Marian Wright Edelman Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

An oral history consisting of a single digital video recording (2018.78.4.1). It was collected as part of the Poor People’s Campaign Interviews.

In this oral history interview, Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), discusses her early life and work as a civil rights lawyer and activist, the Poor People’s Campaign of 1968, and her work with the CDF. The interview begins with a discussion of Mrs. Edelman’s upbringing and family life in Bennettsville, South Carolina, in which she identifies some of the experiences and relationships that informed her lifelong commitment to social justice work. Mrs. Edelman then discusses her time at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, and her experiences in Europe (France, Switzerland, and the USSR) during her junior year.

Turning to the 1960s, Mrs. Edelman discusses her work with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Mississippi and traces the origins of the Poor People’s Campaign to the aftermath of two events: the 1964 Freedom Summer Project and the challenge of the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She then discusses the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) and explains how the Poor People’s Campaign was conceived in response to widespread hunger caused by policies designed to crush the movement in Mississippi. Mrs. Edelman then discusses the Poor People’s Campaign itself. Mrs. Edelman concludes the interview by discussing the policy legacy of the Poor People’s Campaign and the ways she has continued to carry on the struggle through her work for the CDF.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: September 8, 2017
• Created by: National Museum of African American History and Culture, American, founded 2003
• Interview of: Marian Wright Edelman, American, born 1939
• Interviewed by: Kelly Elaine Navies, American
• Recorded by: Kim Moir, American
• Subject of: Poor People's Campaign, American, 1967 - 1968
• Subject of: Children's Defense Fund, American, founded 1973
• Subject of: Spelman College, American, founded 1881
• Subject of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 01:59:50
• Dimensions: 35.53 GB
• Place collected: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Bennettsville, Marlboro County, South Carolina, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Marks, Quitman County, Mississippi, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Humanitarianism
• Topic: Justice
• Topic: Labor
• Topic: Politics
• Topic: Poverty
• Object number: 2018.78.4.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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 and Culture Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.