Melvin Caswell interview recording, 1994 July 01

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Stacey Scales	Okay. I could just first ask you where are you from and how long have you lived in Birmingham and your name, I'm sorry.	0:02
Melvin Caswell	I'm Melvin Caswell. I was born in Birmingham, born in 1914. I'm maybe 80 years old now.	0:14
Stacey Scales	Okay. So you were born in 1914? Do you remember your grandparents?	0:16
Melvin Caswell	Do I remember my—?	0:28
Stacey Scales	Your grandparents?	0:28
Melvin Caswell	I remember my grand— yeah, my grandfather and my grandmother.	0:37
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah. Did they ever have any stories they would tell you about slavery?	0:41
Melvin Caswell	No, they weren't slaves.	0:48
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. Did they ever talk to you about hard times or working?	0:54
Melvin Caswell	Well, it was no need because we were having hard times then.	1:00
Stacey Scales	Oh, yeah. So what did they do? What type of work did they do?	1:09
Melvin Caswell	Well, my grandfather was a truck driver in Nashville for the church bookstore. And my grandmother was just common labor.	1:11
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah. Okay. What about your parents?	1:39
Melvin Caswell	My mother was a teacher, and my daddy was a tailor.	1:39
Stacey Scales	Oh really? He in Birmingham?	1:49
Melvin Caswell	Birmingham.	1:50
Stacey Scales	Did he own his own business?	1:52
Melvin Caswell	He owned the building on Fourth Avenue.	1:53
Stacey Scales	What was his name?	1:56
Melvin Caswell	Isaac.	1:56
Stacey Scales	Isaac?	1:56
Melvin Caswell	Isaac Caswell.	1:56
Stacey Scales	And what was the name of the business?	2:02
Melvin Caswell	It was a tailoring shop.	2:03
Stacey Scales	Isaac Tailoring Shop?	2:05
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	2:06
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. That's good. Did you ever work there with him?	2:08
Melvin Caswell	No, I wasn't large enough, but I have one down there now. It's just a hole in the wall.	2:11
Stacey Scales	What's the name of it?	2:18
Melvin Caswell	Well, Alberta Pops, they call me. The people around there know me as being Pops. And it's just a small alteration shop. Since I've been sick, I don't get a chance to get down there too much.	2:19
Stacey Scales	Yeah. Okay, what was your first job?	2:46
Melvin Caswell	My first job?	2:48
Stacey Scales	Yeah.	2:49
Melvin Caswell	Well, my first job was carrying papers. And my first job out of college was at Parker High School.	2:51
Stacey Scales	Did you attend Parker High School?	3:05
Melvin Caswell	I attended Parker High School.	3:05
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? Could you tell me more about it?	3:08
Melvin Caswell	About Parker?	3:11
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	3:12
Melvin Caswell	Well, I was under Dr. Parker. My first year, I worked under Dr. Parker, the man the school was named after. I worked under him a year before he died.	3:14
Stacey Scales	How was it working with him?	3:22
Melvin Caswell	Very nice. Real administrator.	3:22
Stacey Scales	How was it going to school there? Did you—	3:22
Melvin Caswell	It was fine. Well, we didn't know any other schools. See, that was the only high school in the city.	3:23
Stacey Scales	What subject did you take up?	3:51
Melvin Caswell	At Parker?	3:56
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	3:57
Melvin Caswell	Well, math, English, history. It's the same subjects you take everywhere. But you had— See, it was an industrial school. It was industrial high school. And they had a lot of vocational shops. We didn't call them that, but they had them.	3:58
Stacey Scales	Where did you grow up? What neighborhood?	4:22
Melvin Caswell	Smithfield.	4:26
Stacey Scales	Oh, Smithfield. How was it growing up in Smithfield?	4:29
Melvin Caswell	It was nice.	4:29
Stacey Scales	Okay. Was it places that you weren't allowed to go, coming up?	4:35
Melvin Caswell	You mean in Smithfield?	4:39
Stacey Scales	Yeah.	4:40
Melvin Caswell	No, not in Smithfield, but downtown there were places that you couldn't go.	4:41
Stacey Scales	Could you describe the neighborhood in Smithfield?	4:52
Melvin Caswell	Oh, it was very nice.	4:56
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? Did people own their houses?	4:56
Melvin Caswell	A lot of them. A lot of people owned their houses. I didn't, but— Well, I mean, we didn't. But a lot of people owned their houses down there.	4:59
Stacey Scales	Did they have cars too?	5:13
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	5:15
Stacey Scales	Did your father have a car?	5:20
Melvin Caswell	Huh?	5:20
Stacey Scales	Did your parents know the car?	5:20
Melvin Caswell	Mm-hmm.	5:20
Stacey Scales	What kind of car did they have?	5:20
Melvin Caswell	My dad had several regular cars.	5:30
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? Did you ever take trips in them?	5:36
Melvin Caswell	No, I don't remember. He didn't stay around too long.	5:38
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. So did they ever talk about segregation, your parents?	5:44
