Guide to African American reference
Guide to Afro-Caribbean reference
Jul 1, 2009
Press Release
(Source: MEDIA CONTACT: Susan Hagen <susan.hagen@rochester.edu>,
585.276.4061)
By any measure, the race riots of 1964 were a turning point in the history of
Rochester. The three nights of rioting left four people dead, 350 injured, and
more than 800 arrested. But those disturbing July days also broke through the
community's complacency toward racial discrimination that had fomented such
civil unrest. In the aftermath of the riots, Rochester became the birthplace of
several civil rights strategies that would later serve as models across the nation.
To capture this critical chapter in civil rights history, the University's
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
<http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=169> has launched the
Rochester Black Freedom Struggle Oral History Project. The library has
recorded and will soon make available online interviews with more than 20 key
players from Rochester's fight against racial discrimination during the 1960s
and 1970s.
When completed in the coming months, the project's Web site
<http://www.library.rochester.edu/rochesterblackfreedom> will offer text,
audio, and video files of these conversations. In these interviews, civil rights
activists relive the emotions and events surrounding those tumultuous years and
provide a rich perspective on the city's response to one of its darkest hours.
For additional information about the
Rochester Black Freedom Struggle Oral
History Project contact Richard Peek, <mailto:rpeek@library.rochester.edu> or
phone 275-4477.
University LibraryFor comments on this page contact: African American Research Center
Last modified by: Thomas Weissinger on 7/1/09