Description

Tom Dent interviews Robert Ford in Charleston, South Carolina. He talks about coming to Charleston in 1969 for the Hospital Workers Strike with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with James Orange. He stayed in the city to try to do organizing on his own. He talks about the founding of the Black Community Developers Program and how the program works. He was hired as a black community developer by Seminary United Methodist Church in Charleston. He talks about the lack of civil rights development in Charleston. He stayed because he thought he was needed and considers himself "still on the case." He was elected to City Council at age 21, opposing the annex of a white area into the district. Ford advocated for twelve single-member districts. He represents district 7, which is half black and half white. He explains how he became involved with SCLC while he was in New Orleans, through his involvement with SNCC in Grambling, Louisiana and Selma, Alabama. He participated in the Cicero Movement in Chicago and voter registration throughout the country. He helped organize the Midwestern caravan during the Poor People's Campaign in Detroit and was in Memphis during the Sanitation Workers Strike and King's assassination. He returned to Mississippi with Orange to organize, and then met him in Charleston to work on the Hospital Workers' Strike. He talks about the work he did with high school students during the strike. Ford had considered himself a moderate until he moved to Charleston, where he was...

From Collection

Southern Journey Oral History Collection

Record Contributed By

Amistad Research Center