Melvin Caswell	No. Well, see, I wasn't around my father too much, but my mother used to talk about it all the time.	5:50
Stacey Scales	What did she say?	5:54
Melvin Caswell	Being a teacher, well, she would just let me know what was going on to keep me out of trouble. Not to do this and not to do that.	6:00
Stacey Scales	Do you remember any of the story?	6:11
Melvin Caswell	No, it's been so long.	6:12
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. Did you have any experiences of your own?	6:18
Melvin Caswell	Oh, yes. When I got ready to try to attempt to vote, I went down to the courthouse. And I got in the line, and the lady said, "Oh, we have a nigger here this morning." And they put it in the paper. It was a reporter that used to come to our school all the time, so I can't call this man's name, but he did. But anyway, they tore it up as soon as I finished it and threw it in a basket.	6:21
Stacey Scales	Really? So you really didn't vote. They tore up—	7:05
Melvin Caswell	Not then. Later on.	7:12
Stacey Scales	So they tore up your ballot?	7:12
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	7:13
Stacey Scales	How'd you feel about that?	7:16
Melvin Caswell	Well, I expected anything. See, I expected it was something to happen when I went there.	7:19
Stacey Scales	Right. Did you ever hear of any stories of the Klan, Ku Klux Klan?	7:28
Melvin Caswell	Well, I used to, when I was a kid, I used to see the Ku Klux Klan. I lived on South Side, when I was here, and they would parade up and down the street, Sixth Avenue, in front of Sixth Avenue Church. They would in old cars.	7:32
Stacey Scales	So what would you do when they came?	7:53
Melvin Caswell	What did you say?	7:54
Stacey Scales	What would you do when they came?	7:56
Melvin Caswell	Well, we were kids. We would stand out and look. Some older people would throw in there.	7:58
Stacey Scales	They would do what?	8:08
Melvin Caswell	Throw in.	8:10
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? So what would they throw?	8:10
Melvin Caswell	Bricks.	8:11
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah?	8:13
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	8:14
Stacey Scales	So they were fighting in the streets?	8:15
Melvin Caswell	Oh yeah, some did. And most people would clean off the, get out of the way to keep from getting hurt.	8:17
Stacey Scales	Do you remember Dynamite Hill?	8:26
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	8:29
Stacey Scales	Could you tell me about it?	8:30
Melvin Caswell	Dynamite Hill. That's where Tony Shores lived. But his house was one of the houses that was bombed. And I'm trying to think of, I knew another man's house. I can't think of his name. Right on top of the hill.	8:33
Stacey Scales	And what happened?	9:02
Melvin Caswell	Well, when they did, people crowded around.	9:04
Stacey Scales	So how did it stop? Or did it stop? When did it stop?	9:09
Melvin Caswell	You mean bombing?	9:13
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	9:14
Melvin Caswell	Well, see, when it would go off, everybody had, who was connected, was gone, see.	9:15
Stacey Scales	Right. So how did they stop them from bombing in there?	9:24
Melvin Caswell	Well, they started having meetings, and it was pretty dangerous for them to come up there.	9:30
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. What made it dangerous?	9:36
Melvin Caswell	Because people were watching the houses. They had people watching the houses, and it was pretty dangerous for them to come back.	9:40
Stacey Scales	Would they shoot them?	9:55
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	9:59
Stacey Scales	Do you remember anybody ever getting shot up there?	10:00
Melvin Caswell	I couldn't say for sure. I just go by what I heard.	10:01
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. So growing up here, did you have to go to church? Was church man—	10:11
Melvin Caswell	Well, I had to go to church. If you lived at my house, you had to go to church. I still go.	10:13
Stacey Scales	Right. What church do you go to?	10:21
Melvin Caswell	St. Paul AME.	10:26
Stacey Scales	What if you didn't go? What if you stayed out?	10:27
Melvin Caswell	Huh?	10:33
Stacey Scales	What if you didn't go? What would happen if you didn't go in your house?	10:34
Melvin Caswell	If I didn't go to church?	10:37
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	10:37
Melvin Caswell	Oh, you was going. It wasn't like— If you had the right parents, you were going right. Yeah, you getting out of there. And then, she was going to check.	10:48
Stacey Scales	What'd you do for entertainment when you was coming up?	10:54
Melvin Caswell	I was a, what you might call, a half-shot musician. And I used to like music, and I put most of my time in it, studying it and playing around with bands, local bands.	11:00
Stacey Scales	Who'd you play with?	11:17
Melvin Caswell	With Fess Whatley, the man who started music here in Birmingham.	11:19
Stacey Scales	Oh, you played with him?	11:24
Melvin Caswell	Fess Whatley, yeah.	11:25
Stacey Scales	How was it working with him?	11:30
