Edgar Cahn Oral History Interview

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

An oral history consisting of a single digital video recording (2018.78.3.1). It was collected as part of the Poor People’s Campaign Interviews. In this interview, Edgar Cahn, a lifelong social justice advocate, discusses his upbringing in New York City and education at Swarthmore College; his work providing legal services to the poor throughout the 1960s; the research and writing of report, Hunger USA; his involvement with the Poor People’s Campaign; and his continued social justice work since then. Cahn begins the interview by discussing his early life and the development of his relationship with his late wife, Jean Camper Cahn, whom he met at Swarthmore. Cahn then talks about attending Yale Law School and recalls how he and his wife began their careers providing legal services to the poor in New Haven, CT.

Explore Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture ↗