Audio recording of Freddie Reynolds speaking with Charles and Janice Rosenak

In this recording, Chuck and Jan Rosenak interview artist Freddie Reynolds at his residence in Washington D.C. They discuss Reynolds’s childhood, schooling, and parents. Reynolds extensively discusses his father, Francis Reynolds, who he describes as a brilliant and politically active Black man (Francis, according to Reynolds, invented the cinder block), but who became mentally distressed later in life. Note: Reynolds also shares his own struggles with his mental and physical health. Also in this interview, Reynolds discusses the various jobs he has held overtime, including working as a waiter on a railroad, until he came to making art and writing books and poetry. This recording includes Reynolds reading one of his poems called “My Lament.” The interview ends with a discussion of Reynolds’s art.