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Rawlins Gilliland Oral History

Rawlins Gilliland Oral History

Object number2022.001.0086
Date12/05/2022
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject Rawlins Gilliland
Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)
DimensionsDuration: 74 Minutes
Collections
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Rawlins Gilliland. A National Endowment for the Arts master poet and longtime radio commentator, Gilliland was the son of political and civil rights activists in Dallas. He saw President and Mrs. Kennedy three times on November 22, 1963: at Dallas Love Field, on Lemmon Avenue and on Main Street less than ninety seconds before the assassination. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on December 5, 2022 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is one hour and fourteen minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
A Dallas arts legend, Rawlins Gilliland has led an extraordinary life, which he demonstrated during a series of 2014-2015 one-man autobiographical shows presented to sold-out audiences in Dallas and Oak Cliff. In addition to his work as a National Endowment for the Arts master poet, Gilliland was the longtime director of sales for Dallas retailer Neman Marcus as well as an on-air columnist for NPR, both nationally and on local affiliate station KERA. A 2015 spotlight about Gilliland in D Magazine may be accessed here: How Rawlins Gilliland Became Dallas' Forrest Gump - D Magazine. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator