Oliver W. Hill, Jr. Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The oral history consists of five digital files: 2011.174.102.1a, 2011.174.102.1b, 2011.174.102.1c, 2011.174.102.1d, and 2011.174.102.1e.

Oliver W. Hill, Jr., Ph.D. discusses his father, civil rights lawyer Oliver Hill. He explains his father's childhood and education in Roanoke, Virginia, how he ended up at Howard University in the 1920s, where he was in the same class as Justice Thurgood Marshall and studied law under Charles Hamilton Houston. In the 1930s Oliver Hill, Sr. reunited with both of them to work for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which was focused on challenging segregation laws. Hill, Jr. describes his own experience as a black student integrating a white school in Richmond, Virginia, attending Howard University, becoming a psychology professor at Virginia State University, and working with Bob Moses on the Algebra Project. He also discusses the education of African American children, school reform, and student testing.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: August 17, 2013
• Created by: Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
• Interview of: Dr. Oliver White Hill Jr., American, born 1949
• Interviewed by: David P. Cline Ph. D., American, born 1969
• Subject of: Oliver White Hill Sr., American, 1907 - 2007
• Subject of: Howard University, American, founded 1867
• Subject of: Thurgood Marshall, American, 1908 - 1993
• Subject of: Charles Hamilton Houston, American, 1895 - 1951
• Subject of: NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., American, founded 1940
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 1 hr., 13 min., 30 sec.
• Dimensions: Total: 118.04 GB
• Place collected: Petersburg, Virginia, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Roanoke, Virginia, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Richmond, Virginia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Education
• Topic: HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
• Object number: 2011.174.102.1a-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.