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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 39 interviews |
| Abstract | The Southern Oral History Program conducts and collects interviews with Southerners who have made significant contributions to various fields of human endeavor. In addition, the Program undertakes special projects with the purpose of rendering historically visible those whose experience is not reflected in traditional written sources. The Southern Oral History Program Collection, Series X: Rural South contains interviews that explore social, economic, and political life of the rural south, with a particular focus on foodways, racial discrimination, and segregated spaces. |
| Creator | Southern Oral History Program. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English. |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Finding aid for Series X: Rural South created and encoded by Laura Hart and Mary Oliva in July 2017.
Updated by Laura Hart in May 2018.
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Historical Information
In 1973, the History Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill established an oral history program devoted to the study of the southern region of the United States.
The Southern Oral History Program collects interviews with Southerners who have made significant contributions to various fields of human endeavor. In addition, the Program undertakes special projects with the purpose of rendering historically visible those whose experience is not reflected in traditional written sources. Interviews are conducted by Program staff, graduate students, faculty members, and consultants. The Program also serves as a collecting agency, accepting donations of tapes and transcripts of interviews conducted by other researchers.
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Scope and Content
The South is a place and an experience that motivates identity and historical change. These interviews, 2014-, explore social, economic, and political life of the rural south, with a particular focus on foodways, racial discrimination, and segregated spaces. This project was born out of Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery's research on southern foodways (drawing from her involvement with the documentary television series A Chef's Life, which airs nationally on PBS and focuses on locally-produced foods, farmers, and kitchen labor in eastern North Carolina) and Lumbee history and communities, and Dr. Seth Kotch's work on making visible the sometimes invisible forces of structural discrimination in African American rural communities. These interviews merge geography with gender, race, labor, and the environment to understand rural spaces and places in North Carolina and beyond and change over time in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
ONLINE INTERVIEW DATABASE
Click here for the online, sortable list of oral history interviews in this series. Each interview is cataloged in the interview database with descriptive information about the interviewee and the contents of the interview. Transcriptions and audio recordings for many of the unrestricted interviews are available in this online database.
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Series Quick Links
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X.1. Rural South: Individual Biographies, 2015.
Interviews conducted in HIST/FOLK 670: Introduction to Oral History, taught by Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery, in the spring 2015 semester with individuals about their experiences in rural southern spaces, including foodways, race, gender, labor, and the environment.
ONLINE INTERVIEW DATABASE
Click here for the online, sortable list of oral history interviews in this series. Each interview is cataloged in the interview database with descriptive information about the interviewee and the contents of the interview. Transcriptions and audio recordings for many of the unrestricted interviews are available in this online database.
Mamie Barnes, African American domestic worker, with interviewer Kimber Thomas. 13 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0001 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
William Bell, African American mayor, with interviewer Baptiste Sibieude. 4 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0002 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Raymond Blackwell, African American student, with interviewer Jacob Rosenberg. 16 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0003 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Thomas Bonfield, white city manager, with interviewer Baptiste Sibieude. 8 April 2015
| Digital Folder X-0004 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Wicker Clayton, white teacher, with interviewer Elizabeth Mary Walters. 10 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0005 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Lloyd Evans, Jr., white pharmacist, with interviewer Hannah Collier. 29 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0006 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Selma Evans, white homemaker, with interviewer Hannah Collier. 29 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0007 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Lynne Fedor, white teacher, with interviewer Jacob Rosenberg. 17 April 2015
| Digital Folder X-0008 |
Digital transcript
|
Clarence F. Hébert, African American educator, with interviewer Mishio Yamanaka. 1 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0009 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Hunter Levinsohn, white artist, with interviewer Sarah Lerner. 19 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0010 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials Digital pictures |
McNeal, white storyteller and attorney, with interviewer Beth Sarah Nelson. 12 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0012 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Judith Montenegro, Latinx community organizer, with interviewer Eladio Bobadilla. 4 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0013 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
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Garcia Rico, Latinx community organizer, with interviewer Eladio Bobadilla. 6 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0014 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Dobbin Smith with interviewer D Mary Williams. 13 February 2015
| Digital Folder X-0015 |
Digital transcript
|
Aung Oo with interviewer Alison Kinney. 6 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0016 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Wilbur Tharpe, African American teacher and musician, with interviewer D Mary Williams. 6 April 2015
| Digital Folder X-0017 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Cindy Thomas, African American teacher, with interviewer Kimber Thomas. 14 April 2015
| Digital Folder X-0018 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Barbara Trevigne with interviewer Mishio Yamanaka. 1 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0019 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Charles van der Horst, white professor and physician, with interviewer Sarah Lerner. 30 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0020 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Betty Ann Wylie, white storyteller, with interviewer Beth Sarah Nelson. 13 March 2015
| Digital Folder X-0021 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Robert Harvey, white military personnel and engineer, with interviewer Shannon James. 17 July 2015
| Digital Folder X-0022 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Wayne Gooding, white business owner and fisherman, with interviewer Shannon James. 28 July 2015
| Digital Folder X-0023 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
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X.2. Rural South: Back Ways: Understanding Segregation in the Rural South, 2014-2016.
