- Collection:
- Great Speckled Bird
- Title:
- Tom Perry oral history interview, 2017-06-01
- Creator:
- Perry, Tom
- Contributor to Resource:
- Drummond, Traci
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 2017-06-01
- Subject:
- Political activists
Underground newspapers
Counterculture
Great Speckled Bird - Location:
- United States, California, 37.25022, -119.75126
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, 33.79025, -84.46702
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
United States, New York, Monroe County, Rochester, 43.15478, -77.61556
United States, West Virginia, 38.50038, -80.50009 - Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
interviews
digital moving image formats - Type:
- Moving Image
- Format:
- video/mpeg
- Description:
- Tom Perry was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania April 27, 1945 while his father was serving in the military. Primarily raised near his extended family in West Virginia, Perry and his parents moved to Florida when he was ten years old. After finishing High School, Perry attended the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where he studied Psychology. Perry began writing articles about bicycling and public transportation for The Great Speckled Bird after meeting Anne Jenkins, Bird contributor and Perry’s future wife. From Atlanta, the Perry’s moved to Auburn, Alabama and Southern California, where they adopted two children. Perry spent much of his career working for Xerox, eventually retiring in Rochester, NY. After raising his grandchildren, Perry got involved in social justice advocacy efforts in Rochester through the Rochester Alliance of Communities Transforming Society (Roc/ACTS).
Tom Perry talks about growing up in West Virginia, where much of his family had resided for generations. He talks about the early influence of his parents, both teachers, who raised him to be accepting of people regardless of their income or ethnic background. Perry recalls how “instances of public hypocrisy” troubled him as a high school student and goes on to narrate the course of his “political education” upon moving to Atlanta. He describes his involvement with SSOC at Georgia Tech, his VISTA service after graduation, and participation in the Venceremos Brigade. Perry discusses his article contributions to The Great Speckled Bird, which advocated for bicycle-friendly street improvements and discussed plans for MARTA. Lamenting his lack of direct involvement in activism when he lived in Alabama and California, Perry tells of his recent re-entrance into local social justice efforts in Rochester, New York. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/GSB/id/10234
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to this item is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this item available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: Perry, Tom, interviewed by Traci Drummond, June 1, 2017, Great Speckled Bird Oral History Project, Social Change Collection. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University.
- Extent:
- 02:15:14
- Original Collection:
- Great Speckled Bird Collection
Social Change Collection - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
