Oral Histories
Ray Skates Interviewing Evelyn Gandy; 1972
Oral Histories
Click here to browse all digitized oral histories. Topics include civil rights, politics, agriculture and farming, journalism, religion, veterans, and more. This collection holds over 700 digitized oral histories that document the life and culture of Mississippians.
Notable collections within Oral Histories:
Fannie Lou Hamer; circa 1960s
Civil Rights Documentation Project
USM Libraries cooperated with the USM Center for Oral History to offer more than 60 oral history transcripts on the civil rights movement, such as those by civil rights leaders Charles Cobb, Charles Evers, Aaron Henry, and Hollis Watkins. This collection also includes oral histories of race-baiting governor Ross Barnett, national White Citizens Council leader William J. Simmons, and State Sovereignty head Erle Johnston. Audio excerpts are added to several of these transcripts.
Mississippi Oral History Project
The Mississippi Oral History Project, funded by the Mississippi State Legislature, documents Mississippi's culture and heritage from a variety of the state’s citizens. The oral history projects within the MOHP are partnerships between the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Center for Oral History, and local communities and organizations to document their own past, capturing and preserving their local history and culture.
Mississippi; 1829
Dr. Gilbert Mason; 1960
Biloxi Beach wade-ins
The Biloxi Beach Wade-In movement was a pioneering 1959 effort to integrate the beaches through non-violent protest led by Dr. Gilbert R. Mason, Sr. These oral histories offer insight into the wade-ins and the community involved in the planning, carrying out, and aftermath of these protests.
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005 and became one of the areas most devastating hurricanes to date. These oral histories show insight into people’s personal experiences with the storm and the aftermath of the damage left.
Gulf Park College Sign; 2005
Mississippi Senator's Reunion Committee; 1989
Mississippi Politicians and Judges
Various branches of government are represented in this collection of oral histories from Mississippians, including interviews with members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as well as past governors and state senators.