Melvin Caswell	Oh, it was nice, very nice.	11:32
Stacey Scales	Where'd you all go?	11:32
Melvin Caswell	Well, we just played around—	11:34
Stacey Scales	Birmingham?	11:36
Melvin Caswell	Well, there was places in Alabama we would go.	11:39
Stacey Scales	Could you name some of the—	11:44
Melvin Caswell	Played Tuscaloosa.	11:46
Stacey Scales	Some of the club names?	11:48
Melvin Caswell	The clubs?	11:50
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	11:50
Melvin Caswell	Here in Alabama? Let me see. I played, they used to have a, what you might call, a walk up on in Montgomery. I played down there. Then, here in Birmingham, they had the Grand Chairs, and they had Bob's Savoy. Oh, they a number of clubs. But during that particular time, they didn't issue Black people license for clubs. So it was kind of hard to have an affair and advertise it because you were doing wrong. You didn't have a license.	11:56
Stacey Scales	So did they have parties anywhere, anyway, sometimes?	12:49
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	12:52
Stacey Scales	Where?	12:53
Melvin Caswell	Hmm?	12:54
Stacey Scales	Where would they have them?	12:55
Melvin Caswell	In the clubs.	12:56
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah?	12:57
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	12:57
Stacey Scales	All right. So how was this— Did they segregate you in the clubs? Was it Jim Crow?	13:02
Melvin Caswell	Well, the club was all Black.	13:08
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. Did you ever have to play for White folks?	13:13
Melvin Caswell	I played in every big White club in Birmingham.	13:15
Stacey Scales	Really? How did they treat you?	13:18
Melvin Caswell	Very nice.	13:21
Stacey Scales	Yeah?	13:22
Melvin Caswell	Yeah. You were working then.	13:22
Stacey Scales	So they paid you nice too?	13:28
Melvin Caswell	Oh yeah. That was— See, I played about 65 years. And I even went to West Africa to play. I went over there and stayed nine weeks. That was in '64. I was pretty old when I went, but I just went for the experience. Of course, now, they have musicians there. And the musicians, I would consider them as good or better than we were. But—	13:29
Stacey Scales	Would they play the same type of instrument?	14:12
Melvin Caswell	The same type and the same type of music in Monrovia, Liberia. But there, they believe in, if you were down already, keep you down. They wasn't going to pay those musicians what they would have to pay us.	14:14
Stacey Scales	Oh yes? Just because you was from over here?	14:38
Melvin Caswell	That's right. It's some pretty bad things can happen over there. Then, there's some good things can happen over there.	14:41
Stacey Scales	So what happened to you during those nine weeks?	14:56
Melvin Caswell	Nothing. It was five of us.	14:59
Stacey Scales	Was Fess Whatley with you?	15:03
Melvin Caswell	No, no.	15:04
Stacey Scales	Oh okay.	15:04
Melvin Caswell	No. He wasn't. The fellows who were with me, let me see. Two of them are dad now.	15:05
Stacey Scales	What was the name of the band that went to West Africa?	15:18
Melvin Caswell	It was Newman Terrell.	15:21
Stacey Scales	Newman Terrell?	15:21
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	15:23
Stacey Scales	How do you spell that?	15:23
Melvin Caswell	N-E-W-M-A-N-T-E-R-R-E-L-L.	15:25
Stacey Scales	Okay. Newman Terrell. Did you all play jazz?	15:33
Melvin Caswell	Yes.	15:34
Stacey Scales	What instrument did you play?	15:36
Melvin Caswell	Drum.	15:46
Stacey Scales	Okay. You were a drummer. So how was Africa compared to here? Or how was your experiences there compared to here?	15:46
Melvin Caswell	Some people lived just like they live here. And then, some, who you might call natives, they weren't doing too well. They fed them nothing but rice. You might remember when they had this strike. They killed the president, President Johnson. But he was the vice president when I was there. Tubman was the president. And they killed him and threw him in a ditch and covered him up. But the city used to sell them that rice to eat, and that's all. When they were working, they would give them rice, nothing but rice.	15:57
Stacey Scales	What'd you eat when you were—	17:00
Melvin Caswell	I ate better there than I ate here.	17:01
Stacey Scales	Oh, yeah?	17:01
Melvin Caswell	Yeah. But see, all of that was with our contract that they would furnish your transportation, pay your salary, and pay your room and board. They had hotels for us.	17:14
Stacey Scales	So who was the audience when you went to play in Africa?	17:23
Melvin Caswell	The Africans. Well, you had a lot of different nationalities there. But everybody was one, but it was a certain group. You had to be in a certain group now.	17:26
Stacey Scales	What made that group different from the other?	17:44
Melvin Caswell	I would say money. People, a lot of tourists would come down on boat or cargo. You found a lot of people going, coming down, writing stories. So you always had visitors that come down, and they would catch what you call those boats that carried supplies and stuff.	17:52
Stacey Scales	Oh, the cargo?	18:25
