Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the James A. Felton and Annie Vaughan Felton Papers #5161, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Annie Vaughan Felton of Winton, N.C., in May 2004 (Acc. 99798) and in August 2014 (Acc. 102083); and from Biff Hollingsworth in August 2015.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

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.

• African American civic leaders--North Carolina.
• African American families--North Carolina.
• African American teachers--North Carolina.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Hertford County.
• African Americans--Photographs.
• C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum.
• Camp Lejeune (N.C.)--History--20th century.
• Felton, Annie Vaughan.
• Felton, James A. (James Andrew), 1919-1994.
• Hertford County (N.C.)--History.
• Hertford County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Association (U.S.).
• Montford Point Camp (Camp Lejeune, N.C.)
• North Carolina--Intellectual life.
• People's Program on Poverty.
• Poverty--North Carolina.
• Sermons, American.--North Carolina.
• United States. Marine Corps--African Americans--History--20th century.
• Winton (N.C.)--History.
• Winton (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

James Andrew Felton was born on 6 July 1919 in Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. After spending almost three years in the United States Marine Corps as a member of the Montford Point Marines, he earned his B.S. from Elizabeth City State Teachers College (now Elizabeth City State University) and his M.A. from North Carolina College at Durham (now North Carolina Central University). He taught in the Greene and Hertford County school systems for 20 years, and, in 1965 he published Fruits of Enduring Faith, a story that dramatizes the human issues behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the mid-1960s, Felton and Reverend John L. Scott of New Ahoskie Baptist Church formed the People's Program on Poverty, an African American organization created to study and fight poverty on the grass-roots level. Through his work in this program, Felton founded the first Family Training Center in the United States. During this time, he was also actively involved in organizations such as the President's Commission on Rural Poverty, the North Carolina Family Life Council, and a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

In 1980, Felton established the C. S. Brown School Auditorium Restoration Association to restore Brown Hall, a building that had been part of the campus of Chowan Academy, an African American school founded in 1886 by Calvin Scott Brown. The C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum in Winton, N.C., opened in 1986.

James A. Felton married Annie Vaughan on 3 August 1947. Annie Vaughan was a graduate of Elizabeth City State Teachers College and taught for many years at C.S. Brown School. She was also an active church worker, community leader, and school volunteer. The Feltons had six children: James Andrew, Jr., Keith, Maria, Sharon, Michele, and Camilla. James A. Felton died in Winton, N.C., on 6 October 1994.

For additional information about James A. Felton, see Who's Who Among Black Americans, 1st edition, 1975-1976.

The collection consists of materials documenting teacher and community activist James A. Felton's life, focusing on his civic activities and achievements, especially those related to the C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum and the People's Program on Poverty. It includes correspondence; programs for meetings and events held by educational, religious, and civic organizations; and newspaper clippings describing Felton's civic contributions in Hertford County, N.C. Also included are a short biography of Annie Vaughan Felton and some materials that she collected after her husband's death. Photographs show James A. Felton throughout his adult life with his family, his colleagues, and his students at the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Training Center. The Addition of August 2014 consists of personal and professional papers of James A. Felton and Annie Vaughan Felton, chiefly relating to civic engagments, including the C. S. Brown Cultural Arts Center and Museum, People's Program on Poverty, the North Carolina Family Life Council, and the Montford Point Marines. Documents include correspondence, sermons, event programs, photographs, reports, and newsletters.

• Oversize papers (OPF-5161/1)
• Videotapes (VT-5161/1-3)
• Photographs (PF-5161/1-5)
• Film (F-5161/1)