Interview of Eugene Simpson

Interview of Eugene Simpson

20th century
California
Hollywood
Civil Rights
Discrimination
Interview

This source is the oral testimony of Eugene Simpson. The source discusses his life and experiences in the motion picture industry as an African-American and the Civil Rights movement in Hollywood. The source lasts 2:03 hours and was published in 2014. The source reveals that despite resentment when first arriving in the motion picture industry, Simpson only faced racial antagonism on one occasion. In the United States of America, African-Americans faced discrimination and segregation in all aspects of life, Hollywood was no different. Hollywood film makers would only use African-Americans actors for minor roles and they could not gain employment behind the camera until after World War two. It was not until the late 1970s that ‘black Hollywood’ became accepted and popular.

Eugene Simpson and Andrew Dawson, California

UCLA Library, centre for Oral History research:

http://oralhistory.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002hgcj5&fileSeq=null&xsl=null

17 July 2010

Lucy Kenealy

University of California, UCLA Library

English

Aural - oral testimony

20th century California