The oral history consists of four digital files: 2011.174.107.1a, 2011.174.107.1b, 2011.174.107.1c, and 2011.174.107.1d.
The Reverend Doctor Harry Blake discusses his childhood on a plantation in Louisiana in the 1930s and 1940s and how he became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Shreveport, Louisiana. Blake joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1960 after he heard Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., give a speech at Bishop College in Texas, where he was a student. Blake discusses his pastorate at Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Shreveport, how he came to develop a good relationship with local politicians, and the work he continues to do within the context of the civil rights struggle.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress