RIAMCO

Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online

For Participating Institutions

Bernard LaFayette Oral History Project (Mss. Gr. 123)

University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections

15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI 02881-2011
Tel: 401-874-4632

email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Inventory

Inventory

Series 1. Tapes, 2002-2003
3 containers
(.5 linear feet)

The series contains mini DV digital video cassettes of 15 mixed and 46 unmixed interview recordings. The mixes were transferred to 9 VHS tapes. In 2006, through a URI Foundation grant and funding through the Office of the President, the tapes were converted in house by the archivist into .wmv files.

Arrangement: The series is arranged by year and date of the interview. The original labeling on each recording was maintained. In some cases, the dates were not recorded during the interview or labeled on the physical tape. The date for those interviews is given as the known year of the recording.

Container Description Date
Interview 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Dr. LaFayette’s childhood life in Tampa and Philadelphia, his grandmother’s influence on his character and skills, his involvement with the church, racism and religion, civil rights movements, and college life.
2002 Jan
Interview 2, part 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include the Missionary Baptist Church, boycott on white-only employers in Philadelphia, higher education, non-violent protest training and workshops, James Lawson, college sit-in gatherings, and the attack on LaFayette in Nashville, TN.
2002
Interview 2, part 2
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include economic boycotts, college sit-in protests, voter registration drives, tent cities, and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
2002
Interview 3, part 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include the strategies and benefits of establishing non-violence centers throughout the world, and the training that takes place within the centers.
2002 Oct 10
Interview 3, part 2
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include the Dr. LaFayette’s abduction in Columbia by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) and the political issues associated with that event.
2002 Oct 10
Interview 4, part 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include the Nashville demonstrations, lunch counter pickets, sit-ins, student activism, time spent in jails, and the freedom rides.
2002
Interview 4, part 2
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include time spent in jails, Martin Luther King, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
2002
Interview 5
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Selma, voter registration drives, non violence principles, and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
2002
Interview 6
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Jesse Jackson, the Chicago Movement, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Vietnam War, Poor People's Campaign.
2002
Interview 7, part 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Dr. LaFayette’s role in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Also discussed are the events of the Chicago civil rights campaign and protests.
2002 Oct 21
Interview 7, part 2
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Chicago Mayor Daley’s role in the Chicago civil rights campaign. Also discussed are the strategies employed by the civil rights leadership in choosing which areas of the city to protest in.
2002 Oct 21
Interview 8, part 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include the Poor People’s Campaign and Dr. LaFayette’s appointment by Martin Luther King as National Coordinator of the program. Also discussed are the activities of various leaders from SCLC and issues related to 1967 Atlanta conference.
2002 Nov 19
Interview 8, part 2
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include the activities of the Poor People’s Campaign after Martin Luther King’s death and the organization’s work in Washington, D.C. Other topics include Dr. LaFayette’s activities in the Vietnam anti-war movement.
2002 Nov 19
Interview 9, part 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Dr. LaFayette’s work with youth gangs in Rochester, New York, his relationship with Martin Luther King, his responsibilities as a leader within the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and as the National Coordinator for the Poor People’s Campaign. Other topics include his post-secondary education, his activities as a peace educator, and leadership trainer.
2002 Dec 12
Interview 9, part 2
Contents Note: Subjects include Dr. LaFayette’s role in resolving the St. Louis school strikes in the late seventies and school desegregation.
2002 Dec 12
Interview 10, part 1
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Dr. LaFayette’s experience in the Wounded Knee reservation crisis in 1973 and as a high school principle in Tuskegee, Alabama.
2003 Jan 8
Interview 10, part 2
Contents Note: Subjects discussed include Dr. LaFayette’s experience as a high school principle in Tuskegee, Alabama . Also discussed are his experiences as the Vice President for Academic Affairs at American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee.
2003 Jan 8

Series 2. Transcripts and Index, 2006
1 container
(.5 linear feet)

The series contains transcripts created from the interviews by Tape Transcription Center, Boston MA in 2006. The transcripts are in both paper and electronic formats. The electronic forms are in MS Word and in PDF. A card file index was prepared by Prof. James Findlay and later revised from the transcripts and the data was entered in an electronic spread sheet, MS Excel.

Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by interview date or session when date is unknown. Card Index is in original file box.

Container Description Date
Interview 1
2002 Jan
Interview 2
2002
Interview 3
2002 Oct 10
Interview 4
2002
Interview 5
2002
Interview 6
2002
Interview 7
2002 Oct 21
Interview 8
2002 Nov 19
Interview 9
2002 Dec 12
Interview 10
2003 Jan 8