Robert Flanagan oral history interview, January 9, 1989

Item — othertype: Oral History

Identifier: FlanaganR_19890109_P1988-18

Staff Only

Robert Flanagan oral history interview

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Scope and Contents

Interviewed by Cliff Kuhn and Duane Stewart. Among topics discussed: Early interest in civil rights; Bailey Theaters; Thomas J. Flanagan; the Mankin election; Atlanta Daily World; John Wesley Dobbs; Benjamin Mays; Abraham Lincoln Republicans; WWII veterans challenging segregation; black leadership in Atlanta; Ira Reid; civil rights activity during WWII; Georgia's NAACP; NAACP and the EEOC's efforts to gain blacks employment in Georgia industry; NAACP expansion; SCLC in Georgia; efforts to integrate Twiggs county police force; NAACP hierarchy; the Black Panthers, NAACP and the SCLC in Savannah; Black Panthers in Georgia; the SCLC after 1968; NAACP voter registration tactics; Frances Duncan; the NAACP and Georgia's Secretary of State; Vernon Jordan; legal action to open voter registration in 1983; Justice Department pressure on local registrars; legal action to redistrict Mitchell county; John McCown (Hancock County); Sheriff Dye (Warren County); Ed Brown; police intimidation of blacks attempting to vote; voter turnout; Joe Mack Wilson; redistricting; Grace Towns Hamilton; the 1992 elections; black officials in poor counties; the change in racial etiquette; political infighting in the Georgia NAACP; counties with significant changes in racial etiquette; opinions of the administrations of Lester Maddox, Jimmy Carter, George Busbee, and Joe Frank Harris; Charles McCant; Julian Bond case; Robert Benham, the Talmadge‑Mattingly election; black senators and the Speaker of the House; new voting strategies; watching an elderly black man vote for the first time; changes in racial etiquette.

Dates

Creation: January 9, 1989

Creator

Flanagan, Robert B., 1929- (Interviewee, Person)

Restrictions on Access

Oral history available for research.

Biographical Note

Robert Flanagan served as the executive director of the NAACP's Atlanta Branch, was the Georgia field director of the NAACP, was president of the Georgia state conference of NAACP Branches, and was on the NAACP national board of directors.