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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 | 8.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 3000 items) |
| Abstract | The Lewis family arrived in Raleigh, N.C., in 1923, when John D. Lewis Sr. took a job as a district manager for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company of Durham, N.C. He and his wife, Luella Alice Cox Lewis, and their two children, J.D. Lewis (John D. Lewis Jr.) (1919-2007) and Vera Lewis Embree (1921-2004), lived in southeast Raleigh and were members of First Baptist Church. J.D. Lewis was a Morehouse College graduate, one of the first African American members of the United States Marine Corps, and the first African American radio and television personality, corporate director of personnel, and director of minority affairs for WRAL of the Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC). J.D. Lewis also worked as the special markets representative for the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company; as the project director of GROW, Incorporated, a federally funded program for high school dropouts; and as the coordinator of manpower planning for the state of North Carolina. Lewis was active in many civic and community organizations as well. Vera Lewis Embree (1921-2004) graduated from the Palmer Institute for Young Women and Hampton Institute. She built a successful and celebrated career as a choreographer and professor of dance at the University of Michigan. The collection consists of papers, photographs, and audiovisual materials that chiefly relate to J.D. Lewis's working life and the civic and community organizations he supported. Lewis's career is documented by materials from Capitol Broadcasting Company, including editorials he wrote and produced; GROW, Incorporated; Manpower; Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company; National Association of Market Developers; and the National Business League. Lewis's civic leadership is evident in records of the Raleigh Community Relations Committee, which worked to integrate Raleigh public schools; political campaigns; and the Team of Progress, a group interested in political leadership at the city and county levels of government. Community organizations represented in the collection include the Garner Road YMCA; Alpha Kappa Alpha Debutante Ball; the Eastside Neighborhood Task Force; the Citizens Committee on Schools; Omega Psi Phi; and Meadowbrook Country Club, which was founded in 1959 by a small group of African American community leaders. Other materials document the Method Post Office dedication in 1965; the Montford Point Marine Association; and a youth charrette, possibly on integration of Durham schools. There are also clippings and printed materials on such topics as black power, African American history, Morehouse College, and Shaw University. There are several issues of Perfect Home, a home design and decorating magazine published by John W. Winters, a real estate broker, home builder, city councilman, state senator, and civic leader. Family materials are mainly biographical and include newspaper clippings, funeral programs, school materials, awards and certificates, and photographs. There are a few family letters, including one from 1967 with a first-hand account of rioting on Twelfth Street in Detroit and a copy of a 10 January 1967 letter in which the Lewis family opposed the selection of Mark Twain's Mississippi Melody for student performance on the grounds that it perpetuated stereotyped images of African Americans. Photographs include portraits and snapshots of four generations of the Lewis and related Cox families, documenting family life from the 1910s through the 2000s. There are non-family group portraits of Omega Psi Phi members of Durham, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company employees on its 21st anniversary, and of unidentified groups at other civic and community events. There is one folder of J.D. Lewis photographs that depict him in various work contexts. Also included is a portrait of a young Clarence Lightner, who owned a funeral home business and later served as the first African American mayor of Raleigh. Audiovisual materials chiefly relate to J.D. Lewis's work at Capitol Broadcasting Company/WRAL and his interest in African American community and history. Included are audiotapes of his editorials for WRAL; videotape of Harambee, a public affairs program about the concerns of the general public and especially African Americans; audiotape of musical performances, possibly for Teen-Age Frolic, a teenage dance and variety show; audiotape of Adventures in Negro History, an event sponsored by Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Raleigh; and film of unidentified wedding and seashore scenes. Also included are several published educational film strips on African American history with accompanying audio. |
| Creator | Lewis family. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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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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Biographical Information
The Lewis family arrived in Raleigh, N.C., in 1923, when John D. Lewis Sr. took a job as a district manager for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company of Durham, N.C. He and his wife, Luella Alice Cox Lewis, and their two children, J.D. Lewis (John D. Lewis Jr.) (J.D.) (1919-2007) and Vera Lewis Embree (1921-2004), lived in southeast Raleigh and were members of First Baptist Church.
