James Farmer & the Great Debaters

Are there any transcripts of other debates by James Farmer?

Was Farmer satisified with the way race relations were near his death? If not was he still involved in the fight for equality?

What were James Farmer’s views (in his UMW years) on different issues and current affairs?  I’m most interested to hear of past student and faculty conversations with him.

Why did everyone forget about James Farmer in history?

(and for my oral presentation)

Who were James Farmers main influences that helped to mold him into a landmarking civil rights leader?

Is there any information on the way James Farmer taught at UMW, and do we know what kind of effect he had on the students that came through his class?

Are there any individuals with first hand accounts of James Farmer’s civil rights campaign and if so would it be possible to contact them and/or have them speak to us?

Why was there an article about James Farmer’s wife being “white?” Where did that come from, and can we find out more about it?

What was the content of James Farmer’s lectures at UMW?

Can we find any members/children of members that worked closely with James Farmer in CORE? Are there any source documents that would be useful to study/post on the site?

Since CORE did not leave much of a paper trail, I was thinking of focusing more on people that we could realistically track down. I especially want to find people that knew him as a young boy and watched him grow up, such as neighbors, friends, etc. If that proves itself to be very difficult as well, we could also try to find his former students from Mary Washington. Someone had the idea already to do this, but since it’s such a large task, I’d be interested in helping them. Important resources would be people that he continues to mention in his autobiography, the school in Texas that has the old grade books, and possibly the registrars at UMW that may be able to find his former students on file.

contact registrar’s office
contact alumni relations