The oral history consists of ten digital files: 2011.174.38.1a, 2011.174.38.1b, 2011.174.38.1c, 2011.174.38.1d, 2011.174.38.1e, 2011.174.38.1f, 2011.174.38.1g, 2011.174.38.1h, 2011.174.38.1i, and 2011.174.38.1j.
Priscilla Tietjen Bassett recalls growing up in Plainfield, New Jersey, and attending Smith College, and Emmett W. Bassett, Ph. D. remembers growing up in Henry County, Virginia, serving in World War II, and attending Tuskegee Institute, where he assisted George Washington Carver with research. They tell how they met at a protest of a segregated restaurant in Massachusetts, raising money for Emmett Till's mother, their involvement in many civil rights groups in New York, and attending the March on Washington. They also discuss Dr. Bassett’s career as a professor of dairy science, Mrs. Bassett's career as a librarian, and their struggles as an interracial married couple.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress