Bridges Digital Archive: Audio and Video Recordings

Loading...

Media is loading
 

Document Type

Oral History

Abstract

Jennifer Tilton interviewed Cheryl Brown and Hardy Brown, a couple with tremendous impact in San Bernardino and the Inland Empire. The recording begins with memories of the Civil Rights Movement, where Cheryl recounts watching people being attacked by dogs and sprayed with water hoses. She then spoke on protesting in San Bernardino, particularly about young people doing so in front of the old Woolworths store. There was also protesting the treatment of students in San Bernardino High School, where Cheryl also recounts being discriminated against for her ethnicity and gender. On the topic of political activism, The John F. Kennedy campaign was a large factor in getting young people to vote as well as teachers Bob Minnick. The couple also speak on the Johnson Hall and of Miss Shirelles, leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, religious leaders, and notable figures in the Congress of Racial Equality. Regarding CORE, it was considered more radical than the NAACP. The latter organization fought for equal housing and for school integration. The couple talks about the struggle for equal employment as housing and education remain areas of struggle. The local activist scene grew thanks to the help of local leaders, meetings in churches, planned boycotts, and the creation of the Black Fathers Organization. Afterward, the interview moves on to recounting the Freedom Schools and the couple cooperating as much as they could with Frances Grice and Valerie Pope. The organization of welfare mothers was discussed and how they moved towards a more direct way of opposition. Business was also discussed, particularly how the Bank of American and Safeway building on west San Bernardino helped with Black employment. Cheryl went over the salt and pepper groups, which were organized by a sociology class from the University of California, Riverside. There, people from the White, Black, and Latino groups could interact and learn from one another and help with local issues. Another point of discussion was the creation of the freeway, which severed people from Route 66. This then led to a lack of business and an increase in discrimination of the Black-populated community there. There is also the fear created by the McCarthyism political belief toward activism and communism. Further conversation on Civil Rights figures followed and topics like being banned from joining high school clubs are brought up. There had also been an A. Philip Randolph chapter in San Bernardino in the 1970s had been created to confront the labor council. Tilton asks about the Black and Mexican alliances in the 1960s, where much of it was centered within local education and resulted in the El Chicano newspaper. The disturbing story of Hardy being looked for by a Ku Klux Klan member after the former had been civilized to the latter is explained. There was worry that Hardy could have been hurt, but fortunately, it never occurred. After talking about how history seems to never change and racist violence remains, the interview ends with past fears of racism returning in the Black community. Cheryl also closes the recording by talking about the coalitions in San Bernardino that continue to lack Black employees.

Download Transcript

Share

COinS