Back Ways: Understanding Segregation in the Rural South is an interdisciplinary, collaborative research project designed to unearth, describe, and map the often hidden forces of structural and institutional discrimination that have outlasted the victories of the Civil Rights Movement. This project began in 2014 under the direction of Seth Kotch, professor in American Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, and interviews have been conducted by Darius Scott, SOHP field scholar and PhD in Geography at UNC Chapel Hill. The geographic focus of this project is rural piedmont and eastern North Carolina, where poverty and crime rates remain high, academic performance is low, and residents - especially African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos - are routinely seen as threatening or incapable. This project is situated in a growing body of scholarship around space, place, and identity, central issues to research in the humanities. It seeks to engage a community in a conversation about how it shaped its own spaces in the face of formal discrimination and the effects of those acts of resistance.
ONLINE INTERVIEW DATABASE
Click here for the online, sortable list of oral history interviews in this series. Each interview is cataloged in the interview database with descriptive information about the interviewee and the contents of the interview. Transcriptions and audio recordings for many of the unrestricted interviews are available in this online database.
David Caldwell, African American police officer and community organizer, with interviewer Darius Scott. 23 September 2014
| Digital Folder X-0024 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Barry Jacobs, white government employee and writer, with interviewer Darius Scott. 30 October 2014
| Digital Folder X-0025 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Peter Kramer, white social worker, with interviewer Darius Scott. 22 June 2014
| Digital Folder X-0026 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital pictures
|
Tom Magnuson, white community organizer and military personnel, with interviewer Darius Scott. 18 June 2014
| Digital Folder X-0027 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Hattie McCauley, African American seamstress and business owner, with interviewer Darius Scott. 31 October 2014
| Digital Folder X-0028 |
Digital transcript Digital audio Digital supplementary materials
|
Regina Merritt and Mary Cole with interviewer Darius Scott. 11 August 2014
| Digital Folder X-0029 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Gertrude Nunn and Judy Nunn Snipes with interviewer Darius Scott. 10 October 2014
| Digital Folder X-0030 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Freddie L. Parker, African American professor, with interviewer Darius Scott. 15 August 2014
| Digital Folder X-0031 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Harold Russell, African American scientist, with interviewer Darius Scott. 10 August 2014
| Digital Folder X-0032 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Omega R. Wilson and Brenda Wilson with interviewer Darius Scott. 13 July 2015
| Digital Folder X-0033 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Patricia Torain, African American computer programmer, with interviewer Darius Scott. 20 July 2015
| Digital Folder X-0034 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Evon Connally, African American health care worker, with interviewer Darius Scott. 5 August 2015
| Digital Folder X-0035 |
Digital transcript Digital audio
|
Fred Battle has fought tirelessly for civil rights. He was jailed for participating in a student protest in Greensboro, N.C., and he eventually founded the Chapel Hill chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In this interview, Mr. Battle discusses segregation in Chapel Hill during the 1950s and 1960s. He describes race relations, race riots, and protests, but also the African American business owners who worked to provide quality products and services for Chapel Hill's African American residents.
| Digital Folder X-0036 |
Digitized transcript Digitized audio |
Robert Campbell explains what life was like in segregated Chapel Hill. In particular, he discusses attending both segregated and integrated schools; he explains how churches helped African Americans navigate segregated worlds; he recalls how segregation affected the physical landscape in Chapel Hill; and he describes the area in Chapel Hill where black business existed and thrived. He is currently the President of the Carrboro Chapter of the NAACP and is an active member of the Rogers Eubanks Neighborhood Association.
| Digital Folder X-0037 |
Digitized transcript Digitized audio |
Burnice Hackney notes that his family has resided in rural Chatham County, on a 100-acre farm purchased by his great-grandfather, since the 1830s. He still resides on the original homestead. In this interview, Mr. Hackney discusses growing up on his family's farm during segregation, and he explains how the land insulated him from racism. He also recounts his experiences attending segregated schools in Chapel Hill, and he talks specifically about his transition from an all-Black high school to an integrated one during the 1960s. He is currently working to build a mixed-use facility near Rogers Rd. for the residents of the area and for the members of St. Paul A.M.E. Church.
| Digital Folder X-0038 |
Digitized transcript Digitized audio |
Howard Lee served as mayor of Chapel Hill from 1969-1975, becoming the third African American mayor to be elected in the United States. While serving as mayor of Chapel Hill, Mr. Lee also worked as an academic administrator for both Duke and North Carolina Central universities. In this interview, Howard Lee describes life in Chapel Hill during his six years as mayor. In particular, he explains how geographic isolation caused certain segments of the population to be underserved, and he discusses the measures he took to break down those barriers.
| Digital Folder X-0039 |
Digitized transcript Digitized audio |
Willie Breeze discusses her experiences growing up and returning to live as an adult on her family's land outside of Hillsborough, N.C. Breeze was one of the early African American students that integrated Orange High School in the 1960s. A lifelong self-described "trailblazer," she was one of few women in an active duty army unit in the 1970s and then went on to complete a nursing degree from UNC as one of only a small number of African American students. The interview explores Breeze's reflections on the changes in the local community over time as well as the persistence of racism in Hillsborough and the return of segregation to parts of the town.
| Digital Folder X-0040 |
Digitized transcript Digitized audio |