Oral history interview with Septima Poinsette Clark, July 30, 1976
Subtitle: interview G-0017, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Walker, Eugene P. (Eugene Pierce), 1936- interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2006
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Civil rights movements; Voter registration; Women civil rights workers; African American civil rights workers; Adult education; Working class; Education; Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Highlander Folk School (Monteagle, Tenn.)
Other titles: Interview G-0017, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Septima Poinsette Clark, July 30, 1976; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Septima Clark was hired by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to continue the voter registration and community education classes she had taught through the Highlander Folk School. She recalls some of the successes of her work with the S.C.L.C., especially the passing of the Voting Rights Act. The challenges of the work included prejudice against the female leaders in the organization, violent reactions by local police and Ku Klux Klan, and occasional class prejudice amongst SCLC leaders. Clark notes how several leaders needed to learn techniques for serving poor rural people, and she often corrected their misunderstandings. She compares the leadership strategies of Andrew Young, Wyatt T. Walker, and Ralph Abernathy and explains why the organization flourished under the influence of certain civil rights workers like Young and Jesse Jackson.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on May 22, 2007).

Interview participants: Septima Poinsette Clark, interviewee, Eugene Walker, interviewer

Duration: 01:26:08

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files : ca. 141.3 kilobytes, 157.7 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program collection, (#4007), Series G, Southern women, interview G-0017, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jean Houston. Original transcript: 40 p.

Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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