William Steffens's First Interview
Listen to and explore the curated OHMS index for William Steffens's April 23, 1984 interview, created by Derek Duquette in Fall 2014. View Steffens's May 24, 1984 interview here.
William Steffens (b. 1897) was born to Fannie and Manuel Steffens in Jacksonville, Florida. Life in Jacksonville exposed Steffens to discrimination and racial violence at an early age. On April 5, 1917, he took a boat from Jacksonville to New York City. A few weeks later he moved to Philadelphia, where he would work as a carpenter and contractor for the next to 65 years.