In February of 2001, the Spokane, Washington newspaper, the Spokesman-Review produced a month long series of articles on black history titled "Through Spokane's Eyes Moments in Black History," focusing in particular on the civil rights movement of the 1960s. As part of that series, Rebecca Nappi conducted a series of interviews with individuals with ties to both the civil rights movement and to Spokane. Some of these interviews were made available at the time in audio format on the Spokesman-Review website, and excerpts from these interviews were used in writing newspaper articles.
The collection contains eight interviews, conducted by Rebecca Nappi, circa 2001, on 5 audio cassette tapes. The interviewees are: Emelda and Manuel Brown, Clarence Freeman, Sam Minnix, Verda Lofton, Flip Schulke, Jerrelene Williamson, Alvin Pitmon, and Nancy Nelson. Topics include civil rights activities and race relations in Spokane Washington, the influence of Dr. Martin Luther King, racism and protests in the deep south, and civil rights spirituals. At the end of the collection are two folders, one containing newspaper clippings from 1965 and 2001 from the Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), and one containing printed transcripts of all of the interviews.
The tapes are arranged alphabetically by interviewee, except on tapes 2 and 5 where two or three interviewees were recorded on the same tapes.
The cassettes were digitized and the audio is available online in the
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item description]
Civil Rights Oral History Interviews, 2001 (Cage 683)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
The interviews were donated to MASC by Rebecca Nappi in March, 2002.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The Browns talk about their experiences with racial prejudice while raising a family in Spokane, Washington in the 1960s.
Freeman discusses his reaction to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and the reaction of the community of Spokane. He also talks briefly about a childhood experience with prejudice in Spokane.
Minnix describes the scene during a civil rights demonstration at the Spokane County Courthouse on Friday March 26, 1965.
Lofton relates her impression of the March 26, 1965 Spokane civil rights protest.
Schulke describes about his experiences photographing race related stories in the south. He mentions photographing the admission of the first black student, James Meredith, into the University of Mississippi and the results of the assassination of Martin Luther King on the protests and marches. He finishes by discussing the differences between the youth of the 60s and the youth of today, and the legacy of the protest movements.
Williamson relates her sense of the civil rights movement in Spokane to events in Alabama.
Pitmon talks about his experiences with prejudice in Arkansas during the forced integration of schools in the 1960s. He discusses his feelings towards Dr. Martin Luther King and the effect Dr. King had on him.
Nelson sings two civil rights spirituals: My Lord, What a Morning and Let Us Break Bread Together