- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Howard Kester, August 25, 1974
- Creator:
- Kester, Howard, 1904-1977
- Contributor to Resource:
- Frederickson, Mary
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1974-08-25
- Subject:
- Trade-unions--Southern States
Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry (U.S.)
Social reformers--Southern States
African Americans--Civil rights--Southern States
Employee rights--Southern States
Working class--Civil rights--Southern States
Southern States--Race relations
Social justice--Southern States--Religious aspects
Penn School (Saint Helena Island, S.C.)
Young Women's Christian associations--Tennessee--Nashville
Fellowship of Southern Churchmen
Southern Tenant Farmers' Union
Fellowship of Reconciliation (U.S.)
Young Men's Christian associations--Tennessee--Nashville - People:
- Kester, Howard, 1904-1977
- Location:
- United States, South Carolina, Beaufort County, Saint Helena Island, 32.38686, -80.56066
United States, Southern States, 33.346678, -84.119434
United States, Tennessee, Davidson County, Nashville, 36.16589, -86.78444 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Howard Kester was a Socialist and Christian who advocated for social justice causes throughout the South from the mid-1920s through the 1960s. In this interview, he discusses his involvement with such organizations as the YMCA and YWCA, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen, the Committee on Economic and Racial Justice, the Penn School, the Southern Summer School for Women Workers, and the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Throughout the interview, Kester emphasizes his radical Christian values and Socialist leanings in relationship to his beliefs regarding fundamental human equality. Kester equates the struggles of African Americans with those of workers, and views social justice issues as relevant to all Americans, regardless of their social standing. He discusses both the progress made towards these ends as well as the obstacles that remained, primarily during the 1930s and 1940s. He also describes the leadership roles and beliefs of fellow social activists such as Reinhold Niebuhr, Elizabeth Gilman, Alva Taylor, Elizabeth Jones, Louise Young, Louise Leonard McLaren, and Kester's wife, Alice Harris Kester.
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-0007-2/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on May 22, 2008).
Interview participants: Howard Kester, interviewee; Mary Frederickson, interviewer.
Duration: 01:35:38.
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:
-
