Faith and Social Action Oral History Project

Coming Soon

Featuring Dozens of Oral Histories, Including:

  • Dr. Linda Brown

    Dr. Linda Brown is an activist, author, and scholar of African American literature. While at Bennett College, she participated in the Greensboro, NC sit-in movement.

  • Charlotte Bunch

    Charlotte Bunch is a renowned feminist activist and scholar. She was also a leader in the student Christian movement, and was active in the civil rights and peace movements.

  • Ernesto Cortes

    Ernesto Cortes is a community organizer and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow. Raised Roman Catholic, he is best known for his work directing Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation.

  • Rev. Harvey Cox

    Harvey Cox is an influential Protestant theologian and author of The Secular City. He was active in the civil rights and peace movements, and was an influential member of CALCAV.

  • Rabbi Israel Dresner

    Rabbi Israel Dresner is known as “the most arrested rabbi in America.” He was a Freedom Rider, marched at Selma, and served on the Social Action Commission of Reform Judaism for decades.

  • Rev. Richard Fernandez

    Rev. Richard Fernandez is a UCC minister with expereiunce in campus ministry, as well as civil rights and peace activism. As Executive Director of CALCAV, he co-directed Vietnam Summer and played a key role in organizing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech at Riverside Church.

  • Liz McAlister

    Liz McAlister is a Catholic pacifist and former nun. She is best known as the co-founder of Jonah House, a member of the Harrisburg Seven, and for her involvement in Plowshares actions.

  • Rev. Finley Schaef

    Finley Schaef is a Methodist minister, who was involved in civil rights, peace, and feminist activism. He is best known as a founding member of the Clergy Consultation on Abortion, and for granting sanctuary to draft resisters during the Vietnam War.

  • Rabbi Arthur Waskow

    Rabbi Arthur Waskow is a prolific author and activist in the civil rights and peace movements. He is best known for authoring “The Freedom Seder” and for his call to resist the military draft during the Vietnam War. He is also a leader in the Jewish Renewal movement.

The Faith and Social Action Oral History Project will feature dozens of oral history interviews from religious activists and leaders who were at the forefront of social action in the mid-20th century United States. It focuses especially on clergy, women religious, and laypeople who were active in movements for racial justice, peace, and women's liberation.

Our project creates a public-facing repository of oral memoirs that complement the existing historical record, while shedding light on the intangible religious dimensions of social action.

Our website will launch in early 2022. Visitors will be able to browse our oral histories by social cause, religious tradition, and institutional affiliation. The transcript of each subject’s oral history will be accompanied by the audio of their interview and an online exhibit with photographs, news coverage, and links to additional resources.

Supported by the generous funding of:

Religion, Spirituality, and Democratic Renewal Fellowship of the Social Science Research Council

Class of 1957 Summer Research Program of Williams College