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Full Description of Oral Histories of the American South
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Collection Information
Title:
Oral Histories of the American South
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Items:
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Description:
"Oral Histories of the American South" is a three-year project to select, digitize and make available 500 oral history interviews gathered by the Southern Oral History Program (SOHP). These 500 are being selected from a collection of over 4,000 interviews, housed at the Southern Historical Collection, that cover a range of fascinating topics. This project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Charlotte: Integration is a major focus of these interviews. A large portion of the interviewees were students at West Charlotte High School during its transition from a traditionally black school to an integrated one. Other important topics include business and politics in Charlotte.
Civil Rights: Race and civil rights are subjects that naturally appear across all five of the areas represented by these interviews; this group of interviews focuses largely on integration at Lincoln High School in Chapel Hill and the roles of African American employees at the University of North Carolina.
Environmental Transformations: A group of 21 interviews focusing on environmental issues across the state of North Carolina.
Piedmont Industrialization: Textiles have long been a vital part of the southern economy, a fact amply reflected in these interviews, but other sectors have also grown in importance over the past several decades. In addition to mill workers, interviewees include business leaders who have contributed to the changing business landscape in the South.
Southern Politics: These oral histories stretch back to 1973, the very beginning of the Southern Oral History Project, and include many interviews with prominent politicians from across the political spectrum. Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Andrew Young appear in this collection along with Lester Maddox, George Wallace, and Jesse Helms.
Southern Women: These interviews reflect the influence of women in science, medicine, education, law, politics, activism, as well as in factories, where a significant portion of the workforce was and is made up of women.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
Civil rights
Southern States
Women
Politics and government
Race relations
Segregation in education
Disaster relief
African Americans
Environmental Issues
Desegregation
Southern States
Women
Politics and government
Race relations
Segregation in education
Disaster relief
African Americans
Environmental Issues
Desegregation
GEM Subjects:
Geographic Coverage:
Time Period:
1950-1969
1970-1999
2000 to present
1970-1999
2000 to present
Objects Represented:
Format:
image/jpeg
text/html
audio
text/xml
text/html
audio
text/xml
Language:
eng
Audience:
General public
Genealogists/History Enthusiasts
K-12 students
Undergraduate Students
Staff at peer/partner organizations
K-12 teachers and administrators
Scholars/Researchers/Graduate Students
Genealogists/History Enthusiasts
K-12 students
Undergraduate Students
Staff at peer/partner organizations
K-12 teachers and administrators
Scholars/Researchers/Graduate Students
Interaction with Collection:
Search
Browse
Interactive learning objects
Browse
Interactive learning objects
Size:
500 oral histories interviews (audio files and transcripts)
Frequency of additions:
Monthly
Supplementary Materials:
Contextual information
Teacher and student resources
EAD, Abstract
Teacher and student resources
EAD, Abstract
Contributing Institution:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. School of Education
Contributing Institution:
University of North Carolina, Center for the Study of the American South, Oral History Program
Contributing Institution:
University of North Carolina Library, Southern Historical Collection
Hosting Institution:
Associated Collections
Associated Physical Collections:
Title:
Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) Collection
Notes:
<http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/htm/04007.html> 
In 1973, the History Dept. of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill established an oral history program devoted to the study of the southern region of the United States. The Southern Oral History Program collects interviews with Southerners who have made significant contributions to various fields of human endeavor. In addition, the Program undertakes special projects with the purpose of rendering historically visible those whose experience is not reflected in traditional written sources. Interviews are conducted by Program staff, graduate students, faculty members, and consultants. The Program also serves as a collecting agency, accepting donations of tapes and transcripts of interviews conducted by other researchers. The collection includes sound recordings of interviews conducted under the auspices of the Southern Oral History Program or by other researchers, who donated their recordings to the Program. Also included are transcripts of most interviews, abstracts or tape indexes of many interviews, introductory biographical sketches for some interviews, and photographs of a few interviewees. The contents of each series of interviews is described in separate catalog records.
In 1973, the History Dept. of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill established an oral history program devoted to the study of the southern region of the United States. The Southern Oral History Program collects interviews with Southerners who have made significant contributions to various fields of human endeavor. In addition, the Program undertakes special projects with the purpose of rendering historically visible those whose experience is not reflected in traditional written sources. Interviews are conducted by Program staff, graduate students, faculty members, and consultants. The Program also serves as a collecting agency, accepting donations of tapes and transcripts of interviews conducted by other researchers. The collection includes sound recordings of interviews conducted under the auspices of the Southern Oral History Program or by other researchers, who donated their recordings to the Program. Also included are transcripts of most interviews, abstracts or tape indexes of many interviews, introductory biographical sketches for some interviews, and photographs of a few interviewees. The contents of each series of interviews is described in separate catalog records.
Hosting Institution:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Southern Historical Collection
Complementary Digital Collections:
Collection Home:
Description:
"The Southern Homefront, 1861-1865," documents Southern life during the Civil War, especially the unsuccessful attempt to create a viable nation state as evidenced in both private and public life. "Homefront" includes over four hundred digitized and encoded contemporary printed works and manuscripts, accompanied by ca. 1,000 images of currency, manuscript letters, maps, broadsides, title pages, illustrations, and photographs.
Hosting Institution:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Libraries.
Collection Home:
Description:
"The North Carolina Experience, Beginnings to 1940" is a collection that tells the story of the Tar Heel State as seen through representative histories, descriptive accounts, institutional reports, fiction, and other writing. It comprises digitized and encoded printed works, images, and oral history interviews and workplace songs.
Hosting Institution:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Libraries.
Collection Home:
Items:
Description:
"North Carolinians and the Great War" examines how World War I shaped the lives of different North Carolinians on the battlefield and on the home front as well how the state and federal government responded to war-time demands. The collection focuses on the years of American involvement in the war between 1917 and 1919, but it also examines the legacies of the war in the 1920s.
Hosting Institution:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Libraries.