Interviews with African Americans in Utah

Collection

Identifier: MS 0453

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Utah Endowment for the Humanities funded the Oral History Institute of Salt Lake City to conduct interviews with members of different ethnic minorities and racial groups. The people chosen to be interviewed were from Utah's African Americans, Greek, Jewish, Japanese, Mexican, Hispanic, Chinese, Ute, and Italian communities; and were in most cases fifty—five years of age or older. The goal of the project was to try to determine if, how, or to what extent each minority culture had been impacted by the larger Utah culture.

This particular series of interviews with African Americans took place from 1982 to 1988. Events recalled by the interviewees span the time period from 1889 to 1988. The series is a follow—up to a series that was done in the early 1970s, but the topics covered are not the same. Included in this collection are the transcriptions of the interviews conducted 1982 to 1988, with some corresponding cassette tapes and photographs found in the Multimedia Division of Special Collections. Materials were transferred to the Marriott Library from the Oral History Institute in 1985 and 1988.

Of particular interest are the interviews done by Pastor France Davis and Reverend Theodore P. Fields, regarding the 1980 killing of two young Black men, and the interview by Woody Wright which provides insight into the activities taking place in Ogden, Utah, on the notorious 25th Street.

Common themes within the interviews are family life, work, religion, discrimination, civil rights experiences, and relations with the White, and in particular the Latter Day Saints establishment in Utah.

The Oral History Institute of Salt Lake City created a photodocumentary exhibit from this project, titled "Working Together: A Utah Portfolio." The photographs in the exhibit were selected to dramatize the way members of each ethnic and minority community in Utah lived, worked, and worshipped, from 1920 to 1985. These photographs are housed in the Photo Archives at the J. Willard Marriott Library. Several of the people interviewed for this collection were photographed for the project, and an appendix of the photographs can be found at the end of this register.

Dates

1982-1988

Creator

University of Utah. Oral History Institute (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Extent

3 Linear Feet (7 Boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Interviews with African Americans in Utah consist of transcripts detailing events recalled by the interviewees spanning the time period from 1889 to 1988. Topics include family life, work, religion, discrimination, civil rights experiences, and relations with the white, and in particular the Latter Day Saints establishment in Utah. Most interviews were conducted by Leslie G. Kelen of the Oral History Institute. Click here to view the digitized items from the collection.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from the Oral History Institute.

Related Materials

This collection forms part of the ethnic relations in Utah oral history project.

See also the African American oral history project (ACCN 2840) located in the Manuscripts Division of Special Collections.

Separated Materials

Audio cassette tapes transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections (A0079 and A0326).

Photographs of many of the interviewees transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections (P0160).

Processing Information

Processed by Nancy V. Young and Jennifer Breaden in 1990.

Addemdum processed by Julia Huddleston in 2018.

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