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INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:00:04.920 --> 00:02:27.970 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Haley Steinhilber interviews Susan Haris on the AU campus during the Golden Eagles Reunion for the class of 1969 on October 4, 2019. In this clip, Susan Haris discusses some important speakers she saw at AU, including Adam Clayton Powell and Muhammad Ali. SUBJECTS: 2019 Golden Eagles Reunion; Class of 1969; Speakers at AU; SDS (Students for a Democratic Society); Islam; Adam Clayton Powell; Muhammad Ali So it is October 4 2019. And I'm here at the Golden Eagles reunion for the summer of 1964 for the classic 50th anniversary. And could you please say your name? My name is Susan Brunges Haris. All right. Nice to meet you, Susan. And so I was just wondering if you could tell me some memory on the year 1969 at American.

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I'd be glad to. I live in Seattle, Washington. And I moved to Seattle in 1973. Graduated from American University in 1969. And I have some very specific memories of American University. And I want to start off with Professor Thomas Nabocal. I can't remember the exact name of the course he taught it was something like American Social History. And he was I think one of the best professors I've ever had. I've gone on to do other degrees and I still remember sitting in his in his class, being grateful that I was there. So I was always grateful that American University employed him. So that is that is one very happy memory I have. As you all know, in the 60s, that was a time of political action and turmoil in America. And during that time, American University had some excellent speakers. I've heard Adam Clayton Powell speak here. I heard Muhammad Ali speak here. And I always remember Muhammad Ali. He had just at that point, I think we're very soon after changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali. And he was just going through his transition to becoming a Muslim and that was brand new to me. And that was fascinating. And when he spoke, he introduced people next to him as the Fruit of Islam. So he was there with his posse so to speak. And he was of course a compelling speaker, brought America along and introduced us to another way of thinking and celebrating all of the diversity that we have, but we haven't been doing such a good job listening to. And also I didn't participate in but was very aware of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). And they were leading a lot of demonstrations. And my take on them was, they wanted to replace one kind of hate with another kind of hate. So I just wasn't quite interested. I wanted to hear them, but I didn't really want to join them. INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:02:29.340 --> 00:03:15.820 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Haley Steinhilber interviews Susan Haris on the AU campus during the Golden Eagles Reunion for the class of 1969 on October 4, 2019. In this clip, Susan Haris discusses some of the protests that happened on and around campus. SUBJECTS: March on the Pentagon (October 1967); Anti-war protests

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During the time I was at American University, I was in the March on the Pentagon. And I remember that very clearly. It was very peaceful. And I remember being faced, the people facing us were the National Guard. And the gentleman facing me was a kid from Maine. And we just had a very nice little chat, but here we were, surrounding the Pentagon. But it was very peaceful and to me an indication of what America does best and what I mean by that is, if you don't agree with what's going on, you have a peaceful demonstration. So I always was supportive of that. And then I remember going to the White House and demonstrating again, it was against the Vietnam War at the White House. INDEXED CLIP TIME: 00:03:16.140 --> 00:05:44.070 SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Haley Steinhilber interviews Susan Haris on the AU campus during the Golden Eagles Reunion for the class of 1969 on October 4, 2019. In this clip, Susan Haris discusses what happened when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. SUBJECTS: Martin Luther King, Jr., assassination of; Robert F. Kennedy, assassination of But of course, my biggest memory is when both Martin Luther King and then Bobby Kennedy died. They didn't die in the same years, but they died pretty close to each other. And, you know, the city was torn apart, just absolutely torn apart. And when that happened, my boyfriend was at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore at the time, and there were demonstrations all over Washington. And I called him and I said, I'm afraid. So he came and picked me up and took me to Baltimore. Now he and a group of graduate students at Johns Hopkins had rented a rural house in an area that was a mixture of black and white folks, and they always gotten along really well. There was just never a problem. But that changed. And the night that I was there, there was a fire at I believe it was a convent down the street. And we call the fire department. And I still remember the conversation, which was we're putting out fires in downtown Baltimore, we can't help you. You'll have to do this yourself. So we and our neighbors who were African American, got together, and there was a fence and then there was this grassy area. And we put together all the hoses we had, and we didn't crawl over the fence but we just put together all the hoses we had to put put the fire out. And we did. So we put the fire out and we all came back to our homes. And it was very quiet but we could hear people running up and down the streets. So I get emotional. So anyway, we went to the basement. We turned all the lights off and the neighbors next door came over. And that night we danced in the memory of Martin Luther King. And the next day, the culture of the area had changed so much. And people were throwing rocks and yelling awful racist things. And they all had to move on. So that culture changed. And that was a very sad memory. But we all got through it. And here we are. And I'm very grateful that I got to go to AU. I'm very grateful for the wonderful teachers I had here. And I'm glad that I had an opportunity to live in America in DC at that time in our history. Thank you.

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Thank you, Susan.