- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Lyman Johnson, July 12, 1990
- Creator:
- Johnson, Lyman T., 1906-1997
- Contributor to Resource:
- Egerton, John
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1990-07-12
- Subject:
- Tennessee--Race relations
African Americans--Civil rights--Kentucky
Louisville (Ky.)--Race relations
African Americans
Columbia (Tenn.)--Race relations
Racism--Tennessee--Columbia
Civil rights movements--Tennessee--Columbia
Racism--Kentucky--Louisville
Civil rights movements--Kentucky--Louisville
Teachers' unions--Southern States - People:
- Johnson, Lyman T., 1906-1997
- Location:
- United States, Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville, 38.25424, -85.75941
United States, Southern States, 33.346678, -84.119434
United States, Tennessee, Maury County, 35.61694, -87.07701
United States, Tennessee, Maury County, Columbia, 35.61507, -87.03528 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Lyman Johnson's views on civil rights were formed by his father, who rejected racial hierarchies. Johnson started working to achieve racial equality in Columbia, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, after he returned from naval service following World War II. The interview begins with his description of violence that flared up in Columbia, Tennessee, after a black soldier's attack on a verbally abusive white store owner. Johnson asserts that the racial integration that should have occurred immediately after World War II was delayed as a result of apathy among white southerners, underlining the necessity of outside intervention. Though Louisville was more progressive than other southern cities, its leaders remained reluctant to endorse full equality. That reluctance made life difficult for black and white citizens alike.
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/A-0351/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on Dec. 21, 2007).
Interview participants: Lyman Johnson, interviewee; John Egerton, interviewer.
Duration: 01:03:17.
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. - Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
