Paul Quin is a writer and designer who graduated from Hopkins in 1965 with a degree from the Writing Seminars. Quin notes Elliot Coleman, founder of the Writing Seminars in 1947, as an early teacher. During his undergraduate years at Hopkins, Quin witnessed historical events at the school including the anti-segregation protests from 1962-1963 and when Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke on campus. In this interview, Quin talks about his early life, experiences at Hopkins, coming to terms with his identity as a gay man, life in Baltimore in the early 1960s, and the trajectory of his life in his post-Hopkins years. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral histories series.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on September 18, 1951, Dr. Benjamin Carson received his B.A. in psychology from Yale University and his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School, after which he became a resident in neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. At the Hospital, he was a professor of neurosurgery, oncology, and pediatrics, specializing in brain injuries and notably separating conjoined twins in 1987. While practicing medicine and since retiring in 2013, Carson has served on numerous boards of trustees, received medals such as Presidential Medal of Freedom, published academic articles and six books, and undertaken a career in politics. In this oral history, Carson describes his relationship with Hopkins, the unique character of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and his work as a doctor. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Dr. Karl Alexander is the John Dewey Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Founder and Director of the Thurgood Marshall Alliance. Before joining Johns Hopkins in 1971, he earned his B.A. from Temple University (1968) and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (1972). In this interview, Alexander discusses his dissertation work at UNC and contributions to Hopkins' new Center for Social Organization of Schools in the 1970s. He goes on to detail his work in the sociology of education, which drew from field research in Baltimore, as well as his founding of the Thurgood Marshall Alliance, which aims to improve economic and racial diversity in Baltimore schools. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral histories series.

Dr. Joyce Epstein, who earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from Johns Hopkins (1974), is a research professor of education and sociology at the JHU School of Education and director of both the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools. She discusses joining JHU's Center for Social Organization of Schools in 1974, working with James Coleman, a CSOS project with the Howard County School District, changing technologies and methods for performing quantitative research, challenges of conducting research and partnerships with school districts, and the impact of CSOS during its first 50 years. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral history series.