Oral history interview with James Atwater, February 28, 2001
Subtitle: interview K-0201, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Nardone, Jennifer, 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 Americans; Social life and customs; Attitudes; Segregation in education; Race relations; Orange County Training School (Chapel Hill, N.C.); Lincoln High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Other titles: Interview K-0201, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with James Atwater, February 28, 2001; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: James Atwater discusses life in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from the 1930s to the 1950s. Atwater grew up in Chapel Hill, as did his parents and grandparents. In this interview, he discusses how neighbors in the black community interacted in various social, religious, and academic activities. He also talks about the impact of segregation on this community and on the schools. White supremacy in Chapel Hill was easily maintained by the community's reliance on the University of North Carolina. Atwater's parents worked for UNC, as did many other black residents, so they were directly dependent on white University officials for their finances. Much of his consciousness about segregation in Chapel Hill came from comparing it to places such as Durham, Carrboro, and Philadelphia. He left Chapel Hill in the 1950s.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on July 11, 2007).

Interview participants: James Atwater, interviewee; Jennifer Nardone, interviewer.

Duration: 01:18:24.

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 Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 137 kilobytes, 143 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0201, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 40 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.