Inventory of the Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South Records, 1940-1997 and undated (bulk 1993-1997)
Collection Overview
The Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South Records span the years 1940-1997 (bulk 1993-1997) and are comprised chiefly of interviews recorded on cassette tapes. The 1260 interviews, 1993-1997, in this collection cover a number of topics related to African-American life in the 20th century with a focus on the age of southern segregation. The collection includes interviews with people from Albany, Ga.; Fargo, Ark.; Birmingham and Tuskegee, Ala.; Charlotte, Durham, Enfield, New Bern and Wilmington, N. C.; LeFlore County, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; Muhlenburg County, Ky.; New Iberia and New Orleans, La.; Norfolk, Va.; Columbia, Orangeburg, St. Helena, and Summerton, S. C.; and Tallahassee, Fla. In addition to interviews conducted specifically for the Behind the Veil project, the collection includes six interviews from the James City Historical Society, Craven County, N.C. as well as eight interviews conducted by Paul Ortiz in Tallahassee, Fla., in the summer of 1997 as part of his dissertation research.
The collection includes duplicate sets of approximately 1700 interview tapes. The Master Tapes Series is closed except for appropriate use by authorized staff from the Behind the Veil project and the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The Use Tapes Series contains copies of the tapes for use by researchers. The Printed Materials Series provides biographical information about informants, interview agreement forms, proper names sheets, and brief summaries (one-three pages) of each of the 1260 interviews. Also included are some personal papers, the earliest of which is dated 1940. The Transcripts Series currently includes unverified transcripts of 314 interviews in the collection. These transcripts are also available as electronic documents. A disk directory log exists. Contact Research Services staff for more information. More transcripts will be available each semester.
The Behind the Veil collection will eventually include approximately 5100 photographs and slides. This Visual Materials Series will contain items donated by informants and others in the communities where Behind the Veil field-workers conducted interviews. The vast majority of these pictures show family and community members at home or at special events. A smaller number portray buildings and other local places. Images of political events are notably rare in the collection. We also anticipate the eventual addition of the Behind the Veil project's papers, which will be held as the Administrative Files Series.
Behind the Veil interviewers were provided with a list of Interview Questions before they entered the field. Although most interviews in the collection do not follow the list question by question, the list provides a useful research guide to the type of inquiry many interviews follow. The list of questions is included as an appendix in this guide. Frequently discussed topics include family history, local neighborhoods, educational background, employment history, religious institutions, experiences of segregation, local political activities, civic organizations and activities, black-owned businesses and local culture. Behind the Veil informants represent a number of occupational groups, including domestic workers, educators, homemakers, health professionals, manufacturing workers, miners, ministers, political figures, professionals and servicemen.
Database:
A Behind the Veil Database, created by Alex X. Byrd, will soon accompany the collection. The fields included are in two categories: Informant and Circumstance of Interview. The Informant fields are Last Name, First Name, Middle or Maiden Name, Sex, Zip Code, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, and Principal Occupations. The Circumstance of Interview fields are Date of Interview, Location of Interview, Processing Subseries, and Interviewers. The other fields are:
Consult reference staff concerning the availability of the Database.
The addition (acc# 2001-0132) (15 items; undated) contains framed duplicates of photographs collected by the staff of the Behind the Veil project.
The addition (acc# 2001-0183)(100 items, 1.5 linear feet; dated 1996-1997) includes a course syllabus, interviews of African-American North Carolinians on cassette tapes, some student self-evaluations, contracts, indices, and transcript excerpts. The area most represented is Durham, N.C. Students were to aim for insight into how African-Americans built communities during an age of racial oppression. The interviews include much information about family history and social and community issues.
- 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
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South Records, 1940-1997 and undated (bulk 1993-1997)
- Creator
- Behind the Veil Project Oral History Project
- Extent
- 69.9 Linear Feet, ca. 14,018 Items
- Repository
- David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
- Location
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
- Language
- English.
Administrative Information
Collections are on the move for the renovation of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Contact Rubenstein Library staff before visiting. Read More »
Access Restrictions
All researchers must sign an agreement form before using the records. Please consult the Description of Series section of the finding aid for information concerning the restrictions governing access to and use of the materials in the Behind the Veil Collection. Some materials are closed to all researchers.
In addition, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using thiscollection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
Duke University holds the copyright for this collection. Additional restrictions may apply to the use of materials in the Behind the Veil Collection. See the Description of Series section of the finding aid or consult with Library staff for more information.
Contents of the Collection
Master Tapes Series (MT), 1993-1997 [RESTRICTED]
The Master Tapes Series, 1993-1997,includes one complete set of master tapes for all of the 1260 interviews conducted as part of the Behind the Veil Oral History Project.
The interviews tapes in this series are organized alphabetically by site, with administration tapes at the beginning of the series, and alphabetically by surname.
This set of archival tapes is restricted to use by library and Behind the Veil staff and for creating use copies.
(Elder materials include videotape, The Real Estate Report: Welcome Back Greenville)
[Participant in interview with Alma Mungo.]
[Includes Lucille Lynch.]
