<I>Edgar Cahn Oral History Interview</I>
date: label: Date
content: August 24, 2017
name: label: Created by
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture, American, founded 2003
label: Interview of
content: Edgar Cahn, American, born 1934
label: Interviewed by
content: Kelly Elaine Navies, American
label: Recorded by
content: Kim Moir, American
label: Subject of
content: Poor People's Campaign, American, 1967 - 1968
label: Subject of
content: Jean Camper Cahn, American, 1935 - 1991
label: Subject of
content: Swarthmore Collge, American, founded 1864
label: Subject of
content: Senator Robert F. Kennedy, American, 1925 - 1968
label: Subject of
content: Sargent Shriver, American, 1915 - 2011
notes: label: Description
content: An oral history consisting of a single digital video recording (2018.78.3.1). It was collected as part of the Poor People’s Campaign Interviews.
label: Description
content: In this interview, Edgar Cahn, a lifelong social justice advocate, discusses his upbringing in New York City and education at Swarthmore College; his work providing legal services to the poor throughout the 1960s; the research and writing of report, Hunger USA; his involvement with the Poor People’s Campaign; and his continued social justice work since then.
label: Description
content: Cahn begins the interview by discussing his early life and the development of his relationship with his late wife, Jean Camper Cahn, whom he met at Swarthmore. Cahn then talks about attending Yale Law School and recalls how he and his wife began their careers providing legal services to the poor in New Haven, CT. Cahn then turns to a discussion of his legal work combatting poverty throughout the 1960s through both the government and government watchdog organizations. Cahn discusses his work around the publication of Hunger U.S.A, and he recalls his experience at Resurrection City in 1968. Cahn then connects the Poor People’s Campaign to what he sees as a broader shift toward the empowerment and participatory engagement of disenfranchised and marginalized people in the US. Cahn concludes the interview by discussing the role of women, such as Jean Camper Cahn, in his life and work, and by discussing a system for community engagement called TimeBanking that he developed in 1980.
place: label: Place collected
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: Civil Rights
label: Topic
content: Humanitarianism
label: Topic
content: Justice
label: Topic
content: Labor
label: Topic
content: Politics
label: Topic
content: Poverty
label: Topic
content: Race relations
label: Topic
content: Segregation
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, 1961-1969
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: Poor People’s Campaign Oral Histories
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
label: Movement
content: Civil Rights Movement
label: Movement
content: African American - Latinx Solidarity
label: Movement
content: Poor People's Campaign
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2018.78.3.1
objectType: label: Type
content: video recordings
label: Type
content: oral histories
label: Type
content: digital media - born digital
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: digital
label: Dimensions
content: Duration: 01:50:15
label: Dimensions
content: 22.75 GB