Civil rights

Interview with pharmacist and former Missouri state representative James McKinley Neal. Neal discusses his path to Kansas City and the pharmacy business, his service in the state legislature from 1946 to 1964, his sponsorship of civil rights bills, being elected by a primarily white electorate, and witnessing and promoting the desegregation of many public facilities during that time. He notes that he was the first Black person permitted to stay in a white hotel in the state of Missouri, having previously been required to stay in Lincoln University dormitories while in Jefferson City. He also discusses the accomplishments of his family members, his involvement in the Urban League and Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, and shares thoughts about the Model Cities program, employment, and education.

Interview with Jason Joseph, vice president and operations manager of the Kansas City Call. Joseph discusses the history and current operations of the Call, his understanding of the legacy of the paper and its future, other Black newspapers in the Kansas City area, and the Monday Niters' weekly columns in the paper. He discusses the group's rapport and influence in the Black community, issues they discuss in their columns in addition to football commentary, their longstanding friendships, historical perspective, and mentorship, and his opinions about the Chiefs' and Royals' potential new stadium locations and his advice to younger generations.

Interview with Jim Nunnelly, a community leader, radio host, newspaper columnist, and member of the Monday Nite Footballers. Nunnelly discusses his experiences at the University of Missouri, participating in a sit-in at a Columbia restaurant, moving to Kansas City to work with Dr. Samuel Rodgers at the Wayne Miner Health Clinic, the numerous challenges in connecting people to healthcare resources, the role of housing in healthcare access, crime prevention, drug treatment vs. incarceration, and his view "that budgets and movements go hand in hand." 

He also discusses the Monday Nite Footballers as a group of men who came of age through integration and understood there was more work to do, starting their Kansas City Call column at the suggestion of Lucile Bluford, and describes the group as united by their shared interest in football and longstanding friendships, but that their mission is to prepare and "protect the upcoming generation."

Interview with Lounneer Pemberton, executive director of the Kansas City Urban League. Pemberton discusses his family and early life in Iowa, attending predominantly white schools, attending the University of Minnesota, coming to Kansas City to work for the National Urban League, and actively considering race for the first time as an adult. He also shares memories of the Depression, seeing notable musicians, and thoughts about local activists and politicians, labor unions, local government, Freedom Inc., the passage of the public accommodations laws, and the upcoming national elections.

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.

Interview with Congressman Richard Bolling. He discusses his chilldhood in New York City, attending Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and later attending college in Alabama, where he witnessed deep poverty and racism during the 1930s. Bolling was assigned to General Douglas MacArthur's office during his World War II army service, and came to Kansas City as a veterans advisor at the University of Kansas City at the end of his service. He was elected to Congress to represent Missouri's 5th district, and recalls his experience as a representative, his involvement in civil rights issues, and memories of other politicians and activists.

Interview with UMKC English professor Robert Farnsworth. Farnsworth discusses his family background, his early life in Detroit, attending high school as a white student and athlete in an integrated school in the early 1940s, studying English at the University of Michigan (later getting graduate degrees from the University of Connecticut and Tulane University), developing his sense of politics and racial justice, his involvement with CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), his experiences with other activists including A. Cecil Williams, Bruce Watkins and Leon Jordan, and the friction around white participation in CORE. He also discusses shifting away from CORE involvement, the importance of teaching Black literature, covering Black culture in his published work, obtaining the papers of the poet and academic Melvin Tolson, and hosting the 1973 African and Caribbean Writers Conference at UMKC.

Interview with community leader and activist Rosemary Smith Lowe. Lowe discusses her work with others in desegregating Kansas City, working with the local police department, and her hopes for young people.

Interview with Ruby Jackson of the Human Resources Corporation. Jackson discusses her early life growing up in Kansas City, Kansas, her memories of the World War II era, nightlife on the Missouri side of the state line in the early 1950s, her thoughts about prominent Black figures including Madam C. J. Walker and Marcus Garvey, marrying, divorcing, and remarrying and having children while working at various jobs, including the Human Resources Corporation. She also discusses her involvement with the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) and multiple community and political groups, her feelings about contemporary politicians, intellectuals, and activists, and numerous issues of public policy including the Equal Rights Amendment.