J.D. Lewis attended Raleigh public schools and graduated in 1942 from Morehouse College where he competed for the football and track and field teams. After college, Lewis enlisted as one of the first African American members of the United States Marine Corps. He served as a Marine radio technician from 1942 to 1946, then returned to Raleigh, and the following year opened a television and radio repair business. As a side job, he was the play-by-play announcer for the Negro Baseball League. His announcer work brought him to the attention of Capital Broadcasing Company (CBC), the parent company of WRAL, which he joined in 1948 as an on-air radio personality and staff announcer on an early morning radio variety show. During the 1950s and 1960s, Lewis managed production and personnel for locally produced shows, including Teen-Age Frolic, a weekly dance and variety show that debuted in 1958 and aired until 1982.
Lewis left CBC in 1965 to take a job as the Special Markets, Public Relations, and Sales Promotion Representative for the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Raleigh. In 1968, he joined the public sector as the project director of GROW, Incorporated, a Neighborhood Youth Corps out-of-school program in the Bureau of Works Training Program under the United States Department of Labor. The program provided counselling, remedial education, and vocational training and work opportunities for high school drop outs, ages 16-21, from urban and rural backgrounds in Wake County, N.C. In 1971, Lewis became the coordinator of manpower planning for the state of North Carolina. His office established planning boards across the state to facilitate the application of federal and state funds to the problems of unemployment.
Lewis kept his hand in the media business during these years through his continued hosting of Teen-Age Frolic and as an announcer for local sporting events. He returned to full-time employment with CBC in 1974 as the company's first corporate director of personnel. Two years later, he was appointed CBC's first minority affairs director, a position he held until his retirement in 1997. As minority affairs director, Lewis was responsible for the overall content and presentation of minority affairs programs. During his second stint with CBC, he also directed WRAL's first consumer advocacy program, Call to Action; produced and recorded weekly editorials (as counterpoint to Jesse Helms and Joel Lawhon) for WRAL television and radio; and hosted Harambee, a weekly public affairs program dealing with the problems, issues, and concerns of major importance to the general public and especially the African American community.
Throughout his life, Lewis frequently served on boards and in other leadership positions for community and civic organizations, including the Raleigh Community Relations Committee, Omega Psi Phi fraternity, the Urban League, Boy Scouts of America, First Baptist Church in Raleigh, Raleigh/Wake Citizens Association, and the Community Economic Development Advisory Board. He helped to establish the Garner Road YMCA a few years after World War II and continued to fundraise for it for the next 50 years. Lewis's local celebrity also made him a popular choice to host numerous civic and social occasions, including the Alpha Kappa Alpha Debutante Ball. He received numerous awards, including the Shaw University Civic Award, Omega Man of the Year, City of Raleigh Service Award, Wake County Service Award, and City of Raleigh "Family of the Year." Lewis twice campaigned, unsuccessfully, for political office, the first time for the Raleigh school board in 1967 and the second time for the Raleigh city council in the 1980s.
J.D. Lewis married Mary Louise Wilson (1926-1999) in 1942 and with her had five children: John D. Lewis III, Evelyn Lewis, Yvonne Lewis Holley, Patricia Lewis Waddell, and Leonard Lee Lewis. The family lived in the Madonna Acres neighborhood of Raleigh, an historically African American neighborhood developed by John W. Winters; belonged to Meadowbrook Country Club, which was founded in 1959 by a small group of African American community leaders; and attended First Baptist Church. Louise Wilson worked for more than 30 years as an administrator at Shaw University. She died in 1999. J.D. Lewis died in 2007.
Vera Lewis Embree (1921-2004), like her older brother, attended Raleigh public schools. She graduated from the Palmer Institute for Young Women and Hampton Institute, where she was a four-year member of the Hampton Institute Creative Dance Group. She went on to study dance under Jose Limon, Alvin Ailey, and others before settling into a career as a choreographer and professor of dance at the University of Michigan. Embree received many accolades throughout her career, including the Governor's Michigan Artist's Award in 1986. Vera Lewis Embree died in 2004.
