Bill Shipp interviews Griffin Bell about his career and his tenure as U.S. Attorney General (1977-1979). Bell comments on the integration of Georgia schools and the University of Georgia, the Kennedy presidential campaign in Georgia, and Martin…
Richard B. Russell's niece Sally Russell Warrington interviews Charles Campbell about his work for Senator Richard B. Russell and Russell’s activities from 1965 to 1971. Campbell discusses growing up in Jackson, Georgia, and attending the University…
UGA History Professor Dr. Kathleen Clark interviews Lorena Weeks about her life and her discrimination case against Southern Bell in the 1960s. Lorena Weeks recalls how she started working at Southern Bell Telephone Company. She discusses her early…
Chief Domestic Advisor in 1971. In 1975 Ehrlichman was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury for his role in the Watergate Scandal. J. Stanley Pottinger served as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the United States…
Gussie Davis Phillips is interviewed by her niece, Mattie Davis Hubbard about her involvement with civil rights and community activism. Phillips discusses her brothers' involvement in the World War II effort. She recalls her brothers' fight for…
Dr. Walter Allen, Sr. grew up in Allendale, South Carolina where he learned how to play the trumpet in his high school band. He began his music career as a teenager by playing in a variety of bands, including the military band during his service in…
John Vaughn was born in Rome, Georgia during the 1930s. Vaughn attended Morris Brown College and served in the Korean War as a battalion engineer. Vaughn taught in Summerville, Mississippi and has participated in the civil rights initiatives of…
Dean Rusk discusses the Civil Rights movement in the United States during the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement in South Africa, and problems in government dealings with foreign countries over civil rights.This interview is continued on Rusk FF and…
Griffin Bell was born Americus, Georgia, on October 31, 1918 and received his law degree at the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University. In this interview, Bell discusses his early years growing up in Americus, his law career, his role as…
Leroy Reginald Johnson was born in Atlanta, Georgia on July 28, 1928. He attended Morehouse College, worked in the Fulton County Solicitor-General’s office, and served as a Georgia senator from 1963-1975, becoming the first black legislator in the…
Having served as a Representative in Georgia State House, the director of DFACS, chairman of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, and Georgia Commissioner, Michael "Mike" Thurmond discusses his early life in Athens, his education, his experience…
Helen Lewis was born in Cumming, Georgia, in 1924 and spent most of her career as an educator and activist for civil rights and social justice. Lewis discusses her student activism at Georgia State College for Women in the 1940s. In particular, she…
Tyrone L. Brooks was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1980. He has sat on numerous committees, including Economic Development and Tourism, Governmental Affairs and Retirement, and Appropriations. Brooks has served as…
Lonnie King was born in Arlington, Georgia. He was raised in Atlanta and served in the U.S. Navy. He left the Navy in 1957, returned to Atlanta, and earned his degree from Morehouse College. In 1960 he was present at the founding of the Student…
Thomas Houck dropped out of high school at age 15 and joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to work under Hosea Williams. In 1965, he met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a meeting of the SCLC, and in 1966 he came to Atlanta and became…
Willie Bolden was born in Sumter, South Carolina on December 7, 1938. and was raised in Savannah, Georgia. He is best known for his work as a civil rights activist. In this interview, Bolden discusses his activity with the Southern Christian…
Senator Nan Orrock was elected by Atlanta voters to the Georgia Senate in 2006, after serving ten terms in the House of Representatives, where she was the first woman elected as House majority whip. She also served as the Governor’s Floor Leader, a…
Laughlin McDonald has been director of the Atlanta-based Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union since 1972. Prior to that he was in private practice and taught at the University of North Carolina Law School. He has represented…
Julian Bond was a civil rights activist who held leadership roles in several organizations, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored…
John Lewis is best known for his civil rights activism in the 1960s and, since 1986, his work as a U.S. Representative. In this interview John Lewis discusses his early years in rural Alabama and his work as a civil rights leader and U.S.…
A former member of Congress, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and two-term Mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young began his political career as a minister and civil rights activist. Young discusses his upbringing in New Orleans, education, early career…