Melvin Caswell	Yeah. And it would come out cheaper. They had a lot of college students. And they had Peace Corps used to come bring a lot of people.	18:26
Stacey Scales	Did you go to play music North, in the North of the States?	18:40
Melvin Caswell	Yes. I went to those places before I finished college.	18:48
Stacey Scales	Where'd you go to college?	18:54
Melvin Caswell	I went to several, anywhere I could get a scholarship. But I eventually finished Miles. I went to Tennessee State. I eventually finished Miles.	18:55
Stacey Scales	Wow.	19:12
Melvin Caswell	But I didn't finish. I was teaching before I finished. I was a senior when I got my job.	19:13
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah. At Parker?	19:22
Melvin Caswell	Mm-hmm.	19:24
Stacey Scales	How was it teaching? How'd you like teaching there?	19:25
Melvin Caswell	I loved it. I stayed there 46 years.	19:28
Stacey Scales	So what type of changes did the school go through? Did you notice any from the times you were going there and then teaching there and then 46 years?	19:33
Melvin Caswell	We had real teachers there, then.	19:42
Stacey Scales	Then? When is then when you were—	19:46
Melvin Caswell	Of course, we have some good teachers down there now. But the majority of the teachers down there, they were real.	19:47
Stacey Scales	When you went there?	19:57
Melvin Caswell	Huh?	19:58
Stacey Scales	When you were going there?	19:58
Melvin Caswell	When I was there. And then, I eventually started working with some of those people. But when I went there, you had real teachers.	19:59
Stacey Scales	So how is it now, when you were teaching at Parker?	20:10
Melvin Caswell	Well, it's a difference. Don't get me wrong. You got some good teachers. Then, you have some just there. But you have a lot of good ones. You got a lot of the young good ones too.	20:12
Stacey Scales	Did they ever teach African American history while you were going to Parker?	20:28
Melvin Caswell	The only Black history they had, I remember they had a book by, I think it was Burley.	20:35
Stacey Scales	Burley?	20:54
Melvin Caswell	I think it was Burley, It was Black History. They called it Negro History. And it was a part— it was in the system.	20:54
Stacey Scales	Had you read anything by Carter G. Woodson when you were—	21:01
Melvin Caswell	Oh, yeah. Yeah, all those people were in that book.	21:12
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? So how did you like Miles College? How was—	21:12
Melvin Caswell	Nice. They had good teachers out there. You didn't just go in there. You had to study. And I went to Tennessee State first.	21:20
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah. So where'd you go before you went to Parker?	21:34
Melvin Caswell	That was the first job, and I stayed there. Stayed there 46 years.	21:40
Stacey Scales	46 years. That's quite a while.	21:54
Melvin Caswell	I think that's longer than anybody.	21:54
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? When you traveled up to the North, or even to Tennessee, did you encounter any racism?	21:57
Melvin Caswell	Well, out in the suburb, little small places, you would run into somebody who would say something they shouldn't have said.	22:11
Stacey Scales	Like what?	22:31
Melvin Caswell	Well, a lot of them love to use the word nigger, and especially in a small place. But in a large place, you didn't run into that kind of stuff.	22:34
Stacey Scales	No? Did you ever run into that while playing music?	22:54
Melvin Caswell	That's what I was talking about.	22:57
Stacey Scales	So even though you was playing music, they would call you that?	23:01
Melvin Caswell	When you would go to play for one of those little funny clubs or something, they didn't act like the rest of the people act.	23:06
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay.	23:18
Melvin Caswell	You couldn't go to the restroom or drink water out of the fountain, anything like that.	23:27
Stacey Scales	So what'd you do?	23:31
Melvin Caswell	Hmm?	23:33
Stacey Scales	What'd you do?	23:33
Melvin Caswell	With the water?	23:35
Stacey Scales	Yeah.	23:35
Melvin Caswell	They bring you water in a pitcher and glasses.	23:36
Stacey Scales	So you have to drink out of that. How'd you feel about not being able to drink out of the one side of the fountain, and then they had a section for you? How'd you feel about that?	23:43
Melvin Caswell	You mean—	23:55
Stacey Scales	The fountain?	23:56
Melvin Caswell	The water?	23:58
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	23:59
Melvin Caswell	You didn't drink out of the fountains.	23:59
Stacey Scales	No? I'm talking about the ones that had Colored on them.	24:03
Melvin Caswell	That was the only kind they had. That was the only kind we knew.	24:11
Stacey Scales	Right. So did you ever sneak and drink the other ones?	24:14
Melvin Caswell	I would, sometimes we would just, if we felt like it, we would drink out of it anyway.	24:18
Stacey Scales	Was it different?	24:20
Melvin Caswell	There's no difference. We just drank out of it because we knew that they didn't want us to drink out of it.	24:24
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? So you drank out of it anyway?	24:34
