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Collection Number: 05668

Collection Title: Carol Wills Materials on Eddie Hatcher, 1980s-2009

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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Size .5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 200 items)
Abstract Materials collected by journalist Carol Wills on Lumbee activist Eddie Hatcher primarily concerning Hatcher's 1988 trial for holding hostages at the The Robesonian newspaper office in Robeson County, N.C. Materials include letters from Hatcher to Wills, 1988-1989, written from the Robeson County Prison and Wills's notes and writings about the trial.
Creator Wills, Carol J.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 Carol Wills Materials on Eddie Hatcher #5668, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Carol Wills in January 2016 (Acc. 102494).
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.
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Processed by: SHC and TS staff, February 2016

Encoded by: Jackie Dean, February 2016

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse 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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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Carol Wills worked for The Independent in Durham, N.C., during the time that Eddie Hatcher was on trial for holding hostages at the The Robesonian newspaper office. Eddie Hatcher was a Lumbee activist in Robeson County, N.C. He and Timothy Jacobs said they held hostages at The Robesonian to draw attention to racism, drug trafficing, and poverty in Lumberton and the county. In October 1988, Carol Wills jointed a "Witness for Justice Team" sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconcilliation to visit Robeson County, N.C., to observe Hatcher's trial. Hatcher and Wills developed a close relationship over the next ten years. Wills corresponded with Hatcher and collected materials about trials. He had been incarcerated many times for his activism and was stabbed and infected with HIV in the 1980s while in prison. In 2001, Hatcher was convicted of murder and died in prison in 2009.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection contains letters from Eddie Hatcher to Carol Wills, 1988-1999, written from the Robeson County Prison. There are Wills's notes and writings about the Hatcher case, letters from Eddie Hatcher's supporters, and an unpublished work written by Eddie Hatcher about Jesse Helms in 1997. There are also materials about Hatcher collected by Carol Wills including newspaper clippings regarding his incarceration, trial, and acquital in 1988 among other items.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Carol Wills Materials on Eddie Hatcher, 1980s-2009.

About 200 items.

Carol Wills's groupings of materials have, for the most part, been retained.

Folder 1-5

Folder 1

Folder 2

Folder 3

Folder 4

Folder 5

Eddie Hatcher materials, 1980s-2009

Contains articles by Carol Wills about Eddie Hatcher, artwork by Hatcher, clippings about Hatcher's trial, an article by Hatcher, letters to Carol Wills from lawyers and judges involved in the trial, and Wills's personal notes about Hatcher.

Folder 6

"God Did Not Make Jessee Helms", 1997

Typescript of unpublished work by Eddie Hatcher.

Folder 7-8

Folder 7

Folder 8

Letters from Eddie Hatcher to Carol Wills, 1989-1999

Primarily letters written from the Robeson County Prison.
Folder 9-10

Folder 9

Folder 10

Robeson County clips, 1988-1989

Clippings about Eddie Hatcher's trial and other events in Robeson County.
Folder 11

Robeson Defense Committee, 1990

Letters from Eddie Hatcher and the Robeson Defense Committee to Carol Wills.

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-5668/1

Julian Pierce materials

Pierce was a Lumbee Indian candidate for Superior Court judge in Robeson County; he was murdered in 1988. Includes a photograph of Julian Pierce's funeral, an Independent Weekly article about the funeral, and a article about Pierce.

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