William “Bill” Shipp worked as a journalist in Georgia for fifty years. In this interview at his home in Acworth, Georgia, Shipp discusses the range of modern Georgia politics, with a particular emphasis on Georgia governors since 1946. Topics…
Jenniffer Jones interviews her mother, Dawn Bennett-Alexander, about her early life in Washington D.C., including Bennett-Alexander's experiences during segregation and her memories of attending the March on Washington in 1963. Bennett-Alexander also…
Geneva Johnson Blasingame discusses the Linnentown, also known as Lindentown, community and Black neighborhoods in Athens, Georgia. She recalls the University’s efforts to push out black communities in 1962. Blasingame comments on the children…
Fannie Jordan discusses being born in Athens on Hull Street in 1922 and subsequently moving to Church Street, Finley Street, and Hancock Street. She reflects on playing basketball in school and attending a two-story school on Finley and Reese Street.…
Sally Brown Rhoden recalls growing up in Monroe, Georgia. She discusses seeing plays at the Fox Theater, her family, and social life. She recalls participating in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Monroe Drum and Bugle Corps. She reflects…
Linda Fuller Degelmann was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1941. While in her thirties, Degelmann moved to Americus, Georgia with her husband Millard Fuller and their three children. While in Americus, Degelmann lived on Koinonia Farms before she…
Bennie McKinley was born in Athens, Georgia in 1945 and grew up in segregated neighborhoods in Athens. She attended Reese Street School and Athens High and Industrial School. In this interview, she discusses her early experiences with segregation,…
Archibald Killian was born in Athens, GA in 1933. He studied at the Burdett School of Business in Boston, and served as a police officer overseas in the U.S. Air Force. In this interview, Killian discusses the process of desegregation of the…
Anne Brightwell grew up in the small town of Union, Missouri, outside of St. Louis. She graduated from Lindenwood College, and was involved in social activism relating to race and integration alongside her husband Frank. After moving to Athens,…
Bennie Roberson was born in Athens in 1947 where he attended Union Baptist Institute and, upon its completion, Lyons Middle School. In this interview, he recalls historically significant areas such as The Bottom, East Athens, and Hot Corner and…
Thomas Griffith was born in Madison County and moved with his family to Athens as a young teen. Throughout the interview, he stresses the importance of his mother’s Christian faith in instilling strong morals in him and his brothers and her…
Michael Middlebrooks was born in Athens, Georgia in 1956 and lived there for the majority of his life. He attended the University of Georgia and later worked for Georgia Power for 40 years. In this interview, Middlebrooks recalls his upbringing, the…
Ken Dious was born and raised in Athens, Georgia, where he attended the University of Georgia and earned a law degree. After spending some time doing civil rights litigation with the NAACP, Dious returned to Athens to establish his own law firm. In…
John Clark was raised in Oglethorpe County in a family of twelve siblings and moved to Athens upon the death of his father in 1965. After completing Burney-Harris High School, he served in the military before returning to Georgia and studying law at…
Fannie Smith was born in Oglethorpe County, GA and, as a child, moved with her family to Athens, GA, where she remained the rest of her life. In this interview she talks about integrating Clarke County schools, working through high school and…
James Sims, Jr. was born and raised in rural Oglethorpe County, GA, attended secondary school in Athens, GA, and spent his adult life in Augusta and Atlanta. He is the eldest of six children, in a family of community leaders and groundbreakers. In…
Arthur Sims, Sr. moved from rural Georgia to Athens with his family when he was young and attended segregated Athens High and Industrial School. In this interview he talks about his teenage years participating in Civil Rights movements and jobs he…
Larry Green was born and raised in Athens, Georgia. He attended West Broad street School, Lying Junior High, Burney Harris High School, and Clarke Central High School before furthering his education at Albany Technical School and DeVry University. In…
Randy Watkins was born and raised in Athens, Georgia. He is the current Director of Sales and Operations of More than Blinds as well as an umpire and an officiator of various different sports. In this interview, Watkins talks about the racial divide…
Melvin Stroud was born and raised in Athens and has worked in the city for decades. Stroud attended Union Baptist Institute and Athens High and Industrial before furthering his education at Fort Valley State University. In this interview, Stroud…
Aurelia Scott was born and raised in Linden, New Jersey before moving to Athens, Georgia. Scott has devoted her life to being an educator and an active member of her community. In this interview, Scott discusses her childhood in New Jersey, her…
