An Oral History Project Conducted by John Robert Lewis Fellow Jacob Mason
Project Description
The 97-year-old Rev. Dr. Robert L. Polk has spent nearly a century creating a world in which we “may all be one” (1 John 17:21). Dr. Polk describes his career as “mov[ing] along two parallel passions: ministry and social justice… [and] more than three quarters of my life and work has been almost exclusively with and among Caucasians.”
Thus, my interview with Dr. Polk primarily focuses on his experiences of affecting justice in the nearly all-White communities of his early career, including as the first Black graduate of Doane College in Crete, NE, as a Congregational minister and YMCA Youth Program Secretary in North Dakota, and as the Minister of Youth and first Black member of the clergy at the historic Riverside Church in New York City. Dr. Polk’s expansive career provides a road map for undertaking justice work that taps into people’s curiosity through good-faith engagement and robust education. This is how we can affect positive social change in our communities. For as Dr. Polk says, “If not you, who?”
Oral History Interview with Dr. Robert L. Polk – 03/12/2025
Presentation Slides
