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Museum object · Time-based Media - Moving Images

The Presidency and Civil Rights: A Personal Memoir

1970s

Smithsonian NMAAHC collection

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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.

A CBS program produced by Bergen Community College with the title The Presidency and Civil Rights: A Personal Memoir. It consists of a white DVD (a) and a paper program (b). The white DVD (a) has the program title, date, and college logo printed on it and the program is part of a nationally televised series called The American Presidency: The Men and the Office and features former president of the NAACP Roy Wilkins chronologically discussing the consequences of various presidencies on the lives of African Americans. It opens with Wilkins describing the importance of the "American Dream" to African Americans and how some state-sanctioned institutions such as slavery and the Supreme Court have historically imposed racial inferiority on them. Through a combiniation of narration by Wilkins as well as archival imagery and audio, the program touches on the impact of numerous presidents and African American activists such as Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin D.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2022.90.4.1ab

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