Barbara Barnett is an active member of the community who has dedicated her life to working with the youth. Barnett has served as a Program Director of Rites of Passage, an organization focused on empowering Black youth through Black history…
Content Warning: This interview contains racial slurs.Richard Dunn was born in 1952 in Washington, D.C., and was raised by his mother and grandmother. Dunn first came to Athens to pursue a television internship in the summer of 1971, but transferred…
Betty Brown-Williamson was born in Dublin, Georgia in 1942 and graduated from Stillman college in 1964. She is a charter member of the Delta Sigma chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Stillman and the Eta Xi chapter at the University of Georgia.…
Peggy Norman was born in 1945 in Jackson County, Georgia, and has lived in Athens for over 50 years. She grew up visiting places like Hot Corner and the Bottom, before moving to Athens and starting her career in home healthcare. In this interview,…
Ola Jennings Stevens was born in Athens in 1944. After graduating from Athens High and Industrial School she went on to Fort Valley State University, and then received her Master’s degree from UGA and her Doctorate from the University of Tennessee.…
Evelyn Barrow was born in Athens in 1947 and has spent her life there. She grew up in Newtown, graduated from Burney-Harris High School in 1965, and spent 33 years working at Hope Haven before moving to her current position of driving buses. In this…
John Barrow was born in Athens, Georgia in 1946 and was raised on Waddell Street. He graduated from Alabama State College with a degree in business administration before returning to Athens and starting his own business, Barrow Stone and Masonry. In…
Deborah Weaver was born in Athens, Georgia in 1952. She graduated from Athens High School in 1970 and worked in the medical field until getting a job with Delta Air Lines in 1977. In this interview she discusses her childhood, her early education at…
Jimmy Jones was born in 1936 in Henry County, Georgia. Upon moving to Spalding County, Georgia at an early age, Jones attended Broad Street Elementary School. Jones lived through the desegregation of Fairmont High School and later became involved in…
Jean W. Reid was born in 1935 in Griffin, Georgia and is the wife of the late Civil Rights activist Gary Reid. Jean Reid attended a segregated Fairmont High School, where she practiced cheerleading and was a majorette. In 1965, Reid participated in a…
Jean Walker-Harps was born in 1939 and grew up on a farm in Glenville, Georgia. She attended Morris-Brown College and in 1961, she moved to Griffin, Georgia where she worked as a teacher at Fairmont High School. During the Civil Rights Movement,…
Freddie Phillips was born in Spalding County in 1938. As a child, Phillips attended Anne Shockley grade school and later Fairmont High School where he was a member of the marching band and basketball team. Phillips was active in the Civil Rights…
Born in 1940, Haskell Ward grew up in the segregated Griffin, Georgia. Throughout his childhood, Ward was encouraged by peers and friends to attain an education. Ward has held a multitude of positions throughout his life including working as Peace…
Gail Reid Hackbart grew up in Griffin, Georgia as the daughter of Gary Reid, a prominent Civil Rights activist in Georgia. Gail attended Georgia Tech, where she started the Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter and participated in marches over the unfair…
Juanitress Morris Cofield was born in 1966 in Griffin, Georgia. As the daughter of a farmer and teacher, Morris Cofield lived in the predominantly African American area of Griffin near the peak of the civil rights movement. In this interview, Morris…
Cheryl Head Rashied and Raymond Head III were born in Griffin, Georgia in 1948 and 1950, respectively. Cheryl and Raymond are the children of civil rights activist Raymond Head Jr., and experienced first-hand the effects of discrimination on the…
Larry Caldwell grew up in Springhill, Georgia during the era of segregation. He served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and when he returned, attended Griffin Technical Institute before he attained employment at General Motors. In this…
Wyomia Tyus grew up in Griffin, Georgia where she attended Anne-Shockley Elementary School and Fairmont High School. She later attended Tennessee State University where she ran, and competed in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. In this interview Tyus talks…
Wendell Paris grew up in Mississippi and attended Tuskegee Institute where he studied agriculture. During his time as a student, he joined the Student Nonviolence Coordination Committee (SNCC). Paris eventually came to manage the Panola Land Buyers…
Samuel McCray was born in 1949 near Lambert. He was raised by his grandparents who were sharecroppers on a plantation. He attended Delta State University and he worked for various nonprofits before becoming a Field Representative and Caseworker in…
Cornelius Wadsworth Grant was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1932. He attended FAMU College of Law after serving three years in the U.S. Army. Grant went on to teach at FAMU and Albany State. In this interview, he discusses the racial limitations…
