Nobody Turn Us Around

Nobody Turn Us Around

By Will Noel

A few years ago, Dan Linke, University Archivist and Curator of the Public Policy Papers, sat down with John Doar ’44 and persuaded him to give Mudd Library his papers, which had long been on deposit.  To celebrate, Dan asked Professor Kevin Kruse to write a small blurb about them.  Now, Doar is the subject of Kevin’s forthcoming book.

Doar was an impressive person, at the center of civil rights efforts in the ’60s, and then of the Watergate hearings. In 2012, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.

A group of Black people led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams walking by a white policeman
John Lewis and Hosea Williams lead marchers in Selma, Alabama, 1965. John Doar Papers (MC247).

Last month, Kruse gave a public lecture entitled “Seeking Justice: The Civil Rights Movement and the Federal Government” as part of a series of events around the exhibition “Nobody Turn us Around” at Mudd Library. The exhibition shows various items from the John Doar Papers (MC247), including the photo above of John Lewis and Hosea Williams leading marchers.  The show is curated by Will Clements and Phoebe Nobles, and it is terrific.  Please make sure you go see it before it closes in March, if you can. If for some reason you’re unable to view the exhibition in person, however, you can also access materials from it online.