Inventory of the Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South Records, 1940-1997and undated (bulk 1993-1997)

[top]

---

Descriptive Summary

Title Creator Extent Repository Language [top]

---

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions Use Restrictions Preferred Citation Provenance Processing Information [top]

---

Historical Note

Launched by Duke University's Lyndhurst Center for Documentary Studies in 1990, the Behind the Veil project seeks to record and preserve the living memory of African-American life during the age of legal segregation in the American South, from the 1890s to the 1950s. In order to correct historical misrepresentations of African-American experiences in the Jim Crow South, the project seized the opportunity to capture, through interviews, family photographs and other materials, the memories of black elders who survived this era of profound racial oppression. The resulting collection offers researchers an abundance of rich resources for understanding black self-images, racial pride and achievement during the long period of American apartheid. This documentary record reflects not only the terror, hardship and frustration of this period of second-class citizenship, but also the individual and collective struggles of black southerners to survive and prosper in spite of the policies of white supremacy. By collecting narratives that recount the everyday experiences of African Americans from various locations and backgrounds, the collection provides rich documentary evidence of the diversity of black life during the Jim Crow era.

Behind the Veil not only focuses on the experiences of individuals, but it also reflects the importance of black institutions as the backbone of black communities. The interviews, documents and photographs reflect the crucial role that black churches, fraternal societies, women's clubs, and political organizations played in African American community life. The testimony of educators and students from historically black colleges, agricultural schools and institutes enrich conventional beliefs about black agency in segregated schools. A rich record about black education can be gleaned from examining certain research sites including Tuskegee, Ala.; Fargo, Ark.; Tallahassee, Fla.; and Norfolk, Va.

Behind the Veil also provides a richly detailed account of the shape of southern segregation across time and in diverse locations, mapping the contours of both the formal laws and informal rules that restricted southern life. Segregation as public policy differed in rural and urban communities, while the rules that governed black interactions with whites often were distinct to each community. These nuances that governed race relations in southern cities, towns and rural communities are interspersed throughout the documents in this collection.

Although the questions that spurred on research in the Behind the Veil Project were raised by historians interested primarily in the age of segregation, the resulting record can inform research in diverse fields. Although the focus of the interviews was on the Jim Crow era, the life history format of most interviews led informants to comment on events after segregation. Vital information about civil rights struggles in the 1960s, African American participation in desegregation within local communities, and post-1965 activism and community work are also included in many Behind the Veil interviews. The interviews in this collection also raise crucial questions about the shape of memory and the creation of narratives that can inform not only research in oral history but also literature and anthropology. Research into black religion can be enriched by the voices of Behind the Veil. Studies that examine oppression and resistance could be challenged by the rich documentary record of labor and social culture that the collection presents. The Behind the Veil collection illuminates innumerable topics, time periods, and research interests.

During the summers of 1993, 1994 and 1995, multi-racial research teams traveled throughout the South to conduct oral history interviews with elders in African-American communities. During the first summer, the project ran a series of pilot studies in five North Carolina communities. Subsequently, the project followed a thematic approach while conducting research in areas selected to represent the diversity of cultures and geographic regions within the South, as well as the predominant work cultures of the region. Researchers were chosen from applications from history graduate students at a diverse range of schools, from the Ivy League to historically black institutions such as Jackson State and Clark-Atlanta to state universities such as Michigan and Maryland. Collectively, they conducted 1260 oral history interviews in more than twenty communities in ten Southern states. They also copied thousands of family photographs and other materials that reveal the diversity of African-American experiences under Jim Crow.

