MenuGuide to the William Henry Chafe Oral History Collection, 1933-1988 and undated
Collection Overview
The William Henry Chafe Oral History Collection spans the years 1933 through 1988, with most of the materials dated between 1972 and 1978. The collection consists mainly of oral history interview tapes and transcripts, but also includes interview notes and research files related to Chafe's book Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom.
The interview tapes and transcripts (1972-1978, undated), which comprise the bulk of the collection, include interviews with government officials, participants in the North Carolina civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and opponents of the movement, including members of the Ku Klux Klan. The few research files in the collection include statistical data related to Greensboro elections (1930s-1950s), notes from the Joan Bluethenthal papers and a report by the North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights on civil disturbances at Dudley High School and North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1969.
The Audiotapes Series consists of two identical sets (one for preservation, one for use by researchers) of twenty-eight tapes containing oral history interviews. The Printed Material Series includes transcripts and/or notes on 67 oral history interviews, and three research files related to the civil rights movement and local politics in Greensboro.
Beyond the direct oral history materials, there is also a Writings and Research Series. It includes research notes for several chapters of Chafe's book in addition to newspaper clippings addressing topics such as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination and the return of black veterans from the Vietnam War; an assortment of documents regarding the Black Panther Party collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigations' Counter Intelligence Program, and a number of publications produced by other authors. While the materials predominately relate to Greensboro, this series also includes information on civil rights activity in Durham, Chapel Hill, and the Research Triangle at large. The Photographs Series includes fourteen undated photographs.
William H. Chafe's book, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom, chronicles the continuing conflict over desegregation in Greensboro in the 1950s and 1960s. Chafe explores the "progressive mystique" that defined the terms of culturally-sanctioned behavior, looking at how civility served to preserve the South's racial order. Within this context, he discusses the city's reaction to the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the Greensboro sit-in movement begun by four college students at North Carolina A&T College in 1960, and the emergence of the Black Power Movement in the late 1960s.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- William Henry Chafe Oral History Collection, 1933-1988 and undated
- Creator
- Chafe, William Henry
- Extent
- 5.6 Linear Feet, circa 2930 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
The William Henry Chafe Oral History Collection has been restricted due to the absence of release forms transferring intellectual property rights from interviewees or interviewers to researchers using this collection. Researchers are cautioned that the publication of information contained in these interviews may violate the legal rights of interviewees or interviewers. It is the sole responsibility of researchers to secure permission from interviewees or interviewers to publish quotes from either, and to ensure that information gained from research in this collection is not used in any way that violates rights remaining with interviewees, interviewers or their heirs.
Patrons who wish to use this collection must sign a restricted materials research agreement, which may be obtained from any Special Collections reference staff person.
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
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For further information, see the section on copyright in the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Contents of the Collection
Browse List of Series
Collapse All
Expand AllThis series includes two identical sets of taped oral history interviews (1972-1978 & undated) related to the civil rights movement in Greensboro, North Carolina. The master tapes in subseries A serve as preservation copies and are closed to researchers; subseries B contains a complete set of use copies, which are open for use by all patrons.
This series consists primarily of transcripts (subseries A) and notes on 67 interviews (1972-1978, undated) about the civil rights movement in Greensboro.
This series also includes three files of research materials (subseries B), including data on the Greensboro elections, 1930s -1950s; notes on the papers of Joan Bluethenthal; and a report by the North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights on civil disturbances at Dudley High School and North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1969.
Roughly one-half of this series consists of Chafe's notes for Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom. Notes are divided by chapter. Also included in this series are photocopies of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Counter Intelligence Program documents pertaining to Black Panther Party members and chapters in Charlotte, N.C. and Oakland, C.A. Series includes reports and writings by others related to Chafe's book, a number of newspaper clippings, two interview transcripts of Ella Baker conducted by Sue Thrasher and Casey Hayden, and information on Civil Rights protests in Durham, Chapel Hill, Greensboro, and the campuses of North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Photographs Series, undated
Series consists of 14 photographs located in the final folder of box 3. Photographs show Civil Rights demonstrators, law enforcement response, race relations in the South, and active protest. All photographs are undated with little information regarding subjects and locations, though three photographs are identifiably of Chapel Hill demonstrations.
Subject Headings
- Chafe, William Henry--Civilities and civil rights.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement.
- Afro-Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina.
- Afro-Americans--North Carolina--Greensboro--Social conditions.
- North Carolina A&T State University.
- United States Commission on Civil Rights.
- Black Panther Party.
- Black power--North Carolina--History--20th century.
- Civil rights--North Carolina--Greensboro.
- Ku Klux Klan (1915- )--North Carolina--Greensboro.
- Greensboro (N.C.)--Race relations.
- North Carolina--Politics and government--1951-
Related Material
- Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South. 1940-1997 and undated (bulk 1993-1997), (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], William Henry Chafe Oral History Collection, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The William Henry Chafe Oral History Collection was donated to Special Collections in 1987 and 2011 by William Henry Chafe.
Processing Information
Processed by Lisa Gayle Hazirjian.
Completed January 1998
Encoded by Stephen Miller
Accession 2011-0090 processed and encoded by Carrie Mills, Jun. 2011.
Accession 2012-0029 processed and encoded by RL Move Staff and Meghan Lyon, Feb. 2012.
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Patrons who wish to use this collection must sign a restricted materials research agreement, which may be obtained from any Special Collections reference staff person.
Since this collection does not include any release forms for oral history interviews or transcripts of interviews, researchers must secure permission from copyright holders before publishing quotes from these materials.
Original audiotapes in this collection have been dubbed for use by patrons. These tapes are organized alphabetically by the name of interviewee on side A of each tape.