Oral history interview with Joycelyn Boyd Jerome, 2000

Biographical Note

Jocelyn Boyd Jerome was born in New York City in 1939. She spent her early childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. Both parents came from college-educated families. Her mother, a native of Nashville, attended Tennessee State for two years. Her father was a janitor. She was one of five children. Jerome's parents met and married in New York. Her husband, Fred Jerome, was the son of Communist Party official V.J. (Victor Jeremy) Jerome, who was imprisoned for his political activities. Jocelyn Jerome held several jobs including working for CORE in New York City during the early 1960s, and part time, briefly, when she returned to NYC in 1975. She also worked as a secretary at Politics Magazine and later for City College of New York (CCNY) as director of the program that became the Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program. She briefly attended Brooklyn College. Jerome and her husband, Fred, have three children and five grandchildren

Scope and Contents

In this interview with Sheila Michaels, Jocelyn Boyd Jerome discusses a range of topics: her childhood, her family, race and democracy in the United States, her employment history, job scarcity for Black Americans, and her involvement with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Jerome recounts her childhood in Nashville and in New York City; she recalls her experience attending predominantly white schools, and the split that occurred between white and nonwhite children as they entered high school. She discusses her family's frequent moves between the Lower East Side, Greenwich Village, and Harlem, describing Harlem and Church of the Master as places where she felt most at home. Jerome recounts her decision to begin working after high school instead of attending college immediately. She describes an experience that revealed how difficult it was for Black women to be hired as typists. Jerome recounts her introduction to CORE by Ralph DiGia, based on her interests in social justice. She worked for CORE and participated in protest activity on the weekends. Jerome discusses the dynamics of CORE's Harlem office on 125th Street, where she worked until shortly before her daughter's birth. Jerome discusses the importance of the Freedom Rides to CORE's stature in the Civil Rights Movement. She recounts how she met her husband, Fred, and the challenge his assumed affiliation with the Communist Party raised within CORE, an avowed anti-Communist organization. Jerome explains her decision not to vote or participate in voter education programs and her disillusionment with American democracy and the lack of accountability that elected officials feel towards African Americans. Lastly, Jerome discusses relocating to San Francisco for eight years due to for Fred's job, starting in 1967

Subjects

• Civil rights demonstrations--United States.
• Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Congress of Racial Equality. New York (Harlem) Chapter.
• Discrimination in employment--United States.
• Interviews.
• Jerome, Joycelyn Boyd--Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• Oral histories.
• United States--Race relations--History--20th century.