Oral History

Rev. C.T. Vivian, 1924-2020

In Obituaries, Oral History on 22 July 2020 with Comments Off on Rev. C.T. Vivian, 1924-2020

C. T. Vivian was the old man of the dream team that magically assembled in Nashville in the late 1950s. He was even older, by four years, than James Lawson, the expert in nonviolent direct action and ostensible adult in the room. Vivian was 35 in the fall of 1959, almost half a generation older […]

“We Want Our Freedom Now!” John Lewis, 1940-2020

In Obituaries, Oral History on 19 July 2020 with Comments Off on “We Want Our Freedom Now!” John Lewis, 1940-2020

John Lewis arrived in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 24, 1961, in the first wave of Freedom Riders to arrive in the state. He was 21, but like so many Riders he was already a veteran of nonviolent direct action. A member of the famed Nashville Student Movement, he had participated in numerous sit-in actions the […]

That Time A Freedom Rider Shot Down a Rebel Flag in Vietnam

In Confederacy, Oral History on 8 June 2020 with Comments Off on That Time A Freedom Rider Shot Down a Rebel Flag in Vietnam

The successive waves of de-Dixiefication that have washed over the South in the last five years have produced a number of arresting images. Bree Newsome triumphant atop the South Carolina state house flagpole, one rebel flag removed. New Orleans Robert E. Lee or Austin Jefferson Davis or Memphis Nathan Bedford Forrest floating off their pedestals […]