Sharon Roberson describes community organizing work over time and the growing tension that transpired among Vanderbilt students from one summer to the next, particularly in light of apartheid in South Africa and the ongoing domestic fight for civil rights. Many students sought to transition from healthcare to more expansive, basic racial justice issues. Roberson notes that while healthcare access and reform certainly made sense as an appropriate vehicle to community organizing in the original East Tennessee model, it perhaps did not translate to the distinct demographic and set of racial injustices characteristic of the western region.
Full footage of Sharon Roberson’s 2018 oral history interview.