Interview with Dr. Lewis Walker, Part 1

Interview with Dr. Lewis Walker, Part 1

Interviewee

Dr. Lewis Walker

Files

Download Dr. Lewis Walker, Part 1 - Abstract (129 KB)

Download Dr. Lewis Walker, Part 1 - Transcription (267 KB)

Loading...

Media is loading
 

Interviewers

Katherine H. Rapin

Description

Part 1 of two part interview with Dr. Lewis Walker recorded on February 5, 2015. Dr. Walker is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Katherine H. Rapin as a part of SHARE's (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Dr. Walker discusses the following topics:

  • Growing up in Jim Crow South, Selma and Birmingham, Alabama;
  • Attending college at Wilberforce University and Ohio State University;
  • Being fired from summer job because of prejudice;
  • Attending “a march against fear” organized by Martin Luther King Jr. in Jackson, Mississippi;
  • History of family and having a white plantation owner as a great grandfather;
  • Description of transition from Jim Crow South to Ohio for school at age 18;
  • Discussion of influential professors at Wilberforce University;
  • Discussion of wanting to become a professor;
  • Memories of moving to Kalamazoo, MI to teach at Western Michigan University;
  • Struggles of finding housing in Kalamazoo, MI as a black in the 60s.

Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).

Date of Interview

2-5-2015

Location of Interview

Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI

Series

Engaging the Wisdom

Keywords

Oral History, Kalamazoo Michigan, African American History, Ohio State University, Western Michigan University, Willy Mays, Emmett Till, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Douglass Community Association, James Meredith

Disciplines

African American Studies | Higher Education | Oral History | Public History | Race and Ethnicity | Social History

Notes

The Society for History and Racial Equity’s oral history archive is made possible through Western Michigan University’s Presidential Innovation Professorship program. All collection materials and copyright are owned by SHARE; Western Michigan University Libraries provide stewardship and digital access. Content is for educational purposes only and non-reproducible. If cited or linked, please do so through ScholarWorks with appropriate attribution. Please direct any questions to scholarworks@wmich.edu.

The Engaging the Wisdom project was made possible by Ms. Donna Odom (retired SHARE Executive Director), Dr. Bruce Mills (Kalamazoo College History Department) and Kalamazoo College students.

Language

ENG

Document Type

Book

Length of video

54:42

Length of video log

21 pages

Interview with Dr. Lewis Walker, Part 1

Share

COinS
 

Rights Statement

In Copyright