Rosie Head Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The oral history consists of seven digital files: 2011.174.74.1a, 2011.174.74.1b, 2011.174.74.1c, 2011.174.74.1d, 2011.174.74.1e, 2011.174.74.1f, and 2011.174.74.1g.

Rosie Head describes her early life in Greenwood, Mississippi, where her family lived and worked on a plantation. She discusses how her parents faced racial discrimination in their work and how they were cheated by the plantation owner and then blacklisted. In 1964, Head joined the Civil Rights Movement in Tchula, Mississippi, where her family had relocated. Head recounts the various ways she was involved in the movement: registering voters, working with Freedom Summer volunteers, helping to establish the Child Development Group of Mississippi, and campaigning for black candidates for political office.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: March 13, 2013
• Created by: Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
• Interview of: Rosie M. Head, American
• Interviewed by: John Dittmer Ph. D., American, born 1939
• Subject of: Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, American, founded 1964
• Subject of: Child Development Group of Mississippi, American, founded 1965
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 1 hr., 18 min., 74 sec.
• Dimensions: Total: 124.42 GB
• Place collected: Tchula, Holmes County, Mississippi, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Greenwood, Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Labor
• Topic: Politics
• Object number: 2011.174.74.1a-g
• 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.