Arkansas

Interview with community leader Rosemary Smith Lowe. Lowe discusses her family and early life in Arkansas, attending Wendell Phillips School after moving to Kansas City, her early involvement with Freedom Inc. and their work to pass public accommodations desegregation laws, her work as a cosmetologist and service as the commissioner of the state cosmetology board, serving as president of the Santa Fe Neighborhood Association and commissioner of the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department, and her work as a founder of the Local Investment Commission and Neighborhood Alliance. She also discusses buying a home in a predominantly white area, her thoughts about her church, and memories of family and friends. Lowe's son James E. White, Sr. was present at the interview and shares memories of his mother's life and accomplishments.

Interview with Adolf Ridgway. Ridgway, born in 1890, discusses his family and early life in Arkansas, dropping out of school at the age of 6 to help his mother, picking cotton, coming to Kansas City in his late 1920s to work on the Santa Fe Railroad, and his memories of the two world wars and the Great Depression. He also shares his thoughts about past American presidents, the boxer Jack Johnson, leisure time activities, and working at other jobs, including North American Aviation.

Interview with civic leader Alvin Brooks. Brooks discusses his family's move from Little Rock, Arkansas to Kansas City during the Depression, growing up in the Dunbar/Leeds area, his experience working for the Kansas City Police Department during the 1950s and 1960s under Police Chief Clarence Kelley, protesting segregation and displacement for urban renewal projects, city and Kansas City Public Schools leadership, and his hope to remain involved in city goverment or to work at a small Black college or university.

Two-part interview with Reverend C. L. "Clemmie" Bachus, pastor at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas. Reverend Bachus discusses his family background, his education and formative church experiences growing up in northwestern Mississippi, his journey into ministry at churches in Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and later, Kansas. He also discusses his engagement with civil rights activism, community politics, the local education system, and the church's involvement with local youth.