- Collection:
- Oral histories of the American South (Georgia selections)
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Clark Foreman, November 16, 1974
- Creator:
- Foreman, Clark, 1902-1977
- Contributor to Resource:
- Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd
Finger, William R.
Foreman, Mairi
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1974-11-16
- Subject:
- Southern States--Economic conditions
Georgia--Race relations
Lynching--Georgia--History--20th century
Southern Conference for Human Welfare
Civil rights workers
Civil rights workers--Attitudes
New Deal, 1933-1939
Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)
United States--Officials and employees--Interviews
United States--Officials and employees--Attitudes
Southern States--Economic conditions--20th century
Civil rights--Southern States--20th century
Southern States--Race relations
United States--Politics and government--1933-1945
United States--Social conditions--1933-1945
Commission on Interracial Cooperation
Phelps-Stokes Fund
Julius Rosenwald Fund
Southern Regional Council
National Citizens Political Action Committee - People:
- Graham, Frank Porter, 1886-1972
Foreman, Clark, 1902-1977
Foreman, Mairi
Wallace, Henry A. (Henry Agard), 1888-1965 - Location:
- United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, North Carolina, Buncombe County, 35.61122, -82.5301
United States, North Carolina, Buncombe County, Black Mountain, 35.6179, -82.32123 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Sound
Text - Description:
- This interview covers three separate conversations with Clark Foreman regarding his career in race relations, public service, and politics. His childhood in Georgia and his travels in Europe led to his work for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation in Atlanta with Will Alexander. His enduring reputation as a radical and rumored Communist began during his tenure with the Phelps-Stokes and Julius Rosenwald Funds. He acted out his growing commitment to integration and political equality while supervising New Deal projects for the Department of the Interior, the state parks, the interdepartmental committee on Negro affairs, and the power division of the Public Works Authority. This interview also addresses his attempts to provide more public housing for African Americans, and his opinion of leadership styles within the Interracial Commission and the Southern Conference for Human Welfare. He explains why the Southern Conference needed to endorse the Henry Wallace 1948 campaign, even though it was unsuccessful. He also compares the contributions of socialists and communists to the Southern Conference at state and national levels. Foreman lost jobs over false reports that he endorsed Communism or was too aggressive in his work. The interview concludes with comments by Clark and Mairi Foreman about his work with Black Mountain College, the Navy, and the National Citizens PAC, especially focusing on how his children developed radical views during those years.
Title from menu page (viewed on March 14, 2008).
Interview participants: Clark Foreman, interviewee; Mairi Foreman, interviewee; Jacquelyn Hall, interviewer; Bill Finger, interviewer.
This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.
Text encoded by Mike Millner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. - Metadata URL:
- http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/B-0003/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 328 kilobytes, 541 megabytes.
MP3 format / ca. 541 MB, 04:55:32 - Holding Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
- Rights:
-
