Charles “Chuck” McDew participated in the civil rights movement in many parts of the American South, including Mississippi. He was a pivotal movement activist in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In this interview, he begins by discussing segregated seating laws in the South versus elsewhere. He then describes the Greensboro sit-ins. He concludes by discussing his hopes for change in Mississippi. His interview is featured in the documentary The Children Shall Lead (link).
Chuck McDew from Winter Institute on Vimeo.
His oral history may also be viewed here.
Interview Data
Name of Interviewee: Chuck McDew
Name of Interviewer: Susan Glisson
Date: April 10, 2004
Place of Interview: Oxford, MS
| Time | Topics/Names/Events Discussed |
| 0:00-2:00 | Jim Crow |
| 2:00-4:00 | Plessy vs. Ferguson; Sumter, SC; arrest |
| 4:00-6:00 | Arrest; train travel |
| 6:00-8:00 | Segregation; language of segregation |
| 8:00-10:00 | Plessy vs. Ferguson |
| 10:00-12:00 | Taxes; equal facilities |
| 12:00-14:00 | University of Texas Law School; Mr. Sweet |
| 14:00-16:00 | Inequality in Southern schools; separate but equal |
| 16:00-18:00 | Nonviolent action |
| 18:00-20:00 | Brown vs. Board of Education; Montgomery Bus Boycott |
| 20:00-22:00 | Montgomery Bus Boycott |
| 22:00-24:00 | February 1, 1960 – beginning of sit-ins |
| 24:00-26:00 | Sit-ins; desegregating buses; Ohio |
| 26:00-28:00 | Segregated bus travel |
| 28:00-30:00 | Bus travel; Anniston, AL |
| 30:00-32:00 | Freedom Rides; SNCC |
| 32:00-34:00 | Freedom Rides; SNCC; violence |
| 34:00-36:00 | Mississippi |
| 36:00-38:00 | Sit-ins; wade-ins; Mississippi; desegregation |
| 38:00-40:00 | History of race relations in Mississippi |
| 40:00-42:00 | Mississippi; Ross Barnett; Ole Miss; SNCC in Mississippi |
| 42:00-44:00 | Atlanta; Mississippi; Pell City, AL; Jackson, MS; Ku Klux Klan sign in Mississippi |
| 44:00-46:00 | Racial conditions in Mississippi; Emmett Till; racial violence |
| 46:00-48:00 | “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” |
| 48:00-50:00 | Mortality; changes in Mississippi; McComb, MS; Chatawa, MS; Amite County, MS; fear |
| 50:00-52:00 | Dante’s Inferno; Amite County, MS; Freedom Rides in context of larger movement |
| 52:00-54:00 | Freedom Rides in context of larger movement; significance of Mississippi in movement; Christianity |
| 54:00-56:00 | Morality; humanness; change; ability of young people to make change |
| 56:00-58:00 | Change in Mississippi; courage |
| 58:00-60:00 | “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” |