Restrictions to Access

This collection contains audiovisual and born digital materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Use of audiotapes may require production of listening copies.

Access to streaming audio or moving image materials may be restricted to researchers who can authenticate with an ONYEN or who are physically present on campus. For further information about access to streaming audiovisual materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff at Wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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 Lee Family of Caswell County, N.C., Papers #5592, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Dr. Winona Evelyn Lee Fletcher in May 2014 (Acc. 102035), March 2015 (Acc. 102192), January 2016 (Acc. 102505), March 2016 (Acc. 102539), September 2016 (Acc. 102642), December 2016 (Acc. 103008), and August 2019 (Acc. 103663).

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.

Encoded by: Amanda Loeb, July 2015

Revisions by: Jodi Berkowitz, October 2016; Amy Morgan and Jodi Berkowitz, March 2019; Nancy Kaiser and Patrick Cullom, September 2019; Dawne Howard Lucas, February 2022; Rebecca Stubbs and Laura Smith, November 2023

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Caswell County.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Genealogy.
• Baylor, Olivia Fletcher, 1997-.
• Children--North Carolina--History.
• Ellicott City, Md.
• Family reunions.
• Fletcher, Winona L.
• Frankfurt, Ky.
• Johnson C. Smith College.
• Lee family (Caswell County, N.C.)
• Lee, J. Kenneth (John Kenneth), 1923-
• Weddings--North Carolina--History--20th century.

• Winona Fletcher Collection, SC 2, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington
• Winona Lee Fletcher Papers, Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans, Kentucky State University
• Winona Fletcher Collection of American Theatre Association Records, *T-Mss 1996-038. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library
• J. Kenneth Lee Papers (#4782), Southern Historical Collection

The Lee family is an African American family with roots in Caswell County, N.C. Members of the Lee family include J. Kenneth Lee (1923- ) and Dr. Winona Evelyn Lee Fletcher (1926- ), as well as their siblings, Alvis Lee (1916-2004), Ann Lee (1918- ), Bessie Lee Ingram Draw (1914-1991), Henry Franklin Lee (1903-1983), James Alphonso Lee (1900-1967), Lillian Lee (1911-1999), Pauline (Polly) Lee Tyler (1921-2013), and Viola Lee (1905-1995); and Fletcher's daughter Betty Anne (Fletcher) Baylor (1952-) and granddaughter Olivia Fletcher Baylor (1997-). J. Kenneth Lee is a lawyer in Greensboro, N.C., and was one of the first two African American students to attend the School of Law at the University of North Carolina in 1951. Dr. Winona L. Fletcher conducted pioneering research for the Federal Theater Project in the 1930s and made a career as a theater professional and educator. Dr. Fletcher taught theatre and drama at Kentucky State College (later University) from 1951 to 1978, and at Indiana University from 1978 to 1994. From 1971 to 1973, while on leave from Kentucky State, she assisted Indiana University in the development of an Afro-American Studies Department. During her tenure at Indiana University, Fletcher served as Producing Director for the Afro-American Arts Institute's 1986 revival of "Prelude to Swing" as "Prelude to Swing +50". Dr. Fletcher has been very involved with a number of theatre organizations, most notably through her work with the Kennedy Center, her research and work with the American College Theatre Festival Lorraine Hansberry contest for new playwrights, and her research into the Negro units of the Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s. Some of the other theatre organizations with which she has been prominently associated include the American Theatre Association, the University and College Theatre Association, the National Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Black Theatre Network, and the National Conference of African American Theatre. Dr. Fletcher has also been a civic and social leader in her community, sorority, and church.

The collection contains papers and photographs documenting the Lee family of Caswell County, N.C. Multiple generations of the Lee family are represented in the collection, chiefly Dr. Winona L. (Lee) Fletcher and J. Kenneth Lee, as well as their siblings, and Fletcher's granddaughter Olivia Baylor. The collection consists of funeral programs for various family members and materials used to create them; two photograph albums containing family photographs; loose family photographs; a small number of letters; and audio recordings of family stories and the funeral of Nancy Lee.

Additions to the collection include biographical materials, especially research and supplementary materials for the publication of two Lee family books: No Way: Memoirs of J. Kenneth Lee, by J. Kenneth Lee and Winona L. Fletcher; and Offshoots: The H. F. Lee Family Book, by Lillian L. Humphrey and Winona L. Fletcher. Material types include correspondence, photographs, interviews on tape, digital files, news clippings, and family member profiles. There are also documents related to Winona L. Fletcher’s career in theater and J. Kenneth Lee’s career in law.

• Audio (C-5592/1-11)
• VHS (V-5592/1-3)
• Film (F-5592/1)
• Digital files (DF-5592/1-3)
• Photographs (PF-5592/1-4, IB-5592/1-6, PA-5592/1-2, XOP-PF-5592/1)
• Oversize papers (OPF-5592/1-2)
• Oversize volume (SV-5592/1)