Oral history interview with Martha W. Evans, June 26, 1974
Subtitle: interview A-0318, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Moye, William T., 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: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Women politicians; Women legislators; Politics and government; Business and politics; Ethnic relations; Political aspects
Other titles: Interview A-0318, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Martha W. Evans, June 26, 1974; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Martha W. Evans was politically active in Charlotte, North Carolina, during the 1960s and 1970s, when that community was undergoing rapid growth and consolidation. After serving as the first woman elected to city council there, Evans made two unsuccessful bids to become mayor of Charlotte (1959 and 1961) before being elected as a Democrat to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1962. She served one term in the House and two terms in the Senate. In this interview, Evans discusses the evolution of local politics during this period of exceptional growth in Charlotte. She offers her perspective on organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and Central Piedmont Industries; on various local leaders, including mayors Stanford Berkshire (1961-1969) and John Belk (1969-1977); and the role of the African American, Greek, and Jewish communities in local political developments. As Charlotte grew during these years, the city developed a reputation "as the big, fat, rich cat of the state, " argues Evans. She discusses the tensions between local and state politics and explains how those tensions manifested themselves in various disputes, including Charlotte's attempt to institute a medical school in the city. Evans concludes the interview by forcefully asserting that despite her liberal politics and pioneering success in politics, she never aligned herself with the modern women's liberation movement, which she saw as detrimental to the ability of Democratic women to form a viable group. The interview in its entirety offers a revealing look at the economic, social, and cultural factors of local and state politics during this era.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Dec. 3, 2008).

Interview participants: Martha W. Evans, interviewee; Bill Moye, interviewer.

Duration: 01:06:05.

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. 136 kilobytes, 121 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series A, Southern politics, interview A-0318, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Sarah Geer and Joe Jaros. Original transcript: 33 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.