Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Gainesville, Florida, 2011-09-14.

Summary: Gwendolyn Simmons recalls joining the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while a student at Spelman College. She remembers directing SNCC's voter registration and Freedom School, called the Freedom Summer Project in Laurel, Mississippi. She discusses learning about Black Nationalism in New York, the decision in SNCC to expel white members, and her work with the American Friends Service Committee's Program on Government Surveillance and Citizens’ Rights to interview members of organizations investigated by the FBI's Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO).

Biographical History: Gwendolyn Simmons was born in 1944 in Memphis, Tennessee, and had one daughter. She attended Spelman College, Antioch University, and Temple University. She worked as a professor of religion at the University of Florida. She was a civil rights activist and member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Acquisition Note: The Civil Rights History Project is a joint project of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of individuals who participated in the Civil Rights movement.

Existence and Location of Copies: Copies of items are also held at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (U.S.).

Conditions Governing Access: Collection is open for research. Access to recordings may be restricted. To request materials, please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact.

Related Archival Materials: Artifacts associated with the interview are at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

civil rights movements student nonviolent coordinating committee us african american civil rights workers mississippi interviews mississippi freedom project african american college students voter registration laurel black nationalism american friends service committee program on government surveillance and citizens rights mississippi freedom schools spelman college filmed interviews oral histories gainesville gwendolyn zoharah simmons gwendolyn zoharah simmons history interview history interview joseph mosnier joseph mosnier florida high resolution civil rights history project us civil rights history project american folklife center film video race relations african americans

1944

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

Public Domain