Racism

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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 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 Adolph Wilson, owner of the Fireplace Lounge and Northwest Junior High assistant principal. Wilson discusses his family and early life in Oklahoma, attending segregated schools in Kansas City, Kansas, working as a teacher and administrator in Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, and how he got involved in the nightclub business. He also discusses the business of running a nightclub in Kansas, including taxation and zoning, his plans for the future, and also discusses school integration efforts.

Interview with Kansas City Public School District board member Dr. A. Odell Thurman. Thurman discusses his family and early life in Mississippi and St. Louis, his father's work as a minister, attending (and later teaching at) Dunbar School, attending high school in Liberty and St. Joseph, attending Western University and later graduating from Lincoln University, getting a masters degree, and working as an educator in Kansas City, Missouri. He shares his thoughts about segregated schools in Kansas City, earning his PhD, and becoming an assistant superintendent for the school district.

Interview with Dr. Billy James Taylor. Taylor discusses his family and early life in Chattanooga, Tennessee, enlisting in the Army Special Forces, attending Tennessee State University and the University of Minnesota, returning to Tennessee to enroll in Meharry Medical College, working as a restaurant inspector, and coming to Kansas City in 1972. He also discusses seeing Black and white patients, race-based assumptions in medical care, varying economic conditions and neighborhoods in Kansas City and throughout the country,

Interview with Colonel Robert L. Sweeney. Sweeney discusses his family and early life in Highland, Kansas, his military service in World War I, experiencing little discrimination in Highland and France, working as a chauffeur in St. Joseph and Kansas City, visiting New York City, his friendship with the Pendergasts, Harry Truman, and police chief Clarence Kelley, and his hopes for development in downtown Kansas City. He also shares thoughts about World War II, Black political alignments over time, numerous politicians, Black activists and intellectuals, and prominent black Kansas Citians, among other topics.

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 labor union secretary and business manager Augustus Moore. Moore discusses his family and early life in Arkansas and Oklahoma, harvesting cotton and spinach as a young man, moving to Kansas City where he trained in the masonry trade, and becoming a member and later secretary and business manager of the local mason and plaster tender union. He also discusses the masonry trade and the role of the union.

Interview with Missouri state representative candidate Mickle D. Hughes. Hughes discusses his early life and family background, violence faced by Black people moving into areas north of 27th Street, attending the integrated De La Salle High School, then attending Central Missouri State and Lincoln University before enlisting in the air force to avoid the Vietnam draft. He also discusses racism in higher education, being stationed in Mississippi and Thailand and encountering racism in each, developing an interest in leadership and community service while in Thailand and after his return to the United States, and working as an aide to Missouri State Representative Phillip Curls. He also shares his thoughts about voter cynicism, his hopes for the community engagement and education, housing policy, crime, employment, and other issues.

Interview with Jackson County legislator Mamie Hughes. Hughes discusses her early years in Florida and New York, her family background, their focus on learning Black history, working as a teacher, living in Mississippi and later moving to Kansas City, encountering racism and segregation, becoming involved in politics and activism, and being elected to the Jackson County legislature in 1972 and re-elected in 1974. She also discusses the growth and support of Freedom, Inc., the involvement of Black people in politics and activism, the importance of social services, employment opportunities, and education access, and other thoughts on building a strong community. She also shares thoughts about organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the Nation of Islam, and issues including property taxes, utility rates, the Equal Rights Amendment, and racism in feminism.