ann--Interviews
  • -  King, Martin Luther,--Jr.,--1929-1968
  • -  Congress of Racial Equality
  • -  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  • -  Southern Christian Leadership Conference
  • -  Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.)
  • -  March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom--(1963 :--Washington, D.C.)--Personal narratives
  • -  African American civil rights workers--United States--Interviews
  • -  African American clergy--Interviews
  • -  African Americans--Segregation
  • -  African American women civil rights workers--United States--Interviews
  • -  Albany Movement (Albany, Ga.)
  • -  Civil rights demonstrations--Virginia--Petersburg
  • -  Civil rights movements--Alabama--Birmingham
  • -  Civil rights movements--Georgia
  • -  Civil rights movements--New York
  • -  Civil rights movements--Tennessee
  • -  Civil rights movements--United States
  • -  Nonviolence--United States
  • -  Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tenn., 1968
  • -  Social justice--Religious aspects--Christianity
  • -  Birmingham (Ala.)--Race relations
  • -  Petersburg (Va.)--Race relations

Genre

  • Filmed interviews
  • Interviews
  • Oral histories
  • Video recordings

Notes

  • -  Recorded at Wyatt Tee Walker's home in Richmond, Virginia, on July 9, 2014.
  • -  Civil Rights History Project collection (AFC 2010/039: 0109), 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.).
  • -  Wyatt Tee Walker, African American pastor, national civil rights leader, theologian, and cultural historian. He was educated at Virginia Union University, B.S. in chemistry and physics and the Virginia Union Graduate School of Theology. He was a chief of staff for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and in 1958 became an early board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He helped found a Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) chapter in 1958. As executive director of the SCLC from 1960 to 1964, Walker helped to bring the group to national prominence.
  • -  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.
  • -  In English.
  • -  Finding aid http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af013005

Medium

  • 7 video files (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (01:13:19) : digital, sound, color.
  • transcript 1 item (.pdf) : text files.

Source Collection

  • Civil Rights History Project collection AFC 2010/039: 0109

Repository

  • Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC USA 20540 to 4610 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.home

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2016655400

Rights Advisory

  • Duplication of collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.

Access Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

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:

Walker, Wyatt Tee, Interviewee, Theresa Ann Walker, David P Cline, John Melville Bishop, and U.S Civil Rights History Project. Wyatt Tee Walker oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Richmond, Virginia. 2014. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016655400/.

APA citation style:

Walker, W. T., Walker, T. A., Cline, D. P., Bishop, J. M. & Civil Rights History Project, U. S. (2014) Wyatt Tee Walker oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Richmond, Virginia. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016655400/.

MLA citation style:

Walker, Wyatt Tee, Interviewee, et al. Wyatt Tee Walker oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Richmond, Virginia. 2014. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2016655400/>.