Melvin Caswell	Yeah, we drank it. Stand up and drank it. They had them in the courthouse, right down there, in that courthouse was down there now.	24:37
Stacey Scales	Did you ever get caught drinking?	24:47
Melvin Caswell	White people would see you.	24:50
Stacey Scales	What'd they say?	24:52
Melvin Caswell	They didn't say nothing to me.	24:52
Stacey Scales	No? Did you ever hear people ever getting lynched or hung, down in this area?	25:00
Melvin Caswell	I had read about it. But so far as knowing, I couldn't say that I did.	25:13
Stacey Scales	So growing up here, was there a library that you could go to?	25:18
Melvin Caswell	Was there?	25:21
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	25:21
Melvin Caswell	Well, they had a building right around the corner up there called Masonic Temple. They had a Black library in that particular building.	25:24
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah? So that's where you would go to get books?	25:34
Melvin Caswell	Well, we had— That's where you would go. But we had the library at school.	25:44
Stacey Scales	A library school? Oh, at school.	25:44
Melvin Caswell	At school.	25:49
Stacey Scales	Okay. Could you check books out?	25:53
Melvin Caswell	Yeah.	25:54
Stacey Scales	Was there a book mobile?	25:58
Melvin Caswell	In later years, there was a book mobile.	26:01
Stacey Scales	Okay. So how was your family gatherings, when your family would get together for holidays? Could you explain how that—	26:10
Melvin Caswell	Well, families got together, here in Birmingham and—	26:19
Stacey Scales	No, your family, like on Christmas. Did you have a lot of brothers and sisters?	26:24
Melvin Caswell	No, I didn't have. But a lot of families, families always got together.	26:29
Stacey Scales	So what if there was a crisis in the neighborhood, would they get together? And if someone lost their job, or they didn't have food, would they help them?	26:38
Melvin Caswell	Oh, they would get a lot of help, just as they get now. People would help in neighborhoods. You have a little organization in these neighborhoods, and they call it Neighborhood Watch.	26:50
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah. Like the block club?	26:51
Melvin Caswell	They watch your house while you're gone. People who are at home watch. And then, if anything should happen to you in a neighborhood right now, your neighbor's going to come see about you.	27:12
Stacey Scales	Oh yeah?	27:25
Melvin Caswell	Oh yeah.	27:26
Stacey Scales	So that hasn't changed?	27:29
Melvin Caswell	No. No. They will come and see about you. They definitely going do that.	27:30
Stacey Scales	Yeah. So you said you don't, do you remember your father?	27:36
Melvin Caswell	I remember, but he died when I was eight. But he still wasn't around too much when I was going to become eight.	27:49
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. Did they ever talk about spirits or anything like that when you were coming up?	27:56
Melvin Caswell	We didn't believe in that.	28:01
Stacey Scales	No? Nobody ever had any stories they would tell on them?	28:03
Melvin Caswell	No, we didn't. We didn't go for that at all.	28:10
Stacey Scales	You thought it was a joke or something?	28:12
Melvin Caswell	I imagine I did. We didn't believe it.	28:15
Stacey Scales	Oh, okay. So how'd you get your news, like information?	28:19
Melvin Caswell	News?	28:27
Stacey Scales	Yes, sir.	28:28
Melvin Caswell	You had radios.	28:28
Stacey Scales	Oh, you had a radio?	28:31
Melvin Caswell	Oh yeah. Most people had radio. And just as the news come on now on television, where you had certain hours that the news would come on.	28:32
Stacey Scales	Really? Would they talk, would it be about Black folks or just different things?	28:46
Melvin Caswell	Well, it was supposed to have been about everything that's happening, but you know how that is. Most of the bad stuff was talked about. And the good stuff, they would look over it.	28:51
Stacey Scales	Did you belong to any organizations or clubs?	29:10
Melvin Caswell	Omega Psi Phi fraternity. You mean in college?	29:13
Stacey Scales	Yeah.	29:18
Melvin Caswell	Omega Psi Phi fraternity.	29:18
Stacey Scales	You joined the fraternity in college? What type of things would they do? Would they ever work with the voter registration or anything like that?	29:23
Melvin Caswell	Most fraternities and sororities always got out and did that type work. They do that now. And they always raise money to give to different organizations. Most of the sororities and fraternities, right now, always that's in that budget. You give so much money to organizations to help people.	29:29
Stacey Scales	Has that changed since you—	30:07
Melvin Caswell	No. I've noticed, if you look in the paper, where some organization's having something. You'll always see where they donated so much money to some organization.	30:15
Stacey Scales	Right. Okay. All right. I can't think of any more questions, if you got something else you would like to share.	30:33
Melvin Caswell	No, I don't.	30:37
Stacey Scales	I have a short biography to fill out.	30:40

