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"Straight Talk With Audrey Finkelstein" civil rights radio series audio cassettes, 1997.
Amount:
7.00 audio tapes 7.00 compact disks
Medium Included:
audiotapes
Organization/Arrangement:
Chronological.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Compact discs are first use.
Biographical/Historical:
In 1997, public radio stations around the United States aired "Will the Circle be Unbroken?" a nationally syndicated series about the American civil rights movement. To complement this series, radio host Audrey Finkelstein developed a companion six-part series about South Florida's struggle for desegregation for her weekly half-hour interview program, "Straight Talk with Audrey Finkelstein," on WLRN, a South Florida public radio station. The WLRN series aired May 1 - June 5, 1997, with the addition of a seventh broadcast on June 12, bringing listeners up to date on the situation.
Audrey Rothenberg Finkelstein was born in Chicago on January 4, 1916, to John Rothenberg and Sadie Kooden. She married Charles H. Finkelstein and had two children, Evie and Jay. Audrey graduated from the University of Miami in 1938, and along with her career at WLRN, was very involved with the UM Alumni Association and served as President of the Girl Scout Council of Tropical Florida, Inc. Audrey passed away in December 2010.
Summary:
This collection comprises seven audio cassette tapes of Audrey Finkelstein's WLRN public radio broadcasts concerning the civil rights movement. The broadcasts feature conversations with some of the individuals who took part in South Florida's struggle for racial integration.
"Forming the Circle," airing May 1, 1997, focused on the formation of the Miami chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Local activists aimed to desegregate public schools and public accommodations, such as department store lunch counters. Discussants were Dr. John O. Brown, CORE Project Director and a parent of Black children in a segregated white school, and Senator Jack Gordon, a white desegregation activist.
"Extending and Putting Teeth in the Circle," airing May 8, 1997, focused on efforts to extend desegregation through legal challenges. Discussants were A. D. Moore, who was the second president of Miami CORE and its National Treasurer; Howard Dixon, CORE's Director of Legal Services, who represented Florida A&M University and its student protestors; and Shirley Zoloth, who walked with a Black child to a segregated school.
"Circle Within a Circle," airing May 15, 1997, focused on daily life experiences of Black people in a segregated, discriminatory society. Discussants were Thelma Gibson, a registered nurse, and Eugenia Thomas, a community participant and first Black president of the Florida P.T.A.
"The Outside Inside Circle," airing May 22, 1997, focused on early attempts to desegregate the schools, with discussants Ruth Admire, Janet McAliley, and Gloria Simmons, Black parents who relate the experiences of their children and themselves in the early days of school desegregation.
"The Efforts to be Encircled," airing May 29, 1997, focused on the challenges faced by the first Black students to enter Edison Middle School, a white school. Discussants were three of those students: Bland Colyer, Gala Brown Munnings, and Diana Dyes Paschal.
"The Circle - A Necklace or a Nuisance?" airing June 5, 1997, continued the focus on desegregation of public schools. Discussants were individuals who experienced first-hand the effects of early desegregation efforts: attorney Daryl Payne, a white elementary school student in a predominantly Black school; Judge Leah Simms, the only Black student in Robert E. Lee Junior High School for two years; and attorney Detra Shaw, a Black student who was bussed to desegregated schools.
The seventh part of the series, an "epilogue" aired on June 12, 1997, focused on the ongoing situation in Miami, a city many considered to be one of the most highly segregated in the country. Discussants were Dr. Gordon Foster, retired head of the Desegregation Center, Southern District, who discussed the status of racial integration in the schools; and Harriet Simmons, Programs Head of HOPE (Housing Opportunities Projects for Excellence), who discussed housing and neighborhood experiences and discrimination.
Finding Aids:
Item listing available. 0
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Originals (master tapes) held by WLRN Public Radio, Miami, Florida.
Associated Materials:
For additional interviews from "Straight Talk with Audrey Finkelstein," see M92-12, interview with Roxcy Bolton; For more on Audrey, see M98-5, Dr. Patricia Clements oral histories, and N2000-25, Coral Gables oral histories.
for detailed listing.