Verda Welcome, 1976 July 8
Abstract
Verda Mae Freeman Welcome (1907-1990) was a public school teacher, civil rights activist, and one of the first Black women to be elected to a state Senate in the United States. In 1929 Welcome moved to Baltimore, Maryland, from North Carolina, and from 1934 to 1945 she taught in the Baltimore City public school system. She received a bachelor's degree in history from Morgan State College in 1939 and in 1943 she completed a master's degree in history at New York University. In 1962 Welcome was elected to the Maryland State Senate and she worked to pass legislation which discouraged racial discrimination. In this oral history interview, Welcome primarily discusses the direction of the civil rights movement in Maryland under Lillie May Carroll Jackson. Other topics of discussion include picketing for integration at the Gwynn Oak Amusement Park, factions in the Black community, and the relationship between the Black and Jewish populations in Baltimore.
Dates
- 1976 July 8
Creator
- Welcome, Verda F., 1907-1990 (Narrator, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
Extent
95 Minutes (Audio recording)
37 Pages (Transcript)
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Processing Information
There are an additional 6 pages of supplementary material (biographical data, tape index, and interview evaluation) included after the transcript.
Scope and Contents
This collection is comprised of 87 oral history interviews and 4 other related items. Materials available for the interviews include audio recordings, transcripts, tape indexes, newspaper clippings, biographical information, and interview evaluations. Each item record indicates whether a complete transcript or an uncorrected transcript is available for an oral history.
All recordings within the collection are digitized and continue to be added to MCHC's Digital Collections portal.
Interviews were conducted from 1975-1977, with some earlier recordings made prior to the project added to the collection. Narrators range from leaders in the Maryland civil rights movement and local activists, to people opposed to the movement. Narrators include Lillie May Carroll Jackson’s children: Juanita Jackson Mitchell, Virginia Jackson Kiah, and Bowen Keiffer Jackson; Parren Mitchell, U.S. Congressman, 1971-1987; Donald G. Murray, the first African American admitted to the University of Maryland Law School; Verda Welcome, one of the first Black women to be elected to a state Senate; Thomas J. D’Alesandro III, mayor of Baltimore, 1967-1971; Clarence Mitchell, Jr., chief lobbyist to the NAACP; Vernon Naimaster, Great Titan of the Maryland Ku Klux Klan; and Dr. J.E.T. Camper, a prominent physician who also devoted his career to seeking racial justice and equality.
In addition to these oral history interviews, there are four items related to the project that are included with the collection. There is an audio recording of a radio program on which narrators David Glenn and Judge Robert Watts appeared to discuss the McKeldin-Jackson project with host Alan Christian. There is an audio recording as well as textual materials from the colloquium and exhibition held at the Maryland Historical Society to commemorate the McKeldin-Jackson project on November 16, 1976. There is also a research paper written by a Goucher College student on Theodore R. McKeldin and the civil rights movement in Maryland and a binder containing information on the development and progress of the McKeldin-Jackson project.
Creator
- Welcome, Verda F., 1907-1990 (Narrator, Person)
- Paul, Ellen, 1955- (Interviewer, Person)
Repository Details
Part of the H. Furlong Baldwin Library Repository
H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore MD 21201 United States
4106853750
specialcollections@mdhistory.org