- Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with H.D. Coke, 1984 June 27
- Creator:
- Coke, H. D.
- Contributor to Resource:
- Kuhn, Cliff
- Publisher:
- Archive of American Minority Cultures
- Date of Original:
- 1984-06-27
- Subject:
- Labor unions--Alabama--Birmingham
Civil rights movements--Alabama--Birmingham
Reporters and reporting--Alabama--Birmingham
Gospel music--Alabama--Birmingham
African Americans--Segregation
United States--Civilization--1970- - People:
- Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963--Trials, litigation, etc.
Coke, H. D.--Interviews - Location:
- United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249
- Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
transcripts
sound recordings - Type:
- Sound
Text - 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.
Interviewed by Cliff Kuhn on June 27, 1984. - Local Identifier:
- u0008_0000003_0000016
http://purl.lib.ua.edu/54298 - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.libraries.ua.edu/cdm/ref/collection/u0008_0000003/id/320
- Language:
- eng
- Contributing Institution:
- William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library
- Rights:
-
