The oral history consists of ten digital files: 2011.174.100.1a, 2011.174.100.1b, 2011.174.100.1c, 2011.174.100.1d, 2011.174.100.1e, 2011.174.100.1f, 2011.174.100.1g, 2011.174.100.1h, 2011.174.100.1i, and 2011.174.100.1j.
Jean and John Rosenberg, J. D. begin this interview with recollections of their families' backgrounds. Jean learned about social issues as she was raised by a Quaker family in Pennsylvania, and John's family fled Germany under threat from the Nazis. Jean attended Wilmington College and became a research analyst for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. John grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina, where FBI agents kept tabs on his family, attended Duke University, served in the Air Force, and attended the University of North Carolina School of Law. He became an attorney with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, which became effective after reorganization by John Doar. Much of this interview concerns Jean and John's work with the Civil Rights Division, including support for voter registration efforts in Georgia and Alabama, the investigation of the Hartman Turnbow case, in which a black activist was arrested for an arson attempt on his own home, and an effort to address a murder in Mississippi. John also addresses the effects of the Voting Rights Act in the South, the role of the lawyers in the Civil Rights Division in relation to the FBI and local law enforcement, and a variety of other cases and issues he dealt with. After retirement, the Rosenbergs founded the Appalachian Citizens Law Center.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress