Items

• Oral History: Browne, Joseph, 1991

  Joseph Browne founded the Black Organization of Students (BOS) together with Richard Roper. Browne grew up in Newark and attended white Catholic schools prior to coming to the university. He had left Rutgers for a time to join VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) and participated in the Newark City Council election of 1968.
• Oral History: Sanks King, Vivian, 1991

  Vivian Sanks King was a member of the NAACP while enrolled at Rutgers-Newark, but migrated toward the more militant Black Organization of Students (BOS), and became an active leader. She graduated in 1970 with a political science degree from the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers-Newark, and in 1985 completed her law degree at Seton Hall Law School. She served as General Counsel for the University Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) before going into private practice and has received numerous awards and honors for her dedicated service in law and policy. She presently serves on the Boards of Leadership Newark, New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey, New Jersey Women and AIDS Network, the Garden State Bar Association, and is past chair of the Community Health Law Project.
• Oral History: Shuford, Deborah, 2018

  Deborah Shuford was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1959. Her parents grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, before moving to Newark. For most of her childhood, her family lived in the Weequahic section. Deborah attended Chancellor Elementary School and Arts High School in Newark. During one summer in high school, Deborah attended the Technical Enrichment Program at Stevens Tech in Hoboken. From 1977 to 1981, Deborah went to Douglass College. She began as an engineering major and switched to journalism and English literature. Deborah earned her bachelor's degree in the Douglass College Class of 1981. Deborah worked for many years in the communications field. She interned at WOR-AM talk radio. She worked at ABC Radio and Television Network and then at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). In 2001, Deborah began studying for her master's degree at American University. After earning her master's in film in 2003, Deborah worked as a professor at institutions of higher education, including McDaniel College, Howard University and Rutgers University, where she developed a variety of courses in film studies and African American studies. She also worked as a producer, writer and documentary filmmaker. In addition to being an active alumna at Rutgers-New Brunswick, Deborah has volunteered at the New Jersey Tree Foundation and as a career coach at New Start. In the first interview session, recorded on June 8, 2018, Deborah discusses her family's history in Lowndes County, Alabama, notably her grandmother's involvement in the voter registration efforts spurred on by Stokely Carmichael and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the summer of 1965. In discussing her childhood, Deborah talks about her family, siblings, parents' careers, traveling, education and neighborhoods in Newark. In the second interview, Deborah talks about the military service of her family members. She traces her family's roots in Alabama and her parents' migration to New Jersey. Growing up in the Weequahic section of Newark, she compares and contrasts the city before and after the Newark rebellion of 1967. In the third interview session, Deborah discusses her experiences during high school at Arts High in Newark. In 1977, she began attending Douglass College as an engineering major. She switched to journalism and recalls memorable professors Roger Cohen in journalism and Cheryl Wall in English. She describes student life and traditions at Douglass and the impact that Dean Jewel Plummer Cobb had upon her, as well as the college.
• Oral History: Snell, Harrison, 1991

  Harrison Snell grew up in Newark and graduated from Rutgers-Newark in 1970. He received his law degree from Rutgers-Newark School of Law in 1973, and has practiced law for many years as a member of the State Bar Associations of New Jersey, New York, and Washington, DC. While at Rutgers-Newark, he served as president of the Black Organization of Students (BOS) and played an integral part in the planning and negotiation of the 1969 takeover of Conklin Hall and related events.