The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Legal professions

Repository: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Southern Oral History Program

Collection Description (Extant): Interviews conducted by students of the University of North Carolina School of Law with prominent lawyers and judges in North Carolina. Most of the interviews deal with the interviewees' families and personal lives as well as with their legal careers and thoughts about the law and the legal profession. Many interviews discuss childhood experiences, memories of World War II or the Vietnam War, college and law school experiences at UNC and elsewhere, memorable cases, and views on legal ethics. Several interviews, especially those with African American or Native American lawyers and judges, address issues of racial segregation, school integration, and civil rights law. Several interviews describe working with Julius L. Chambers. Other interviews address the careers of women in the legal profession. Several interviewees discussed their ideas about the death penalty. Some of the lawyers interviewed are also politicians; several served in the North Carolina General Assembly or in the United States Congress.

SCOPE AND CONTENT: These interviews were undertaken as part of a course taught by Walter H. Bennett, Jr., associate professor of law. The interviews were subsequently transcribed at the Law School and donated to the Southern Oral History Program Collection. Additions to this series may be made from time to time.

Access Copy Note: Some interviews are restricted or closed as noted in the finding aid.
Interview transcripts are CLOSED while they are being digitized. Please contact the The Southern Historical Collection for more information.
If an interview has been transcribed, researchers should quote from the transcript. If no transcript is available, reference to material in the interview should be taken from the audio recording. Some interviews have restrictions imposed by the interviewees or interviewers; restricted interviews are clearly marked. Researchers may, for example, be required to obtain written permission from the interviewee or interviewer to quote from the interview.
Use of audiotapes or videotapes may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Collection URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/sohp/projects.html

Digital Status: Yes

Existing IDs: Collection Number: 04007 J

Extent: 82 items

Finding Aid URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/s/Southern_Oral_History_Program_Collection.html

Language: English

Interviewees: James H. Bailey, Daniel Terry Blue, Sam J. Ervin, James E. Ferguson, Katherine S. Holliday, Harry E. Martin, Barry Nakell, Melvin L. Watt, Charles L. Becton, Doris R. Bray, Dexter Brooks, William Hyslop Sumner Burgwyn, Roy W. Davis, James K. Dorsett, James C. Fuller, Burley B. Mitchell, B. B. Olive, Alexander Ralston, Elreta N. Melton, Frank Snepp, Howard F. Twiggs, Gregory A. Weeks, Leslie J. Winner, Marcellus Buchanan, Robert S. Cahoon, Joseph B. Cheshire, V, George Daly, Allyson K. Duncan, Malcolm Ray "Tye" Hunter, Horace Kornegay, Kenneth W. Lewis, Shirley Fulton, Joseph W. Grier, Jr., Robin L. Hinson, Patricia Hunt Love, James O. Cobb, Jr., E. Osborne Ayscue, Jr., Samuel M. Tate, William E. Poe, Adam Stein, James G. Exum, E. D. Gaskins, Jr. Richard C. Erwin, Robert M. Martin, Ben O. Bridgers, Louis B. Meyer, Roger W. Smith, William Scarborough, Jr., David Sentelle, McNeill Smith, Norman Smith, Mary Ann Tally, Richard Vinroot, D. J. Walker, Hiram Ward, James A. Wellons, Jr., Mayne Albright, George Bason, Lisbon C. Berry, Jr., Willis Whichard, Sydnor Thompson, Sidney S. Eagles, Jr., H. Gerald Beaver, Joseph Blount Cheshire, IV, William A. Dees, William K. Diehl, Bertha Holt, Emil F. Kratt, J. Kenneth Lee, Jerry W. Leonard, Thomas A. Lockhart, Michael G. Okun, Julia V. Jones, William P. Murphy, William L. Thorp, Harvey Beech, Ann Slifkin, Hazel Mack, Mark Bernstein, James Exum, Jr., Howard Manning, Pender McElroy, Paul Bell

Rights (Extant): When the copyright has not been assigned to the University of North Carolina, copyright is retained by the interviewers/interviewees, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Subjects:

African American judges
African American lawyers--North Carolina
Civil rights--Cases
Civil rights--North Carolina
Judges
Lawyers
North Carolina--Politics and government
School integration--Law and legislation
School integration--North Carolina

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings
Transcripts