Elmer Dixon Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The oral history consists of eleven digital files: 2011.174.57.1a, 2011.174.57.1b, 2011.174.57.1c, 2011.174.57.1d, 2011.174.57.1e, 2011.174.57.1f, 2011.174.57.1g, 2011.174.57.1h, 2011.174.57.1i, 2011.174.57.1j, and 2011.174.57.1k.

Elmer Dixon discusses his childhood in Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington, where he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., and heard Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael speak. At 17 he met Black Panthers Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland and established, with his brother Aaron Dixon as Defense Captain, the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party. Dixon discusses his work with the Panthers, the survival of several of the programs he started, including a health clinic, his work after the Panther chapter closed down in 1978, and his current position as director of an executive consulting firm specializing in diversity issues.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: February 28, 2013
• Created by: Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
• Interview of: Elmer Dixon, American
• Interviewed by: David P. Cline Ph. D., American, born 1969
• Subject of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
• Subject of: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, American, 1960 - 1970s
• Subject of: Stokely Carmichael, Trinidadian American, 1941 - 1998
• Subject of: Black Panther Party, American, 1966 - 1982
• Subject of: Bobby Seale, American, born 1936
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 2 hr., 32 min., 32 sec.
• Dimensions: Total: 260.48 MB
• Place collected: Seattle, King County, Washington, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Oakland, Alameda County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American West
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Medicine
• Topic: Social reform
• Topic: U.S. History, 1961-1969
• Object number: 2011.174.57.1a-k
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.