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Scope and Content
The Lewis Family Papers consists of papers, photographs, and audiovisual materials that chiefly relate to J.D. Lewis working life and the civic and community organizations he supported. Other family members also are represented to a lesser extent. J.D. Lewis's career is documented by materials from Capitol Broadcasting Company, including editorials he wrote and produced for WRAL; GROW, Incorporated; Manpower; Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company; National Association of Market Developers; and the National Business League. Lewis's civic leadership is evident in records of the Raleigh Community Relations Committee, which worked on race relations in the Raleigh public schools and other social issues in the 1960s and 1970s; his campaigns for the Raleigh school board and city council; and the Team of Progress, a leadership group dedicated to promoting good political leadership at the city and county levels of government. Community organizations represented in the collection include the Garner Road YMCA; Alpha Kappa Alpha Debutante Ball; the Eastside Neighborhood Task Force; the Citizens Committee on Schools; Omega Psi Phi; and Meadowbrook Country Club, which was founded in 1959 by a small group of African American community leaders. Other materials document the Method Post Office dedication in 1965; the Montford Point Marine Association; and a youth charrette, possibly on integration of Durham schools. There are also clippings and printed materials on such topics as black power, African American history, Morehouse College, and Shaw University. There are several issues of Perfect Home, a home design and decorating magazine published by John W. Winters, a real estate broker, home builder, city councilman, state senator, and civic leader. There is one folder of letters, chiefly of appreciation or solicitation of financial or moral support.
Family materials are mainly biographical and include newspaper clippings, funeral programs, school materials, awards and certificates, and photographs. Other family members represented include Vera Lewis Embree, a choreographer and professor of dance; Yvonee Lewis Holley, who founded a consulting company focused on diversity training; John D. Lewis III, who exceled at tennis and football; and Evelyn Lewis, who in 1967 served as the first African American page for the North Carolina Legislature. There are a few family letters, including a 1967 letter with a first-hand account of rioting on Twelfth Street in Detroit and a copy of a 10 January 1967 letter in which the Lewis family opposed the selection of Mark Twain's Mississippi Melody for student performance on the grounds that it perpetuated stereotyped images of African Americans.
Photographs include portraits and snapshots of four generations of the Lewis and Cox families, most taken outdoors. Portraits are chiefly of J.D. Lewis and Louise Lewis, but also include Vera Lewis Embree while dancing; John D. Lewis Sr. and the 1916 Morehouse College football team, and a young Clarence Lightner, who owned a funeral home business and later served as the first African American mayor of Raleigh, N.C. Informal snapshots document family life from the 1910s through the 2000s. There are non-family group portraits of Omega Psi Phi members of Durham, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company employees on its 21st anniversary, and of unidentified groups at other civic and community events. There is one folder of J.D. Lewis photographs that depict him in various work contexts.
Audiovisual materials chiefly relate to J.D. Lewis's work at Capitol Broadcasting Company/WRAL and his interest in African American community and history. Included are audiotapes of his editorials for WRAL; videotape of Harambee, a public affairs program on WRAL dealing with problems, issues, and concerns of the general public and especially African Americans; audiotape of musical performances, possibly for Teen-Age Frolic, a teenage dance and variety show on WRAL; audiotape of Adventures in Negro History, an event sponsored by Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Raleigh; and film of unidentified wedding and seashore scenes. Also included are several published educational film strips on African American history with accompanying audio.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Papers, 1931-2005.
Arrangement: family materials and then alphabetical by subject.
