Karen Anne Mason, B.A., English, Simmons College; M.A., Art History, UCLA.
Place: Fergerson's home, Los Angeles.
Dates, length of sessions: November 29, 1990 (90 minutes); December 13, 1990 (87); January 10, 1991 (69); March 5, 1991 (86); June 3, 1991 (87); July 10, 1991 (74); July 24, 1991 (65); August 28, 1991 (83); August 26, 1992 (105); August 12, 1994 (254).
Total number of recorded hours: 16.65
Persons present during interview: All tapes except Tape VI, Fergerson and Mason; Tape VI, Fergerson, Mason, and Thomas Watson.
This interview is one of a series on African American art and artists in Los Angeles. This oral history project gathers and preserves interviews with African American artists who have created significant works and others in the Los Angeles metropolitan area who have worked to expand exhibition opportunities and public support for African American visual culture.
The interview is organized chronologically, beginning with Fergerson's family background and childhood in Oklahoma and Los Angeles and continuing with his training and career at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and his contribution as an exhibitor of African American art in the Los Angeles area. Major topics covered include African American life in Los Angeles, the development of and working climate at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Black Arts Council, racial issues in America, and Fergerson's continuing involvement in the African American artistic community of Los Angeles.
Lisa Magee, editorial assistant, edited the interview. She checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling, and verified proper names. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed.
Fergerson reviewed the transcript. He verified proper names and made minor corrections and additions. After reviewing tapes I through X, he asked that another interview session be scheduled in order to address issues he felt had not been adequately covered in the earlier sessions. Tapes XI through XIII were recorded at that time, and Fergerson also reviewed that portion of the transcript, again verifying proper names and making minor corrections and additions.
Alex Cline, editor, prepared the table of contents. Kristian London, assistant editor, assembled the biographical summary and interview history. Derek DeNardo, editorial assistant, compiled the index.
The original tape recordings of the interview are in the university archives and are available under the regulations governing the use of permanent noncurrent records of the university. Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Oral History Program.