Document Type
Article
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Publication Date
Spring 2010
Keywords
Georgia McDonough, Farm life, Segregation in education, Pullman porters, Chicago Child Care Society, National Alliance Against Racism and Political Oppression, Joseph McCarthy, Shell Oil Company, Political prisoners, Ronald Reagan, Harold Washington, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Johannesburg (South Africa), Cape Town (South Africa), South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Norman Roth, Sam Gold, Molly Gold, Glaude Lightfoot, New York Communist Trial 1952-1953, Angela Davis
Disciplines
Political Science | Political Theory | Race and Ethnicity | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Work, Economy and Organizations
Abstract
Length: 73 minutes
Oral history interview of Josephine Wyatt by Suzanne Miller
In her interview, Ms. Wyatt recalls her childhood on her family’s farm in Georgia, her family’s church, and their community. She explains how she and her husband relocated to Chicago for work, where she started taking classes at the local colleges. She tells of how she began working for Chicago Child Care after her divorce, first as a secretary and then as an office manager. She recalls how she deeply identified with the struggles in Apartheid South Africa, after growing up in Jim Crow Georgia and witnessing the disparities in Chicago, which led to her involvement in the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression in the 1970s. She describes walking a picket line in front of the South African Consulate every week, trying to create awareness of their apartheid government, participating in the divestment efforts, circulating petitions against apartheid, and supports movements to free political prisoners. She touches on the elections of Reagan and Harold Washington, Mandela’s release from prison, and South Africa’s elections in 1994. She recalls her trip to South Africa where she heard first-hand stories of life under apartheid and her reaction to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She cites some influential people in her life, including Fr. Juan Reed and Prof. Norman Roth. She concludes by reflecting on what it means to be an activist and how her work has touched her life.
Recommended Citation
Miller, Suzanne. "Interview with Josephine Wyatt" (Spring 2010). Oral Histories, Chicago Anti-Apartheid Collection, College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago. http://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cadc_caam_oralhistories/19
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Political Theory Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons
Biography and Comments
Josephine Wyatt was born in 1921 in rural Georgia and relocated to Chicago in the 1940s, where she was an active member of the Communist Party until the 1980s. She was a member of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression since its founding and a chair of its Chicago chapter for thirteen years. She was deeply involved in the struggle for Black freedom and for the release of political prisoners in Chicago, the U.S., and abroad. Ms. Wyatt passed away at the age of 95 in 2017. Her legacy is honored with the Woods, Wyatt, and Durham Foundation that supports “organizations that do work to dismantle the white supremacy, classism, the cis-heteropatriarchy, ableism, and any and all other oppressive structures.”
The interviewer conducted this oral history as part of his/her coursework for the Spring 2010 class, Oral History: The Art of the Interview. This interview supports the scope and content of the Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement Collection at the College Archives & Special Collections department of Columbia College Chicago. Contact archives@colum.edu for more information and to view the collection.