Oral History with Mrs. Raylawni Branch

Grayscale portrait depicting an African-American woman from the shoulders up. She is wearing a dark sweater with a lighter flower design across the front. Her hair is swept up and pinned. Her face is turned toward the camera with a relaxed expression. She is looking beyond the camera. There are some creases in the photo.
Photo from the 1966 Southerner.

Oral histories are vital resources that provide context and perspective to historical events beyond what can be gleaned from public records, photographs, or statistics.  They go beyond basic fact gathering and allow a view into the human experience against the backdrop of history.  These recorded interviews allow subjects to share their own stories in their own words from their own unique perspective.  Special Collections provides access to over 1,500 oral histories collected by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage.  One of those oral histories features Mrs. Raylawni Branch, one of the two students to integrate The University of Southern Mississippi in 1965.    

Mrs. Branch’s oral history details her experiences growing up as the eldest of ten children.  She discusses moving frequently and attending eight different schools by the time she was in ninth grade.  The interview delves into the difficulties a newly graduated black person experienced while trying to find a job outside of household or menial duties in the early 1960s.  Mrs. Branch married after high school and became a homemaker, raising three children.  She remembers groups coming into Mississippi in the early 1960s to promote civil rights and speaks of taking the opportunity to be involved.  During this time, she served as secretary of the NAACP and was a member of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

In 1965, at the age of twenty-four, Mrs. Branch was asked to attend The University of Southern Mississippi to accompany Elaine Armstrong, an eighteen-year-old Rowan High School graduate.  In return, the NAACP would provide a scholarship to cover the cost of attendance.  On September 10, 1965, Raylawni Branch and Elaine Armstrong began attending classes, accompanied at all times by six bodyguards.  Mrs. Branch details her experiences with students and faculty and recounts several conversations with Elaine Armstrong that took place over the course of the year.  Due to family and financial reasons, she withdrew from Southern Miss after that year.  Even so, her association with The University of Southern Mississippi was not yet over.  Mrs. Branch proved instrumental to the University starting a school for nursing and she returned to the University in 1988 to pursue a master’s degree in community health nursing with a minor in education.  

This oral history also touches on recollections regarding prominent civil rights figures such as Emmett Till, Vernon Dahmer, Medgar Evers, and Clyde Kennard, as well as harassment by groups like the Ku Klux Klan.  Another topic of interest is the exploration of how the Mobile Street area was the epicenter of the civil rights movement in Hattiesburg and how that area has changed from what she remembers as a child.  Throughout the interview, she relates how her experiences shaped her views on race, discrimination, and activism.  From her career in the military to her teaching career, her determination and drive serve as inspiration to those who want to break barriers and work for change. In the words of Mrs. Branch herself, “Be and do everything out there.  Be in everything.” 

Raylawni Branch’s oral history can be accessed online through our Digital Collections website.   

To view this or any other Special Collections item, please visit our Reading Room in McCain Library and Archives room 305.  If you have any questions, please contact Jess Clark at or 601.266.5776.

Text by Jess Clark, Records Management Specialist for University Archives