Ruby Nell Sales Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The oral history consists of ten digital files: 2011.174.7.1a, 2011.174.7.1b, 2011.174.7.1c, 2011.174.7.1d, 2011.174.7.1e, 2011.174.7.1f, 2011.174.7.1g, 2011.174.7.1h, 2011.174.7.1i, and 2011.174.7.1j.

Ruby Sales discusses her father's military career, growing up in Columbus, Georgia, and attending the Tuskegee Institute. Her father was a Baptist minister and grew up in a racist and segregated society. Her grandmother was either born into slavery or right after it, and learned to read and write. She recalls joining the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Selma to Montgomery March, registering voters in Lowndes County, Alabama, and her arrest in Hayneville, Alabama. She remembers the murder of Jonathan Daniels, a seminary student who saved her life, and discusses her opinions on African American history and the current rate of African Americans in prison.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: April 25, 2011
• Created by: Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
• Interview of: Ruby Nell Sales, American, born 1948
• Interviewed by: Joseph Mosnier Ph. D.
• Subject of: Tuskegee Institute, American, founded 1881
• Subject of: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, American, 1960 - 1970s
• Subject of: Jonathan Myrick Daniels, American, 1939 - 1965
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 1 hr., 32 min., 9 sec.
• Dimensions: Total: 146.88 GB
• Place collected: Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Hayneville, Lowndes County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Baptist
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
• Topic: Justice
• Object number: 2011.174.7.1a-j
• 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.