/internal/media/dispatcher/75615/fullPatti Miller Oral History08/25/2022Duration: 124 MinutesBorn digital (.m4a file), Born digital (.mp4 file), Born digital (.vtt file)Oral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2022.001.00600Videotaped oral history interview with Patti Miller. As an Iowa college student in 1964, Miller volunteered for the Mississippi Freedom Summer project and attended the funeral of slain civil rights worker James Chaney in Meridian, Mississippi. In 1966, she joined the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during the Chicago Freedom Movement campaign.
Interview conducted via Zoom on August 25, 2022 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is two hours and four minutes long.
Oral Histories720190E-100E-1073402Oral history0E-10Videotaped oral history interview with Patti Miller. As an Iowa college student in 1964, Miller volunteered for the Mississippi Freedom Summer project and attended the funeral of slain civil rights worker James Chaney in Meridian, Mississippi. In 1966, she joined the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during the Chicago Freedom Movement campaign.
Interview conducted via Zoom on August 25, 2022 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is two hours and four minutes long.
InterviewsCivil rightsOral historiesVotingSegregationDesegregationRacismRace relationsKing, Martin Luther, Jr.Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceMeridianIowaChicagoCivil Rights and Social Activism (OHC)Dallas and 1960s History and Culture (OHC)In 2012, Patti Miller founded the Keeping History Alive Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that "provides stimulating educational programs and opportunities throughout the state of Iowa to keep the history of the Civil Rights Movement alive." As of 2025, Miller remains Executive Director of the foundation. More information on the Keeping History Alive Foundation may be found on their website: Keeping History Alive Foundation Civil Rights History.
In 2015, Miller produced and directed the Iowa PBS documentary, Iowans Return to Freedom Summer. The full film may be viewed on the University of Iowa Libraries website: Iowans Return to Freedom Summer, Patti Miller – @Iowa. - Stephen Fagin, Curator As of 2025, the Museum has been honored to record oral histories with more than twenty former civil rights activists affiliated with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in the 1960s. A rare 1964 SCLC "Handbook for Freedom Army Recruits," outlining the organization's code of discipline, objectives, rules for protesting and prison and other topics, may be accessed in the Julia Knecht Collection in the Museum's online collections database (1995.012.2399): Southern Christian Leadership Conference Handbook for Freedom Army Recruits – Search southern christian (Objects) – Search – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Stephen Fagin, Curator