06640cgdaa22008417i 4500 21225245 20250607095401.6 cr c|a|||||||| 191002s2015 dcu250 o v|eng 21225245 0 ibc orignew u ncip 20 y-folklife masmit 2019-10-02 masmit 2019-10-03 masmit 2019-11-25 2016655422 20151211 DLC eng dacs DLC n-us-al n-us-ms AFC 2010/039: 0131 Lawson, Jennifer, 1946- interviewee. Jennifer Lawson oral history interview conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, DC, District of Columbia, 2015 December 11. 2015. 17 video files (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (4:09:19) : digital, sound, color. transcript 1 item (.pdf) : text files. text txt rdacontent transcript two-dimensional moving image tdi rdacontent video files computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Collection is open for research. To request materials, please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact Recorded in Washington, District of Columbia, on December 11, 2015. Jennifer Lawson shares her experience throughout the Civil Rights Movement. She discusses her decision to leave college to join the movement, and her involvement with voter registration activities in Mississippi. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1966 and was elected to the organization's central coordinating committee. She shares her role in designing the Black Panther symbol and campaign materials for the Lowndes Country Freedom Organization (later the Black Panther Party). She reflects on the issues surrounding racial separatism and her decision to leave organizational efforts in search of other activist work, including joining the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). She recalls going to Cuba and being involved with art programs that celebrated African and Cuban heritage and moved to Tanzania from 1970-1972 and became part of a writer's group with Walter Rodney. She later attended Columbia University to merge her interest in civil rights activism and art, and pursued a film degree. Civil Rights History Project collection (AFC 2010/039: 0131), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Copies of items are also held at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (U.S.). Duplication of collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions. Jennifer Lawson was born in June of 1946, in Fairfield, Alabama and encountered racial segregation as a young child. Lawson later attended Tuskegee College. In the summer of 1963 she moved to New York City to pursue an internship at Sloan Kettering Center and in the summer of 1964 pursued a Research Aide role, meanwhile attending demonstrations to protest Martin Luther King in Birmingham Jail. While at Tuskegee she was involved with the student group that worked on desegregating Macon County and mobilizing voting registration. After Freedom Summer 1964, she went to Jackson, Mississippi to work on voter registration, and later left school in the Spring of 1966 to join SNCC and work in Wilcox County. After she left SNCC, she worked at the National Council of Negro Women and worked with Dorothy Height and Fanny Lou Hamer. She was involved with designing the symbol of the Black Panther for the Lowndes County Party, and created political education material through art. Lawson was elected to the central coordinating committee of SNCC, and then moved to Atlanta. At the time when SNCC began to adopt racial separatism, she left the organization. She attended Columbia University to pursue art in formal education, and studied film, working in public television for the last thirty years. Lawson is active in volunteering with the SNCC Legacy Project today. The Civil Rights History Project is a joint project of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of individuals who participated in the Civil Rights movement. In English. Finding aid http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af013005 Lawson, Jennifer, 1946- Interviews. Blackwell, Unita, 1933-2019. Cobb, Charles E., Jr. Cox, Courtland, 1941- Hamer, Fannie Lou. Mants, Bob. Oliver, Edmond Jefferson. Black Panther Party. Drum and Spear Bookstore. Mississippi Freedom Project. National Council of Negro Women. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (U.S.) Tuskegee Institute. African American civil rights workers Alabama Interviews. Civil rights movements Alabama. Civil rights movements Mississippi. Civil rights movements United States. Voter registration Alabama. Birmingham (Ala.) Race relations History. Lowndes County (Ala.) Politics and government. Personal narratives. lcgft Filmed interviews. lcgft Interviews. lcgft Oral histories. lcgft Video recordings. lcgft Crosby, Emilye, interviewer. Bishop, John Melville, videographer. Civil Rights History Project (U.S.) Washington (D.C.), event place. Civil Rights History Project collection AFC 2010/039: 0131 (DLC) 2012655221 Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC USA 20540-4610 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.home afc2010039_crhp0131_mv18 afc2010039 Jennifer Lawson oral history interview conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, DC, District of Columbia, 2015 December 11 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afc2010039.afc2010039_crhp0131 afc2010039_crhp0131_ms01 afc2010039 1 transcript afc/2010039 AFCCRHP2 AFCCRHP Electronic Resource