Phillip McKenna Oral History
Object number2022.001.0015
Date03/22/2022
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject
Phillip McKenna
Oral history interviewer
Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumBorn digital (.m4a file), Born digital (.mp4 file), Born digital (.vtt file)
DimensionsDuration: 57 Minutes
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Phillip McKenna. McKenna became an early anti-Vietnam War activist in 1964. While attending the University of California, Santa Barbara, he spent the summer of 1965 participating in the Summer Community Organizing and Political Education (SCOPE) project of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Interview conducted over Zoom on March 22, 2022 by Curator Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-seven minutes long.
Curatorial CommentaryThe Summer Community Organizing and Political Education (SCOPE) project of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was an ambitious undertaking in the summer of 1965 in preparation of passage of the Voting Rights Act in August 1965. Hundreds of predominantly white college students were recruited to travel to six southern states to coordinate with community groups, promote voter registration, and document voter suppression. An extensive digitized collection of primary source materials, including orientation brochures, reading lists and press materials may be found here: Civil Rights Movement -- SCLC/SCOPE Project (crmvet.org). The Museum has been honored to record oral histories with several activists who took part in the 1965 SCOPE project. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
