First Person Twentieth-century history as told by people who lived it and made it
“I am concerned to strive for a coherent, integrated life…”
Even as a teenager Juanita Nelson followed her convictions. She remembers being 16 years old and traveling to Georgia on a segregated train. She protested by taking a seat in each car that was reserved for white people. As a result of this decision and others like it, Juanita is considered a pioneering civil rights activist. More accurately, she has pursued a life-long commitment to her belief in nonviolence. Throughout her life, this promise has guided her choices. She and life-partner Wally Nelson actively participated in organizations dedicated to peace and equality. They became war tax resisters. They traveled south to live in an intentional Christian community. Eventually, they became homesteaders with self-sufficiency as their goal. Juanita explains that “by simplifying my needs and by living more nearly within the bounds of my own productivity, I hope to reduce my exploitation of the earth and its inhabitants.” Learn more about Juanita Nelson's life and listen to her entire interview.
Photo of Juanita courtesy of American Friends Service Committee - Western Massachusetts Online Calendar
Juanita Nelson's Stories
A Quest for Civil Rights
Retired Amherst College physics professor Robert Romer remembers how he joined a dedication to teaching young people about science with a quest to transform hearts and to change minds. His journeys brought him from a laboratory on Long Island to the March on Washington, a 1963 civil rights demonstration at the nation's capitol. He moved his family to rural South Carolina so that he could teach at an all black college. Back in Western Massachusetts, he speaks of participating in Vietnam era anti-war protests at Westover Air Force Base. He concludes that despite the optimism of the civil rights demonstrators who gathered in Washington on August 28, 1963, the promise of that day has not been realized in the United States. Learn more about Robert Romer's life and listen to his entire interview.
Robert Romer's Stories
Resources for further learning about the topics and events discussed in these oral histories
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