Oral history interview with Charles Oldham, 2001

Biographical Note

Charles Oldham (1923-2006), was raised in Marceline, Missouri by his widowed mother and paternal grandparents. His father, a veteran and former World War I pilot, died in an airplane accident in Nebraska. Oldham attended Central Methodist College and the University of Missouri before being drafted for World War II. He served in the South Pacific for eighteen months. After his service, Oldham completed college and attended Washington University Law School in St. Louis. He became active in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) during the 1940s, eventually serving as its National Chairmen from the mid-1950s through 1963. Charles Oldham married Marian O'Fallon in 1951 in Detroit, Michigan, due to Missouri's anti-miscegenation laws. They returned to St. Louis where they lived and raised their family

Scope and Contents

In this interview with Sheila B. Michaels, Oldham discusses his education, military service, experience with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and his family. Oldham discusses his undergraduate and law school education, including his association with the American Veterans Committee (AVC) while in law school, the presence of the YMCA and YWCA on campus, and his involvement with efforts to get Black Americans admitted to Washington University. Oldham reflects on his service during World War II, witnessing the aftereffect of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and discrimination against America's Black servicemen and locals in Pacific countries. The majority of the interview covers Oldham's years working with CORE. He recollects the formation of the St. Louis CORE chapter, its protest activities, particularly the picketing of Jefferson Bank. He also discusses the reason some St. Louis CORE members split and formed Action Council to Improve Opportunities for Negroes (ACTION). He also notes CORE's sit-in activity in the 1940s, prior to Greensboro, and the reluctance of St. Louis' press to cover the activity. He discusses CORE's Journey of Reconciliation, its 1961 Freedom Rides, and its role in training protesters in nonviolent direct action techniques. He also analyzes the roles of Jim Robinson, Wally Nelson, George Houser, Percy Green, Jim Peck and Herb Dagan. Oldham discusses his years as National Chairman, and CORE's reorganization which created the need for a National Director, a role first offered to Martin Luther King. Oldham describes the organization's activities at the local level, the function of the national office, and annual convention. He recounts discrimination faced by St. Louis' Black citizens, noting University City's "pass law" as an example, and he analyzes the effect it had on his purchase of a family home. Oldham details his and his wife's family genealogy, including the family’s professional, social, public service involvement and noteworthy accomplishments. Oldham discusses the effects of being in an interracial relationship had on them as individuals

Subjects

• African American soldiers--History--20th century.
• Civil rights demonstrations--Missouri--Saint Louis.
• Civil rights demonstrations--United States.
• Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.
• Civil rights workers--United States--History--20th century.
• Congress of Racial Equality.
• Interviews.
• Michaels, Sheila, 1939-2017, interviewer.
• Oldham, Charles R.--Interviews.
• Oral histories.
• St. Louis Committee of Racial Equality.
• United States--Race relations--History--20th century.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2004