Materials chiefly relate to J.D. Lewis's working life and the civic and community organizations he supported. Other family members also are represented to a lesser extent. J.D. Lewis's career is documented by materials relating to Capitol Broadcasting Company; GROW, Incorporated; Manpower; Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company; National Association of Market Developers; and the National Business League. Lewis's civic leadership is evident in records of the Raleigh Community Relations Committee, which worked on race relations in the Raleigh public schools and other social issues; his campaigns for the Raleigh school board and city council; and the Team of Progress, a leadership group dedicated to promoting good political leadership at the city and county levels of government. Community organizations represented in the collection include the Garner Road YMCA; Alpha Kappa Alpha Debutante Ball; the Eastside Neighborhood Task Force; the Citizens Committee on Schools; Omega Psi Phi; and Meadowbrook Country Club, which was founded in 1959 by a small group of African American community leaders. Other materials document the Method Post Office dedication in 1965; the Montford Point Marine Association; a youth charrette, possibly on integration of Durham schools; school publications from Wake County; and urban development proposals at Shaw University. There are also publications from Morehouse College and Shaw University; and miscellaneous clippings and printed materials on such topics as black power, African American history, Senator Jesse Helms, minority employment and business ownership, and voting and voter registration. There are several issues of Perfect Home, a magazine published by John W. Winters, a real estate broker and home builder, Raleigh's first African American city councilman, a state senator, and a civic leader in Raleigh. Materials in this collection document Winters's campaign for city council and his presence on a number of civic committees with J.D. Lewis. There is one folder of letters, chiefly of appreciation or solicitation of financial or moral support.
Family materials are biographical and include newspaper clippings, funeral programs, school materials, and awards and certificates. Other family members represented include Vera Lewis Embree, a choreographer and professor of dance; Yvonne Lewis Holley, who founded a consulting company focused on diversity training; John D. Lewis III, who exceled at tennis and football; and Evelyn Lewis, who in 1967 served as the first non-white page for the North Carolina Legislature. There are a few family letters, including a 1967 letter with a first-hand account of rioting on Twelfth Street in Detroit and a copy of a 10 January 1967 letter in which the Lewis family opposed the selection of Mark Twain's Mississippi Melody for a school-wide student performance on the grounds that it perpetuated a stereotyped image of African Americans.
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Series 2. Photographs, 1910s-2000s.
Chiefly portraits and snapshots of four generations of the Lewis and Cox families, most taken outdoors. Portraits are chiefly of J.D. Lewis and Louise Lewis, but also include Vera Lewis Embree while dancing; John D. Lewis Sr. and the 1916 Morehouse College football team; a young Clarence Lightner, who owned a funeral home business and later served as the first African American mayor of Raleigh, N.C.; Frank Ransom as an infant; and several unidentified portraits. Informal photographs document the family from the 1910s through the 2000s, especially J.D. Lewis and Vera Lewis Embree as small children; J.D. in a Morehouse College letterman sweater; John D. Lewis III and Evelyn Lewis as small children; and J.D. repairing a radio and his Lewis Radio T.V. Clinic. There are also non-family group portraits of Omega Psi Phi members of Durham; North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company employees on its 21st anniversary and at other events; and possibly a youth group, debutantes, mothers of debutantes, and organizations in which J.D. Lewis was a member. There is one folder of J.D. Lewis photographs that depict him in various work contexts, including host of Teen-Age Frolic and of various civic events and as colleague with Jesse Helms at Capitol Broadcasting Company/WRAL.
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Series 3. Audiovisual materials, 1960s-1980s.
Various film and audio formats, chiefly relating to J.D. Lewis's work at Capitol Broadcasting Company/WRAL and African American community interests and history. Included are audiotapes of WRAL editorials; videotape of Harambee, a public affairs program on WRAL dealing with problems, issues, and concerns of the general public and especially African Americans; audiotape of musical performances, possibly for Teen-Age Frolic, a teenage dance and variety show on WRAL; audiotape of Adventures in Negro History, an event sponsored by Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Raleigh, N.C.; and film of unidentified wedding and seashore scenes. There are several published educational film strips on African American history with accompanying audio.
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Items Separated
Processed by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2011
Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2011
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