While based at Duke University, the Behind the Veil project has been a collaborative venture from its inception. Scholars from historically black colleges and universities such as LeMoyne-Owen College, North Carolina Central University, Johnson C. Smith University, Jackson State University and Clark-Atlanta University have helped to shape the research project and have developed related curriculum projects to introduce undergraduates to oral history methodology as a means to discover and document the histories of the communities in which they live. Research teams worked in collaboration with a wide variety of black community and civic groups, which played critical roles in recruiting potential interviewees and providing logistical support. Summer researchers were hosted by distinguished institutions such as the Black Archives at Florida A&M University and the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama. Local institutions also helped researchers to understand the communities in which they worked and to frame their interview questions and research agendas accordingly. In turn, the Behind the Veil project has deposited copies of the interviews in local archives at or near the various cooperating institutions, assuring that these histories will be accessible to local community members as well as scholars throughout the South.

The Behind the Veil project received major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation and the Lyndhurst Foundation. Duke University historians William Chafe, Raymond Gavins and Robert Korstad co-direct the project. Aminah Pilgrim has served as Research Associate for Behind the Veil, and Leslie Brown, Alexander X. Byrd, Greta Ai-Yu Niu, Paul Ortiz and Anne M. Valk have been the project's Research Coordinators.

The addition to the collection, 2000-0183, includes information from "American Communities: An Oral History Approach," a course associated with the Behind the Veil oral history project at Duke's Center for Documentary Studies. The course was taught by Paul Ortiz at Duke University in 1996-1997.

Another addition, 2004-0344, includes slides related to African American life in the 20th century with a focus on the Jim Crow Era.

Interview Questions for Interviews Conducted 1993-1995

When did you come here (to this town/city)? Why? With whom? What neighborhood or community did you live in at first? How many people lived in your home? Anyone besides your immediate family?What do you remember about your grandparents? Where did they live? When did you see them? Did you see them often? What would you do with them? Did they ever talk about their youth or share stories with you about their lives?What was your first job? What were your wages? How long did you stay at this work? What other jobs have you held? For how long? What job did you like best and what job did you like least? Who else worked in your family? When did you retire?Define your neighborhood community. Can you give geographic boundaries? What was most important to people in that community? How has the community changed within your lifetime? as far as physical appearance is concerned? What were the "bad sections" of town? Can you describe them? Were you afraid to go there?What do you remember about your home and your neighbors' homes? Can you describe them? Who were your neighbors? Did relatives live nearby? Which relatives? What were the occasions for family gatherings? What do you recall about them?What are some of your earliest childhood memories? Can you recall the greatest joy or sadness in your childhood? Who were your childhood role models? What were the things that you enjoyed doing as a child?How were decisions made in your family? Who made decisions about housekeeping, budget, etc.? How about other decisions like schooling, moving, occupation, approval of marriage? Do you ever remember any conflicts over decisions or decision making? Who took responsibility for child care and discipline in your family? Did you treat your own children the same or differently than your parents treated you?What kinds of values do you think your parents instilled in you? How were you expected to behave in front of adults, bit black and white? What contact did you have with white children?Do you remember a point at which people stopped treating you like a child? Or when you considered yourself grown up?Who were the people most important to you? How were unmarried people viewed in your neighborhood?What property (land or house) do you own today? How did you come to own it? Did your family ever rent?Did you go to school? Where did you go and for how long? Did you attend school for the entire school year? What did you like and dislike about school? Were you ever disciplined by your teachers? Did the teachers in your school play favorites? How were your parents involved in your schooling? What kinds of things did you learn in school? Were you taught any African American history? What were the major differences between your education and your parent's education? Your children's education?Did your family attend church? Do you continue to go to church? If you do not attend why? If you do, what churches have you attended and why? Who from your community belongs to your church? What was your church's and ministers' role in civic affairs?

