Interviews

Hear from veterans of the civil rights movement as they address the legacy of the movement for addressing social issues today.

Podcasts & Audio Files

Podcast: Interview with Zoharah Simmons

Joy Lyman, a Museum Freedom School intern, hosts this special episode of the History Explorer podcast series on the experiences of Zoharah Simmons, who as a young woman and against the wishes of her parents, joined the Mississippi Summer Project in 1964.

Podcast: Interview with Martha Prescott Norman

Harry Clarke, a Museum Freedom School intern, hosts this special episode of History Explorer on civil rights activist and Freedom Summer participant Martha Prescott Norman.

Podcast: Interview with June Johnson

Nicholas Nchamukong, a Museum Freedom School intern, hosts this special episode of the History Explorer podcast series on the life of Mississippi native and civil rights activist June Johnson, who joined the movement at age 15 and worked alongside Fannie Lou Hamer and others in the Mississippi civil rights movement.

Moses Moon Recordings

Moses Moon, formerly Alan Ribback, was a self-proclaimed “audio man” and the owner of the Chicago folk club, The Gate of Horn.  In 1963, Moon went to Greenwood, Mississippi for a folk festival organized by Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Theodore Bikel, and others. At the event he heard some of the music of the civil rights movement, and while recording it decided to document the larger movement as well. He began attending and recording mass meetings, voter registrations, and other movement events in the South. The following interviews describe the voter registration process in Alabama before the Voting Rights Act. These excerpts come from his collection of recordings, which are housed in the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History. Additional recordings are available through Smithsonian Folkways.

• Billie Johnson interview & transcript
• Julian Bond interview & transcript

Videos

In this series of videos, Freedom Summer activist Larry Rubin discusses his experiences in Mississippi in 1964 and at the March on Washington in 1963. 

Civil rights activist and Freedom Rider Diane Nash discusses civic responsibility as part of the 2011 National Youth Summit on the Freedom Rides.

In this series of interviews, member of the Greensboro Four Joseph McNeil talks about what motivated him to participate, shares a message for young people on being involved in their communities and discusses changing the hearts of segregationists in this clip from the 1995 presentation Birthplace of a Whirlwind.