Louise Cavagnaro, originally from Portland, Oregon, was a major figure in the history of the Johns Hopkins Hospital for the last half of the twentieth century. She served as an operating nurse in combat zones during World War II and the director of nursing in Hiroshima with the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, after which she earned an M.A. in Hospital Administration from Columbia University and came to work at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1953. She filled many roles during her time teaching and administrating in the Hospital, as well as the School of Nursing. Most notably, it was Cavagnaro who led the charge to desegregate the Hospital and its affiliate institutions, about which she wrote a book in 1992 titled "A History of Segregation and Desegregation at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions." In this oral history, Cavagnaro describes the challenges of being a female in the male-dominated medical milieu of the 1950s, the Johns Hopkins Hospital and how it has changed over time, and the racial politics of the Hospital. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Franklin Knight, born in Jamaica in 1942, is a professor of Atlantic History in the Department of History at Johns Hopkins, having started teaching in 1973. He was the first African-American professor to be tenured at the university and has received numerous awards and honors for his academic achievements. Professor Knight has published multiple books and articles, as well as directed the History of African Americans at the Johns Hopkins Institutions project. In this oral history, Knight discusses the history of the History Department and the university during his tenure at Hopkins, as well as his own experiences with Latin American scholarship and teaching. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.