Oral history transcript, Louise Hermey Stanford, interview 1 (I), 9/6/1989, by Sybil Jackson
Title:
Oral history transcript, Louise Hermey Stanford, interview 1 (I), 9/6/1989, by Sybil Jackson
Number of Pages:
68
Description:
How Stanford became involved in civil rights issues; the 1964 Mississippi summer project's goals; voter registration for African Americans in Mississippi and other southern states; the relationships between different civil rights organizations; the joining of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to form the Council of Federated Organizations; the dangerous nature of civil rights work in Mississippi; differing opinions on the use of force and confrontation; training for COFO in Oxford, Ohio; Stanford's inability to understand the danger she would face in Mississippi; John Doar and the Justice Department's involvement in summer project work in Mississippi; LBJ's devotion to civil rights issues and response to the disappearance of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner; events leading up to Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman's disappearance; Stanford's attempts to report the disappearance of the three men; activities at the Meridian, Mississippi, COFO office during the search for the three men; visiting the burned church where the men were going the day of their disappearance; identifying the burned automobile the men were driving; Stanford's response to We are Not Afraid by Seth Cagin and Philip Dray; Mississippi law enforcement's support of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK); Stanford's contact with the families of the missing men and speculation over the nature of their deaths; the common fear of publicly connecting one's self to the civil rights movement and/or related events; telephone tapping at the COFO office; the memorial service and burial for Chaney; local law enforcement's involvement in the disappearance and murders; the effect of the murders on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Mississippi project and later similar projects; the volunteers who stayed in Mississippi following the murders; the Mississippi families that hosted volunteers; Stanford's work after the summer of 1964; how the summer of 1964 affected Stanford's career and beliefs; a misconception regarding who was involved in the search for the missing men; the fact that the surviving volunteers have not been contacted by researchers.