[top]

---

Collection Overview

Was the Informant part of a group interview?Has the interview been transcribed?If part of a group interview, under whose name is the material filed?Number of tapes for interview

[top]

---

Subject Headings

• African-Americans--Social life and customs.
• African-Americans--Social conditions--Southern States
• African-Americans--Segregation--Southern States
• African-American Women--Southern States--History
• African American families--North Carolina
• Racism--Southern States
• Segregation--Southern States
• Southern States--Race relations
• Southern States--Social life and customs
• Albany, (Ga.)--Social life and customs
• Fargo, (Ark.)--Social life and customs
• Birmingham, (Ala.)--Social life and customs
• Tuskegee, (Ala.)--Social life and customs
• Charlotte, (N.C.)--Social life and customs
• Durham, (N.C.)--Social life and customs
• Enfield, (N.C.)--Social life and customs
• New Bern, (N.C.)--Social life and customs
• Wilmington, (N.C.)--Social life and customs
• Mississippi--Social life and customs
• Memphis, (Tenn.)--Social life and customs
• Kentucky--Social life and customs
• New Iberia, (La.)--Social life and customs
• New Orleans, (La.)--Social life and customs
• Norfolk, (Va.)--Social life and customs
• Columbia, (S.C.)--Social life and customs
• Orangeburg, (S.C.)--Social life and customs
• St. Helena, (S.C.)--Social life and customs
• Summerton, (S.C.)--Social life and customs
• Tallahassee, (Fla.)--Social life and customs
• United States--Race relations
• Oral history
• Audio cassettes
• Machine-readable records
• Transcripts
• Duke University--Center for Documentary Studies
• Archive of Documentary Arts (Duke University)
• John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.

	List of Series in Collection
		Master Tapes Series (MT), 1993-1997 [RESTRICTED]
		Use Tapes Series (UT), 1993-1997 [RESTRICTED]
		Printed Materials Series (PM), ca. 1940-1997 (bulk 1993-1997) [RESTRICTED]
		Transcripts Series (TR), 1993-1997
		Accession 2000-0183
		Accession 2004-0344

[top]

---

Detailed Description of Collection

Restrictions Box MT1
Box MT2
Box MT3
Box MT4
Box MT5
Box MT6
Box MT7
Box MT8
Box MT9
Box MT10
Box MT11
Box MT12
Box MT13
Box MT14

Restrictions Box UT1 Tray A
Box UT1 Tray B
Box UT1 Tray C
Box UT1 Tray D
Box UT2 Tray A
Box UT2 Tray B
Box UT2 Tray C
Box UT2 Tray D
Box UT3 Tray A
Box UT3 Tray B
Box UT3 Tray C
Box UT3 Tray D
Box UT4 Tray A
Box UT4 Tray B
Box UT4 Tray C
Box UT4 Tray D
Box UT5 Tray A
Box UT5 Tray B
Box UT5 Tray C
Box UT5 Tray D
Box UT6 Tray A
Box UT6 Tray B
Box UT6 Tray C
Box UT6 Tray D
Box UT7 Tray A
Box UT7 Tray B
Box UT7 Tray C
Box UT7 Tray D
Box UT8 Tray A
Box UT8 Tray B
Box UT8 Tray C
Box UT8 Tray D
Box UT9 Tray A
Box UT9 Tray B
Box UT9 Tray C
Box UT9 Tray D
Box UT10 Tray A
Box UT10 Tray B
Box UT10 Tray C
Box UT10 Tray D
Box UT11 Tray A
Box UT11 Tray B
Box UT11 Tray C
Box UT11 Tray D
Box UT12 Tray A
Box UT12 Tray B
Box UT12 Tray C
Box UT12 Tray D
Box UT13 Tray A
Box UT13 Tray B
Box UT13 Tray C
Box UT13 Tray D
Box UT14 Tray A
Box UT14 TrayB
Box UT14 Tray C
Box UT14 TrayD

Restrictions Box PM1
Box PM2
Box PM3
Box PM4
Box PM5
Box PM6
Box PM7
Box PM8
Box PM9
Restrictions Box TR1
Box TR2
Box TR3
Box TR4
Box TR5
Box TR6
Box TR7
Box TR8
Box TR9
Box TR10
Box TR11
Box TR12
Box TR13
Box TR14
Box TR15
Box TR16
Box TR17
Box TR18
Box 1
Box 2
Box 2.1
Box 2.2
Box 2.3
Box 2.4
Box 3
Box 3.1
Box 3.2
Box 3.3
Box 3.4
Box 3.5
Box 1
Box 2