University of Miami Vice Provost and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences James Howard Wyche recalls growing up and working in the fields in the 1950s and resenting the treatment of minorities in migrant labor camps. He describes first coming to Baltimore in the mid-1960s and looking for a home, only to discover discrimination against blacks in housing. He contacted the local chapter of the Black Panthers and persuaded them to talk with the mayor of Baltimore, Nicholas "Tommy" D'Alesandro, about improving conditions for African Americans. With a graduate student group, Wyche canvassed the Johns Hopkins neighborhood and collected food, money, and clothing for the black community of eastern Baltimore. He discusses campus protests at Johns Hopkins. He also remembers being present when a friend in the Black Panther Party was framed and unjustly arrested.
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