Oral history interview with Michael Lesser, 2000

Biographical Note

Michael Lesser was born in 1936 in New Jersey and was an organizer in the civil rights movement. Lesser attended Franklin and Marshall College, Lehigh University, and Syracuse University. It was at Syracuse that Lesser met Rudy Lombard and George Wiley, who inspired Lesser to go to the South to volunteer with Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In the summer of 1963, he assisted with voter registration in various Louisiana towns. Lesser served in leadership positions within the organization before leaving CORE in 1966. Later, Lesser worked for 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East before moving to San Francisco to work at the University of California, Berkeley

Scope and Contents

Lesser begins this interview by detailing his familial background and his early years in northern New Jersey. Lesser recalls his early political awareness, citing his father's reading habits, a speech he gave in high school, and an experience with anti-Semitism as a freshman in college. Lesser shares memories of his earliest demonstrations, the repercussions of his political activism, and the formative impact of encounters with other civil rights activists, including George Wiley and Rudy Lombard. Lesser discusses his decision to participate in a voter registration project in Louisiana in the spring of 1963 and the project's leader Ronnie Moore. He chronicles his arrests and experiences in jail, including prison hunger strikes and protests. Lesser focuses on his charge with criminal anarchy, a capital offense in the state of Louisiana, and its personal impact. He describes some of the people he met in Louisiana before beginning a broader discussion of what strengths Northern white volunteers brought South, as well as the lasting impact of the experience. He talks about the deaths of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in the summer of 1964. He talks about the various positions he held with CORE, including his time as the Midwest Regional Field Secretary, until his resignation following the election of Floyd McKissick. Lesser briefly discusses the controversy surrounding that election as well as, in broader terms, the influence of the Black Power movement within activist organizations at the time. Other topics of discussion include: Lesser's work with George Wiley and the National Welfare Rights Organization, the unfair treatment of welfare mothers, and his recruitment as an organizer in 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

Subjects

• African Americans--Suffrage--Louisiana.
• Black power--United States--History--20th century.
• Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Congress of Racial Equality.
• Imprisonment--United States.
• Interviews.
• Lesser, Michael--Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• Oral histories.
• Service Employees International Union. Local 1199 (New York, N.Y.)
• United States--Race relations--History--20th century.
• Welfare recipients--United States.