"We Wanted Some Basic Human Rights" Introduction

This web exhibition examines the history of the Civil Rights Movement in Tampa and its environs. It utilizes documents located in the Special Collections Division of the USF Tampa library. This exhibition was produced during a Spring 2016 seminar on the Civil Rights Movement, taught by Dr. K. Stephen Prince of the USF history department. Students consulted more than fifteen archival collections housed in the USF Tampa Library Special Collections, selecting a representative sample of documents to reproduce here. Short analytical headnotes will guide readers through the narrative. Links to the documents are also provided.

     The title of this web exhibition is drawn from a 1978 interview with Betty Wiggins, an African American civil rights activist and community leader in Tampa.