William S. Leventhal Oral History Interview: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The oral history consists of eight digital files: 2011.174.82.1a, 2011.174.82.1b, 2011.174.82.1c, 2011.174.82.1d, 2011.174.82.1e, 2011.174.82.1f, 2011.174.82.1g, and 2011.174.82.1h.

Willy Siegel Leventhal discusses his childhood in California, his experiences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the 1960s, and his involvement in the Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project (SCOPE). Leventhal describes what it was like to be a Jewish child in a mostly Catholic community and how his childhood experiences informed his later activism and identity. Baseball was especially important to him, as he witnessed the first Jewish and African American ballplayers desegregate the Major Leagues. Leventhal became active in SCOPE during his first year at UCLA, after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited campus to recruit students. Leventhal describes the SCOPE training in Atlanta, and he shares his memories of living and working in Macon and Americus, Georgia.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: April 13, 2013
• Created by: Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
• Interview of: William S. Leventhal, American, born 1946
• Interviewed by: David P. Cline Ph. D., American, born 1969
• Subject of: University of California, Los Angeles, American, founded 1919
• Subject of: Summer Community Organization and Political Education, American, founded 1965
• Subject of: Major League Baseball, American, founded 1869
• Subject of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
• Type: video recordings
• Type: oral histories
• Type: digital media - born digital
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: Duration: 3 hr., 2 min., 18 sec.
• Dimensions: Total: 302.54 GB
• Place collected: El Segundo, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Americus, Sumter County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: American West
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Baseball
• Topic: Catholicism
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Object number: 2011.174.82.1a-h
• 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.