Oral history interview with Eva Clayton, July 18, 1989
Subtitle: interview C-0084, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Nasstrom, Kathryn L., interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2006
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; African American politicians; African American women; Officials and employees; Community development; City planning; Civil rights movements
Other titles: Interview C-0084, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Eva Clayton, July 18, 1989; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Activist and politician Eva Clayton grew up the daughter of a successful insurance executive in Savannah, Georgia. She followed her husband to North Carolina, and while raising four children and working toward advanced degrees, she became a leading figure in the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. Her activism experience drew her to service, and she spent years working with economic and social development organizations in and out of North Carolina government, including the Soul City Foundation and the Warren County Board of Commissioners, on which she was serving at the time of this interview. Three years later, in 1992, she would win a seat in the House of Representatives, where she would serve until 2003. In this interview, Clayton remembers a career spent in community development. In addition to helping lead the effort to establish Soul City--an effort to create a new kind of rural community--she served as assistant secretary at the state Department of Natural Resources and Community Development. This interview follows the career of a successful black woman who sought to share her vision of economic possibility and social progress with her community.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 14, 2008).

Interview participants: Eva Clayton, interviewee; Kathryn Nasstrom, interviewer.

Duration: 01:03:58.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 88 kilobytes, 117 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series C, Notable North Carolinians, interview C-0084, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jovita Flynn. Original transcript: 28 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.