Oral history interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, November 28, 1990
Subtitle: interview L-0064-2, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: McColl, Ann, 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: 2008
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Law teachers; Faculty; University of North Carolina (1793-1962). School of Law; University of North Carolina (1793-1962)
Other titles: Interview L-0064-2, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, November 28, 1990; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: This is the second interview in a nine-part series of interviews with civil liberties lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt. In this interview, Pollitt focuses on his decision to accept a position at the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1957. Pollitt had previously refused to sign a loyalty oath at the University of Arkansas and sought employment at a university that would be more receptive to his interests in issues of civil liberty. Pollitt begins by describing his interview at UNC, his warm reception there, and his initial perceptions of the faculty. In describing the establishment of the law school at UNC in 1920, Pollitt notes that most of the faculty had been hired in the 1920s. In addition to discussing his decision to accept the position, Pollitt describes in detail faculty members such as Maurice Taylor Van Hecke (who was serving as the dean in the mid-1950s), Robert Wettach, Freddy McCall, Herb Bauer, William Aycock, Henry Brandis, and John Dalzell. In describing these professors, Pollitt sheds insight on the history of the UNC School of Law from the 1920s through the 1950s, ties between the law school and the broader community, and the relationship between the UNC School of Law and the African American law school at North Carolina Central University.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 13, 2008).

Interview participants: Daniel H. Pollitt, interviewee; Ann McColl, interviewer.

Duration: 00:34:52.

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 Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 60 kilobytes, 63.8 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series L, University of North Carolina, interview L-0064-2, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 15 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.