Records Transfer from Dr. Elizabeth Nix, accessioned March 9, 2023

The Baltimore Sixty-Eight Riots Collection contains 68 oral history interviews conducted for the "Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth" project, as well as notes, interview materials, correspondence and oral history interview forms. The interviews were produced by UBalt students and others working with Professors Elizabeth Nix, Jessica Elfenbein, and Thomas Hollowak. Project documentation materials include student scrapbooks and research portfolios, photocopies of historic newspaper coverage, and conference event buttons and posters. Of the 68 interviews, 66 include text transcripts of each interview and 12 interviews include digital audio recordings. The oral history interviews in this collection were conducted between 2006 and 2008 in the Baltimore, Maryland region by University of Baltimore students and partners for the project led by UB Professors Elizabeth Nix, Jessica Elfenbein, and Thomas Hollowak. The interviews were conducted with a diverse group of individuals who were present in Baltimore in 1968 and who shared their experiences during the time before, during, and after the riots in Baltimore. Interviewees included both Black and white families, business owners, public officials, National Guardsmen, teachers, ministers, teenagers, housewives, and community members. A number of well-known public figures and individuals participated in interviews for this project, including Thomas D'Alesandro III (43rd mayor of Baltimore, 1967-1971), William Donald Schaefer (Baltimore City Council president in 1968, 44th mayor of Baltimore, 1971-1987, and the 58th Governor of Maryland, 1987-1995), Marvin Mandel (56th Governor of Maryland, 1969 – 1979), Nia Redmond, Thomas Ward, Rev. Marion C. Bascom, Chester Wickwire, and Melvin Douglas Williams ("Little Melvin" Williams). Interviews in this collection discuss topics such as the loss of homes and businesses, community and individual experiences, the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., looting, and police interactions.