Item Info

Title:

Melvin Caswell interview recording, 1994 July 01

Date:

July 1, 1994

Creator:

Caswell, Melvin

Contributor:

Scales, Mausiki Stacey

Description:

Name: Melvin Caswell; Date of birth: 1914-01-09; Place of birth: Birmingham, AL; Occupation(s): educator; jazz musician; Residence: Birmingham, AL
Informant ID: 732; Interviewed by: Stacey Scales.

Occupation:

Location:

Format:

Language:

English

Digital Collection:

Behind the Veil

Source Collection:

Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South interviews, photographs, and project records, circa 1864-2011, bulk 1990-2004

Series:

Related Resources:

See below

Provenance:

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired the Records of the Behind the Veil Oral History Project from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

Copyright for content created by the Behind the Veil project is held by Duke University and made available to the public using a Creative Commons Attribution / Non-commercial (CC-BY-NC) license.

Identifier:

RL00170-CS-0370
41bf67f5-4102-4926-b62c-44109987bc9a
behindtheveil
2249777f-8aed-4578-a01c-3d9c9faa7fcd
ark:/87924/r4m04960k
2249777f-8aed-4578-a01c-3d9c9faa7fcd

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4m04960k

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Melvin Caswell interview recording, 1994 July 01

Transcript

Item Info

1. Melvin Caswell administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Transcript

Item Info

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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