Roscoe E. Lewis was a chemistry professor at Hampton University and a scholar in the United States who led efforts to document and publish an account of African American experiences in Virginia. He was a fellow of the Rosenwald Foundation. [1]
He was born in Washington D.C.'s Anacostia neighborhood. [2] He led the African American unit of the Virginia Writers' Project. [3] [4]
He wrote about his work to W. E. B. Du Bois before a conference they were attending at Atlanta University. [5]
For his Writers' Project work he produced films and audiotapes. [6] Officials censored discussions of cruel punishments, forced marriages, family separations, ridicule of whites, and praise of Union soldiers from the interviews. [7] Publication of Writers' Project research from black researchers was generally obstructed. [8]