(box also includes videotape, Muhlenburg Co., KY, July 1995)
Use Tapes Series (UT), 1993-1997 [RESTRICTED]
The Use Tapes Series, 1993-1997, contains a full set of the 1260 interviews conducted as part of the Behind the Veil oral history project.
The interview tapes in this series are organized alphabetically by site, with administrative tapes at the beginning of the series, and alphabetically by surname within.
Forty-two of these interviews are closed to all researchers; these tapes are housed separately at the end of the series. All the remaining tapes are available to researchers; however, some restrictions, such as stipulations regarding publication and profit, anonymity or transliteration of language, may apply to the use of individual interviews. Information about particular restrictions on use can be found with the printed materials in this collection. Researchers with further questions about these restrictions should consult with library staff.
(Elder materials include videotape, "The Real Estate Report: Welcome Back Greenville")
[Participant in interview with Alma Mungo.]
[Includes Lucille Lynch.]
(This box also includes a videotape, "Muhlenberg Co., Ky., July 1995")
The Printed Materials Series, ca. 1940-1997(bulk 1993-1997), contains all the official paperwork related to the 1260 recorded interviews found in the Use Tapes Series. Researchers will be particularly interested in the interview summary forms, which provide an overview of topics covered in each interview, and the biographical information and family history forms, which offer a quick sketch of each informant's' life history. For detailed information about any restrictions that may apply to the use of information in a particular interview, patrons are directed to consult the interview agreements and photograph agreements found in these files. In some cases, interviewees have completed proper name forms to assist researchers in properly identifying names mentioned during an interview. Additionally, the series contains personal papers contributed by some informants, including newspaper clippings, personal photographs, programs from local events, and other memorabilia. These personal papers, the earliest of which is dated 1940, are filed in the printed materials folder under each donor's name.
The series is organized alphabetically by site and by surname within, with all access-restricted materials housed separately at the end of the series.
Most of the materials in this series are unrestricted. However, in cases in which restrictions apply to the use of printed materials -- i.e., the materials are available to researchers but with some restrictions on their use -- the appropriate folders have been stamped with a red restrictions warning. The relevant interview and/or photographs agreements, detailing the specific restrictions on those materials, have been placed at the front of each of these files so patrons may readily familiarize themselves with these conditions before proceeding with research. Other access restricted materials, which are closed to researchers, are housed separately at the end of this series.
[Includes Lucille Lynch.]
(This box also includes Alexander X. Byrd's research notebook)
Transcripts Series (TR), 1993-1997
The Transcripts Series, 1993-1997, includes transcripts of 314 interviews in the Behind the Veil collection. Interviews were chosen for transcription on the basis of the quality and content of particular interviews, and toward the goal of providing transcripts that cover the geographical and topical range of the collection. They are arranged alphabetically by site and by surname within. The transcripts also exist as electronic documents. A disk directories log exists. Contact Research Services staff for assistance.
[Also listed under Memphis, Tenn. and Environs where the majority of interview seems to speak of]
[Interview conducted jointly with Violet Robinson and Jean Thompson.]
[Interview conducted jointly with Wilhelmenia Adams and Jean Thompson.]
[Interview conducted jointly with Wilhelmenia Adams and Violet Robinson.]
[Interviews from 1983 and 1995 are included]
[Transcript is filed under Baltimore, MD which appears on the front of the transcript]
Course syllabus, some student self-evaluations, contracts, indices, and transcript excerpts.
Use Tape Series
Submaster Tape Series
(Copy 2)
Addition (04-344) (3000 items, 3 lin. ft.; dated 1940-1997) comprises slides related to African American life in the 20th century with a focus on the Jim Crow Era.
(missing slides 002, 004)
(missing slides 001, 006, 020-022)
(missing slide 025)
(missing slides 007, 028)
(missing slides 001, 015, 040, 042)
(missing slide 003)
(missing slides 006, 022)
(missing slide 013)
(missing slide 070)
(missing slide 001)
(missing slide 030)
(Slides beginning with #22 are from the Tuskegee Archives. See INT section for other Tuskegee Archive slides.)
(missing slides 007, 008)
(missing slides 001, 003, 004)
(missing slides 022, 023, 029)
(missing slide 015)
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.
- 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?
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.
Preferred Citation
[name of interviewee], interviewed by [name of interviewer], [city], [state], [date]. From Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South. Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquired the Records of the Behind the Veil Oral History Project from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002.
Processing Information
Processed by: Lisa Gayle Hazirjian, Alexander X. Byrd, Homer D. Hill, Paul Ortiz, and Aminah Nailah Pilgrim. Research Coordinators for the Behind the Veil Project: Annie Valek, Leslie Brown, Alexander X. Byrd, and Paul Ortiz. Research Associate for the Behind the Veil Project: Aminah Nailah Pilgrim. Research Assistants: Blair L. Murphy, Jonora Jones, Arthur Smith, and Homer D. Hill.
Completed July 1, 1998
Additions minimally processed at folder level by Pemra Hazbay; Muhammad Hutasuhut; Alice Poffinberger; Joshua Kaiser; Ruth E. Bryan
Further transcript processing by Joshua Kaiser
Last updated November 2006
Encoded by Don Sechler; Stephen Miller; AlicePoffinberger; Joshua Kaiser; Ruth E. Bryan; Jill Katte
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.

