The Rev. Dr. Harry Blake Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The oral history consists of four digital files: 2011.174.107.1a, 2011.174.107.1b, 2011.174.107.1c, and 2011.174.107.1d.

The Reverend Doctor Harry Blake discusses his childhood on a plantation in Louisiana in the 1930s and 1940s and how he became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Shreveport, Louisiana. Blake joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1960 after he heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., give a speech at Bishop College in Texas, where he was a student. Blake discusses his pastorate at Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Shreveport, how he came to develop a good relationship with local politicians, and the work he continues to do within the context of the civil rights struggle.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: October 3, 2013
• Created by: Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
• Interview of: Reverend Doctor Harry Blake, American, born 1934
• Interviewed by: David P. Cline Ph. D., American, born 1969
• Subject of: Southern Christian Leadership Conference, American, founded 1957
• Subject of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
• Subject of: Bishop College, American, 1881 - 1988
• Subject of: Mount Canaan Baptist Church, American, founded 1894
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 1 hr., 10 min., 22 sec.
• Dimensions: Total: 117.24 MB
• Place collected: Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Baptist
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Education
• Object number: 2011.174.107.1a-d
• 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.