Oral history interview with Bill Hull, June 21, 2001
Subtitle: interview K-0844, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: McGinnis, Chris, 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; Gay men; Social life and customs; Sexual behavior; Gay bars; Identity; Family relationships
Other titles: Interview K-0844, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Bill Hull, June 21, 2001; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Because he and all of his siblings were gay men, Bill Hull felt his sexuality was not unusual. Nonetheless, discretion was vital to southern gay men, says Hull. Public acknowledgement of homosexuality could result in economic recrimination or physical violence. He describes his coming-out experience as a teenager and the impact the liberating Chapel Hill atmosphere had on gay males. His experiences at the University of North Carolina and his participation in the local civil rights movement further awakened his sexual and social consciousness. Hull explains how the civil rights movement served as the basis for the later gay rights movement. He points to dominant gay personalities in Chapel Hill and the pivotal role early gay bars had on his sexual identity. The interview illuminates the public safe sexual havens on the UNC's campus. He describes the fear of HIV and AIDS within the gay community in the early 1980s. Hull argues that the subsequent conservative backlash against gay culture negatively impacted the openness of the Chapel Hill gay community.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 10, 2008).

Interview participants: Bill Hull, interviewee; Chris McGinnis, interviewer.

Duration: 01:34:17.

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. 220 kilobytes, 172 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0844, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 60 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.