/internal/media/dispatcher/72425/fullGail Smith Oral History09/10/2008Duration: 70 MinutesBorn digital (.m2ts file)Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2008.001.00700Videotaped oral history interview with Gail Smith. Smith lived in Washington, D.C. at the time of the Kennedy assassination and moved to Dallas the following year, against the advice of friends. She became locally engaged in the women's rights movement and remained active throughout the 1970s.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on September 10, 2008 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is one hour and ten minutes long.Oral Histories649170E-100E-1026497Oral history0E-10Videotaped oral history interview with Gail Smith. Smith lived in Washington, D.C. at the time of the Kennedy assassination and moved to Dallas the following year, against the advice of friends. She became locally engaged in the women's rights movement and remained active throughout the 1970s.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on September 10, 2008 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is one hour and ten minutes long.Women's rightsCivil rightsOral historiesSmith, GailDallasCivil Rights and Social Activism (OHC)Dallas and 1960s History and Culture (OHC)Alongside local women's rights activist Frances McElvaney, who also recorded an oral history in 2008, Gail Smith co-founded a controversial education program for young women called "Explore" that was taught at Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas. According to a 1987 profile in D Magazine, "Explore" was designed "to help women determine who they were, what they wanted to do with their lives, and how to do it." In that article, Smith explained that, after moving to Dallas in 1964, she "spent her time looking after two small children, teaching Sunday school, doing artsy-craftsy things, and wondering why she was depressed." Her work with the "Explore" program ultimately inspired her to pursue a master's degree. For many years, Smith worked with the Dallas Independent School District. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator