Oral history interview with Kathy Lass, 2001

Biographical Note

Kathy Lass was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1942 to a middle-class Jewish family. Lass spent one year at Northwestern University, and the transferred to the University of Missouri for two years. There, she decided to participate in the Summer Community Organization and Political Education Project (SCOPE), a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) initiative to register Southern African Americans to vote. Through SCOPE, Lass spent the summer of 1965 in Southampton County, Virginia. Following her service in the South, Lass graduated from University of Missouri and pursued graduate studies at University of Michigan. She also obtained a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University in 1976. After working at both local and national labor organizations, she served as Director of International Services at the Red Cross

Scope and Contents

Lass begins this interview by discussing her family dynamics and early upbringing in St. Louis, Missouri. Lass describes Glenridge Elementary School, the Crispus Attucks School, and the effects of school integration in 1954. Lass goes on to describe her year at Northwestern University and her exposure to activism at the University of Missouri. Additionally, Lass offers insight into her family history and political background, including a discussion of her father's political influence. During the second year of her undergraduate studies, organizers from SCOPE, backed by the SCLC, recruited student volunteers. Lass describes her decision to participate and the reaction of her family. She chronicles the week-long orientation at Morris Brown College, naming Andy and Jean Young, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, and Hosea Williams as workshop leaders. Lass outlines the conditions of her placement in Southampton, Virginia in June 1965 and the impact of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act. Lass describes her role she played in the project, segregation in Southampton society, the experience of church visits across Southampton County, and the hardships of families who hosted her. Lass describes her employment after SCOPE, including her first job after graduate school at a D.C. neighborhood center. She also describes her brief time with corporate employment and her position at the Red Cross. Lass continues her reminisces of Southampton, recalling particular acts of harassment and intimidation, especially in the town of Boykins. Lass concludes this interview with a brief discussion of September 11th, her experience returning from Southampton, and a desire to reconnect with her SCOPE team

Subjects

• African Americans--Suffrage--Virginia.
• Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Civil rights workers--Virginia--History--20th century.
• Interviews.
• Lass, Kathy--Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• Oral histories.
• School integration--Missouri--St. Louis.
• Southampton County (Va.)
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
• United States--Race relations--History--20th century.