Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Ph.D. Oral History Interview

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

The oral history consists of five digital files: 2011.174.49.1a, 2011.174.49.1b, 2011.174.49.1c, 2011.174.49.1d, and 2011.174.49.1e. Gwendolyn Simmons, Ph.D. recalls joining the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while a student at Spelman College. She remembers directing SNCC's voter registration and Freedom School, called the Freedom Summer Project in Laurel, Mississippi. She discusses learning about Black Nationalism in New York, the decision in SNCC to expel white members, and her work with the American Friends Service Committee's Program on Government Surveillance and Citizens' Rights to interview members of organizations investigated by the FBI's Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO).

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