/internal/media/dispatcher/75446/fullCarolyn Dennis Oral History06/23/2008Duration: 44 MinutesBorn digital (.m2ts file)Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2008.001.00490Videotaped oral history interview with Carolyn Dennis. After graduating college in 1960, Dennis became a civil rights and peace movement activist. She attended the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
Interview recorded at Grace Presbyterian Village retirement community in Oak Cliff on June 23, 2008 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is forty-four minutes long.Oral Histories719150E-100E-1026467Oral history0E-10Videotaped oral history interview with Carolyn Dennis. After graduating college in 1960, Dennis became a civil rights and peace movement activist. She attended the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
Interview recorded at Grace Presbyterian Village retirement community in Oak Cliff on June 23, 2008 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is forty-four minutes long.Civil rightsSegregationVotingMarch on Washington1960 presidential electionPeaceVietnamDesegregationProtestsYouthRacismRace relations1960sOral historiesKing, Martin Luther, Jr.Kennedy, John F.Dennis, CarolynDallas and 1960s History and Culture (OHC)Vietnam (OHC)1960 Campaign (OHC)Civil Rights and Social Activism (OHC)Carolyn J. Dennis was one of six residents at Grace Presbyterian Village retirement community in Oak Cliff (located approximately four miles from the Texas Theatre) who recorded oral histories during a two-part outreach visit in 2008.
As of 2025, Carolyn is one of twenty oral history subjects who attended the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. However, her story may be the most unusual. As described in this interview, she took a lengthy multi-day bus trip from Mexico to Dallas to New York City to Washington, D.C. The last leg of her trip, from NYC to DC, was aboard a decommissioned school bus (that left New York at 5:30AM), sitting on a seat with a loose spring. Once she finally arrived at the march, after all of her efforts, she promptly fell asleep in "this nice shady spot" and woke up to cheering at the conclusion of Dr. King's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. Laughing, she recalled, "I didn't realize the full impact of what I had missed." - Stephen Fagin, Curator