Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 Ernest B. McKissick Papers #5299, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received on deposit from Charmaine McKissick-Melton of Manson, N.C., in November 2006 (Acc. 100529). Addition of 2012 recieved on deposit from Beverly McNeill, grand-daughter of Ernest B. and Magnolia Thompson McKissick, in September 2012 (Acc. 101661). Addition to folder 4 recieved from Beverly McNeill, June 2017 (Acc. 103106).

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.

Processed by: Sara Mannheimer, December 2011

Encoded by: Sara Mannheimer, December 2011

Finding aid updated in November 2012 by Julie Seifert and in July 2017 because of additions

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 families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• African American soldiers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• African American soldiers--Photographs.
• African Americans--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Asheville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• McKissick family.
• McKissick, Ernest B. (Ernest Boyce), b. 1895.
• McNeill, William Duncan, 1923-
• Oral history.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• United States. Army. Infantry Division, 92nd.
• World War, 1914-1918--North Carolina--Asheville.
• World War, 1914-1918--Participation, African American.
• World War, 1939-1945--Participation, African American.

• Floyd B. McKissick Papers (#4930), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ernest Boyce McKissick (Mack) was born in Kelton, S.C., in 1895. His family moved to Asheville, N.C., around 1900. McKissick served in France, 1918-1919, with the African American 92nd Infantry Division during World War I. Returning to Asheville after the war, McKissick married Magnolia Thompson of Asheville. They had four children, the eldest of whom was Floyd S. McKissick, prominent North Carolina attorney, businessman, and civil rights leader, who was the first African American to attend the University of North Carolina's Law School. Their youngest daughter Mary Jean McKissick married William Duncan McNeill. Ernest B. McKissick died in 1980 in Asheville, N.C. Magnolia Thompson McKissick died in 1989.

William Duncan McNeill, son-in-law of Ernest B. and Magnolia Thompson McKissick, was born on 16 November 1923 in Laurinburg, N.C. He graduated from the Laurinburg Institute in 1939 and from he Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina in Greensboro, N.C., in 1944. He graduated from the School of Engineering at the Officer Candidate School in Fort Belvoir, Va., in 1945. He served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II, specifically as Service Platoon Commander 2910, and was stationed in the Phillippines. He reicieved the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory medal.

The collection chiefly contains letters, 1918-1919, from Ernest B. McKissick to his future wife, Magnolia Thompson, written during his World War I service. Letters were sent from Camp Jackson, S.C.; Camp Dix, N.J.; Camp Merritt, N.J.; and France. They include jokes, romantic sentiments, and mention of fellow soldiers from Asheville and nearby Hendersonville, but offer little information about life as a soldier. Also included are a postcard, possibly from McKissick to H.E. Jones, and two letters to McKissick from Floyd S. Bixler, a wholesaler from Pennsylvania whom McKissick met while working at a hotel in Asheville. The Addition of 2012 contains a letter written by William Duncan McNeill to his future wife, Mary Jean McKissick, discussing McNeill's mother, mutual friends, and an article that McNeill read in The Negro Digest about success in marriage. There are also military records relating to McNeill's service in the United States Army during World War II, three portraits of McNeill circa 1944 in uniform, and a resume possibly created in 1991 detailing McNeill's work history from 1939 to 1991. Also included is a transcript of a 1977 oral history of Ernest B. and Magnolia Thompson McKissick and transcripts of family tributes from the funeral service for Ernest B. McKissick, obituaries of Ernest B. McKissick, and funeral programs for Ernest B. McKissick and Magnolia Thompson McKissick.