- Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with H.D. Coke
- Contributor to Resource:
- Coke, H. D.
Kuhn, Cliff - Date of Original:
- 1984-06-27
- Subject:
- Coke, H. D.--Interviews
Labor unions--Alabama--Birmingham
Civil rights movements--Alabama--Birmingham
Reporters and reporting--Alabama--Birmingham
Gospel music--Alabama--Birmingham
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963--Trials, litigation, etc.
African Americans--Segregation
United States--Civilization--1970- - Location:
- United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249
- Medium:
- interviews
transcripts - Type:
- Sound
Text - Format:
- audio/mpeg
image/jpeg - Description:
- In this interview, H.D. Coke discusses his move to Birmingham in 1936 and his earliest impressions of the city. He discusses his years as a local newspaper reporter and his various other careers throughout his lifetime. Coke comments on his involvement in both the labor and Civil Rights movements in the Birmingham area. He also recalls being a witness in the "Communist trial" for W.E.B. Dubois as well as meeting Eleanor Roosevelt at the 1938 meeting of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Birmingham. Coke explains how he dealt with segregation and Jim Crow laws in Alabama. For example, he recalls trying to register to vote in the 1930s and being required to name the Justices of the Supreme Court. He discusses Birmingham's business community, statistics, race relations and politics. He also discusses his involvement in gospel music. He talks about the Harmonettes, the Blinds Boys of Alabama and Inez Andrews, among others.
The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.libraries.ua.edu/cdm/ref/collection/u0008_0000003/id/320
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Images are in the public domain or protected under U.S. copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), and both types may be used for research and private study. For publication, commercial use, or reproduction, in print or digital format, of all images and/or the accompanying data, users are required to secure prior written permission from the copyright holder and from archives@ua.edu. When permission is granted, please credit the images as Courtesy of The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections.
- Original Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Contributing Institution:
- William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library
- Rights:
-
