Close
Not finding the information you're looking for? Please contact the Archives research staff.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-AEH-02
In this interview Henry discusses how he first got involved in civil rights activity and how he became an active leader in the NAACP; contact with the Justice Department during the Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration; the FBI investigation into Henry and into the civil rights movement; Henry’s relationship with Medgar Evers; voting rights and voter registration campaigns; beatings and killings of activists in Mississippi; the NAACP and the 1960 presidential election; Jim Silver; Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders; labor movement leadership and the NAACP in the sixties; the relationships among the various civil rights organizations, including the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, SCLC, and SNCC; organizing boycotts of certain stores; Henry’s arrest in 1961; and the disappearance and murder of Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner, and James Chaney in 1964, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-AEH-01
In this interview Henry discusses meeting John F. Kennedy [JFK] and Robert F. Kennedy; discussing Mississippi and civil rights issues with President JFK; voting rights and poll taxes; the freedom rides; the murder of three young activists in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964; Mississippi politics beginning in the late fifties; white people in Mississippi; school segregation; the 1960 presidential election; and early contact with the federal government and the Justice Department in 1961, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-BIB-01
Bernhard discusses the often contentious relations between the Commission on Civil Rights, John F. Kennedy’s White House, and the Justice Department, especially after a report and recommendations that the Commission made about Mississippi, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RRB-01
Barnett discusses his conflicts with the federal government over civil rights, his opposition to integrating Mississippi schools and universities, and Mississippi’s economics during his governorship, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JRL-01
In this interview Lewis discusses President John F. Kennedy on civil rights; Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] as Attorney General and civil rights; working on RFK’s 1968 presidential campaign; RFK’s assassination, 1968; J. Edgar Hoover and FBI investigations of the civil rights movement; discrimination, hatred, and violence; and the march from Selma to Montgomery and “Bloody Sunday,” 1965, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-05
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] and Marshall discuss how John F. Kennedy [JFK] and RFK grew increasingly more involved with and concerned about civil rights; getting Martin Luther King out of jail during JFK’s 1960 campaign; civil rights advisers during JFK’s 1960 campaign; RFK becoming Attorney General amidst the civil rights battle and the transitional period in the Department of Justice [DOJ]; how Marshall got his position in the DOJ; the struggle over school desegregation; the New Orleans school crisis of February 1961; the Freedom Riders and violence against them; sending federal marshals to Alabama; trying to find a bus driver to get the Freedom Riders out of Birmingham, Alabama; criticism of RFK’s response to the Freedom Riders; how Freedom Riders were arrested and threatened in Mississippi; African-American voting rights in the South and DOJ authority; difficulties with judges; Supreme Court appointments; the FBI and organized crime; reorganization of the DOJ; RFK’s interactions with the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover after JFK’s death; Hoover’s allegations about JFK and the Kennedy family; the alleged FBI wiretapping of officials; JFK’s opinion of Hoover; FBI press releases; connecting the civil rights movement with communism to discredit it; FBI involvement in civil rights matters; issues with the FBI as having civilian control of a police force; JFK’s communication with King and other civil rights leaders; civil rights legislation; the issue of equal employment; the Civil Rights Commission; and violence against African Americans in Birmingham in the spring of 1963, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-04
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses American aid to Argentina; American, British, and French involvement in Africa; the 1962 executive order about segregation in federally-funded housing; appointing African-American judges; changes John F. Kennedy [JFK] was contemplating in the Alliance for Progress; the Dominican crisis; the wheat sale to the Soviet Union; the Bobby Baker case; preparing for JFK’s 1964 campaign; RFK’s return to work after JFK’s assassination and disagreements among the Cabinet members and under President Lyndon B. Johnson; changes in White House staff and the Democratic Party; RFK’s political plans for after 1964; and JFK’s opinions of his staff and appointees, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-RFK-02
In this interview Robert F. Kennedy [RFK] discusses the 1961 Berlin crisis; American forces, military and diplomatic, in Germany; John F. Kennedy’s [JFK] recommendation for Americans to have fallout shelters; nuclear testing; problems with the Department of State; the start of the conflict in Vietnam, 1961; the Department of Justice under RFK and organized crime; RFK’s difficult relationship with J. Edgar Hoover; the wiretapping bill; new federal judgeships in 1961 and other presidential appointments; the Alliance for Progress; Red China; crises during JFK’s presidency and how he was an optimist; RFK’s move for an income tax increase during the Berlin crisis; RFK’s disagreements with President JFK; indecisiveness over picking JFK’s running mate, 1960; the missile gap; fighting and UN operations in the Congo; Nikita S. Khrushchev’s speeches; RFK’s 1962 trip to Japan, Indonesia, Germany, and other countries; the release of Allen L. Pope; Dutch disputes in Southeast Asia; the 1961 crisis in the Dominican Republic and the assassination of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina; the 1962 disarmament conference in Geneva; Edward M. Kennedy’s 1962 campaign for U.S. Senate; the Kennedy family national and political reputation; the Justice Department under RFK and civil rights; and the 1962 steel crisis, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-JLF-02
Farmer discusses the Freedom Rides, the JFK administration and civil rights legislation, and Farmer’s support for RFK in New York, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-LEM-03
In this interview Martin discusses helping fill government positions after John F. Kennedy [JFK] is elected President, 1960; the appointment of African American judges, including Thurgood Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; providing African American candidates for different agency positions; civil rights crises during JFK’s Administration; Lee White as the White House advisor on civil rights; the civil rights bill introduced in 1963; religious groups in the civil rights movement; the issue of “white backlash”; and working for President JFK versus working for President Lyndon B. Johnson, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-OCC-01
Carr discusses Democratic politics in Mississippi; segregation, racism and the civil rights movement; the Justice Department’s involvement in desegregation and voter registration during the John F. Kennedy administration; and Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential run, among other issues.
Oral history
Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
RFKOH-JRR-02
This interview focuses on the transition period to the Kennedy Administration post-election, Robert F. Kennedy’s [RFK] priorities as attorney general, and the Justice Department’s involvement with the March on Washington in 1963, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-BM-04
Marshall discusses the violence surrounding James Howard Meredith’s enrollment at the University of Mississippi, the contempt of court case against Mississippi governor Ross R. Barnett, and John F. Kennedy’s judicial appointments, among other issues.
Oral history
John F. Kennedy Oral History Collection
JFKOH-BM-02
Marshall discusses violence in the Freedom Rides during 1961, negotiations with the governors and public safety officials of Alabama and Mississippi to ensure safety of the riders; arrests of the riders, and the eventual desegregation of bus facilities.