Mary Greene Oral History

Object number2006.001.0014

Date03/09/2006

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Mary Greene

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumHi-8 videotape

DimensionsDuration: 107 Minutes

Terms

Collections

DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Mary Greene. A longtime champion for civil rights, Greene worked for the Urban League of Greater Dallas and campaigned for local school desegregation. She was also politically active and served as a Kennedy campaign volunteer in 1960. In 1969, Greene joined the Children's Television Workshop and was involved in the early days of Sesame Street. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on March 9, 2006 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is one hour and forty-seven minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Mary Greene dedicated her life to education, civil rights and social justice. She worked closely with Dallas civil rights legend Juanita Craft and led a downtown march for voting rights in 1965. In addition to her employment as educational director for the Urban League of Greater Dallas, she worked in the 1960s with the local chapters of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union. Greene closed out the decade by joining the Children's Television Workshop as the southwest representative for Sesame Street. After ten years, she left children's television to become the director of special events for the White House Conference for Children and Youth (1979) during the Carter administration. Although she retired in 1990, Greene remained active in Dallas community affairs, serving on numerous boards for arts and education groups. She passed away on October 28, 2015. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator