Dr. James Cross is an engineer and professor who graduated from Hopkins in 1960 with a degree in electrical engineering. Cross details his experiences as one of the first Black students at Hopkins. He mentions befriending one Black student who was also living on campus at the time, Ernie Bates, and attending a sit-in at a local restaurant with another Black student, Victor Dates. During his undergraduate years, Cross was a member of ROTC, he ran track, and strongly committed to his studies and education as a form of civil rights activism. In the interview, Cross touches on his early life growing up in rural Virginia, his experiences abroad while in the Army, and the various educational and professional paths his life took in his post-Hopkins years. He remains an active member of his community and speaks fondly of his family's endeavors and accomplishments. Dr. Cross was nominated for the Indispensable Role of Blacks at Hopkins Exhibit and has spoken about his life and career at the Fred Scott Brigade Annual Dinner. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral history series.

"I.B." is a member of the Johns Hopkins University graduating class of 2019, a pre-med student who double majored in neuroscience and French. In this interview, I.B. discusses growing up in South Florida with their parents and their early interest in music, languages, and medicine. They also discuss their participation in student organizations such as Alpha Epsilon Pi and WJHU Radio, as well as student jobs with the Johns Hopkins KIT-CATS and doing research at a neuroscience laboratory in Paris, France. I.B. reflects on their experience as a first generation student at Johns Hopkins, and describes their goal to attend medical school and volunteer with Baltimore organizations following graduation. This oral history is part of the First-generation Students oral histories series.

Lynn Poole interviews five students graduating from the Johns Hopkins University this year. He asks pre-med major Rierson and English literature major Seipt about their future plans, how they financed their education, what influenced them to attend Hopkins, and their comments on the university's curriculum. Allison Furst, a Wellesley College graduate, is at Hopkins on a scholarship provided by the Fund for the Advancement of Education for a teacher training program. She did graduate work in her own field while learning teaching methods and participated in a paid internship. Mr. Poole asks her about factors in selecting a position after graduation. Electrical engineering students Lory and Garbis tell Mr. Poole about their interests in this field and about the guidance from and influence of professors William Huggins and Ferdinand Hamburger. They also critique the curriculum and describe their future plans.