Oral history interview with Harold Fleming, January 24, 1990
Subtitle: interview A-0363, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Egerton, John, 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; Race relations; Civil rights; African Americans; Segregation; World War, 1939-1945; African American troops; Southern Regional Council; United States. Army; United States
Other titles: Interview A-0363, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Harold Fleming, January 24, 1990; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Harold Fleming worked with the Southern Regional Council in Georgia from 1947 to about 1959. He recalls some of the opposition that group faced, especially because of accusations of Communism. He links the Communist Scare to a general fear of changing race relations throughout the South, which he started recognizing while commanding black troops in Japan during World War 2. Journalist Ralph McGill helped Fleming get involved with the S.R.C., but McGill, like several others, could not get involved with the organization for fear of losing his job. Fleming compares how several of the S.R.C. leaders, such as Charles Johnson and Lillian Smith, approached the work, and he commends President Harry Truman for taking an early stance against segregation.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on April 9, 2007).

Interview participants: Harold Fleming, interviewee; John Egerton, interviewer.

Duration: 02:05:55

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH 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 Steve Weiss and Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files : 104 kilobytes, ca. 230.6 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program collection, (#4007), Series A, Southern politics, interview A-0363, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jackie Gorman. Original transcript: 51 p.

Funding from the Institute for 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.