Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

An oral history interview and conversation with Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. It consists of three versions of a digital video recording, two camera card files (2025.12.5.1.1 and 2025.12.5.1.2, .mxf files) and one edited file (2025.12.5.1.3, .mov file).

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was interviewed by Harvard University student Elyse Martin-Smith on July 21, 2023, as part of the Social Justice Conversations Oral History Project. The interview took place at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. At the time of the interview, Congresswoman Holmes Norton was 86 years old.

This oral history interview with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton consists of two distinct sections: an “interview” section (part 1) and a “conversation” section (part 2, 00:39:49). In part 1, Congresswoman Holmes Norton discusses her upbringing in Washington, DC, and the city’s racial segregation. She describes her great grandfather’s escape from slavery and his journey to DC, her early desire to attend college, and learning of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. She reflects on her activist efforts, her experiences attending integrated higher education, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) use of nonviolence. She discusses her involvement with the March on Washington, key cases from her career as a lawyer, and her desire to see the District of Columbia become a state. In part 2, Martin-Smith introduces herself, her studies, and her current political activism, and she and the Congresswoman discuss Affirmative Action. Congresswoman Holmes Norton discusses being on “both ends” of direct action over the course of her career, reflecting on how her experience as an “outsider” informs her time as a congresswoman. Martin-Smith and Congresswoman Holmes Norton discuss racial violence, digital technologies as tools for social justice activism, and the evolution of social movements in the virtual space.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: July 21, 2023
• Created by: National Museum of African American History and Culture, American, founded 2003
• Recorded by: Trudy Hutcherson, American
• Recorded by: Candace Dane Chambers, American
• Interviewed by: Elyse Martin-Smith
• Interview of: Eleanor Holmes Norton, American, born 1937
• Subject of: Dunbar High School, American, founded 1870
• Subject of: Board of Education of Topeka, American
• Subject of: Oliver L. Brown, American, 1918 - 1961
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration (2025.12.5.1.3, edited): 1 hr., 5 min., 1 sec.
• Dimensions: File size: 103 GB
• Place filmed: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Place captured: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Education
• Topic: Emancipation
• Topic: Families
• Topic: HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
• Object number: 2025.12.5.1
• 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.