Robert Edison Oral History
Object number2018.001.0119
Date10/18/2018
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject
Robert Edison
Oral history interviewer
Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)
DimensionsDuration: 75 Minutes
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Robert Edison. A teacher and administrator with the Dallas Independent School District for more than forty years, Edison was a student in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1963. After moving to Dallas in 1971, he became locally active with the NAACP and the Juanita Crafts Civil Rights House.
Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, TX on October 18, 2018 by Curator Stephen Fagin and C. Dealey Campbell, representing the Juanita Craft Interpretative Planning Committee. The interview is 1 hour and 15 minutes long.
Curatorial CommentaryOn March 6, 1969, Edison was one of eighteen students arrested during a civil rights protest at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond, Oklahoma. At a reunion marking the fiftieth anniversary of the incident in March 2019, university president John deSteiguer publicly apologized for the treatment of these young activists. Edison was one of seven of the "OC 18" that returned to campus for this special event. The following year, in response to a student petition to offer a minor in African American history, Oklahoma Christian University invited Robert Edison to join the faculty. As of summer 2021, he remains the distinguished visiting professor of American Studies in Racial and Ethnic Diversity. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
