William S. Leventhal Oral History Interview
- Created by
- Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
- Interview of
- Leventhal, William S., American, born 1946
- Interviewed by
- Cline, David P. Ph. D., American, born 1969
- Subject of
- University of California, Los Angeles, American, founded 1919
- Summer Community Organization and Political Education, American, founded 1965
- Major League Baseball, American, founded 1869
- Dr. King, Martin Luther Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
- Date
- April 13, 2013
- Medium
- digital
- Dimensions
- Duration: 3 hr., 2 min., 18 sec.
- Total: 302.54 GB
- Description
- The oral history consists of eight digital files: 2011.174.82.1a, 2011.174.82.1b, 2011.174.82.1c, 2011.174.82.1d, 2011.174.82.1e, 2011.174.82.1f, 2011.174.82.1g, and 2011.174.82.1h.
- Willy Siegel Leventhal discusses his childhood in California, his experiences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the 1960s, and his involvement in the Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project (SCOPE). Leventhal describes what it was like to be a Jewish child in a mostly Catholic community and how his childhood experiences informed his later activism and identity. Baseball was especially important to him, as he witnessed the first Jewish and African American ballplayers desegregate the Major Leagues. Leventhal became active in SCOPE during his first year at UCLA, after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited campus to recruit students. Leventhal describes the SCOPE training in Atlanta, and he shares his memories of living and working in Macon and Americus, Georgia.
- LOC ID: afc2010039_crhp0082
- Place collected
- El Segundo, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
- Place depicted
- Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
- Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
- Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
- Americus, Sumter County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
- Collection title
- Civil Rights History Project
- Classification
- Media Arts-Film and Video
- Movement
- Civil Rights Movement
- Type
- video recordings
- oral histories
- digital media - born digital
- Topic
- Activism
- American South
- American West
- Associations and institutions
- Baseball
- Catholicism
- Civil rights
- Education
- Judaism
- Religion
- Social reform
- Sports
- U.S. History, 1961-1969
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
- Object number
- 2011.174.82.1a-h
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.