Mildred Pitts Walter Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The oral history consists of five digital files: 2011.174.59.1a, 2011.174.59.1b, 2011.174.59.1c, 2011.174.59.1d, and 2011.174.59.1e.

Mildred Pitts Walter discusses her early life in Louisiana, attending Southern University, and moving to Los Angeles in 1944. Pitts recalls meeting Earl Walter whom she married two years later, her work with Earl who headed the Los Angeles chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) from 1951 to 1963, CORE pickets of housing developers in Los Angeles, and her work as a clerk in the LA school district while getting her teaching credentials. She also discusses her career writing over 20 books for children, her work with a national association of nurses to develop culturally sensitive training, marching in the Soviet Union for peace, her ideas about civil rights and human rights.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: March 1, 2013
• Created by: Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
• Interview of: Mildred Pitts Walter, born 1922
• Interviewed by: David P. Cline Ph. D., American, born 1969
• Subject of: Southern University and A&M College, American, founded 1880
• Subject of: Earl Walter, American, died 1965
• Subject of: Congress of Racial Equality, American, founded 1942
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 1 hr., 31 min., 20 sec.
• Dimensions: Total: 139.89 GB
• Place collected: San Mateo, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Louisiana, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Los Angeles, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Soviet Union, Europe
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: American West
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Education
• Object number: 2011.174.59.1a-e
• 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.