Laura Jones 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 (2018.78.6.1). It was collected as part of the Poor People’s Campaign Interviews. In this interview, Laura Jones, a photographer and social activist, discusses her photography of the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968. Beginning with a discussion of her early life in Fairmont, Virginia, and later Columbus, Ohio, and Celo, North Carolina, Jones reflects on the experiences that opened her eyes to injustice and influenced her toward social activism. In particular, she recounts how she became heavily influenced by Quaker values. Jones then recalls how she met her husband, John Phillips, while attending Friends World College in Long Island, NY, and discusses why they moved to Toronto in September 1967. Jones then discusses how she came to be involved with the Poor People’s Campaign and her experience of the movement as a young woman photographer.

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