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Interview with Hattie Walker - OH 66
Hattie Walker
OH 066
This interview with Ms. Hattie Walker discusses the lives of African Americans in Chester, South Carolina around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ms. Walker talks about what she remembers being told about slavery and what she remembers from her childhood about share cropping, going to school and church, shopping, railroads, lynching and the KKK, not being able to vote, segregation, presidents, and African American leaders. She also talks about what changes she would like to see made in the south that would further benefit the lives of African Americans.
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Interview with Melford Wilson
Melford Wilson
OH 079
IN PROCESSING
This interview was conducted for an article in The Johnsonian(student newspaper).It concerns Wilson's run for a Rock Hill City Council seat.
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Interview with Caroleen Plant Textile Workers
Caroleen Plant Textile Workers
OH 054
In this interview conducted by Mike Godfrey for a Winthrop College project, employees of the Caroleen Textile Mill are interviewed about their experiences working in the mill located in Caroleen, Rutherford County, North Carolina. The plant has roots back to the opening of the Henrietta Mills Number 2 which opened in Caroleen in 1895 and closed in 1976. The interviewees discuss various topics related to working in the mill and living in the mill village. These discussions include changes in the plant, working conditions, safety precautions like earplugs, accidents in the mill, how they came to work in a textile mill, living in the mill village and the school house in the mill village, unions and strikes in the mill, and holiday dinners in the mills.
*See attached article titled "Textile Families 1887-1978" written by the interviewer Mike Godfrey in 1978 about the Textile Mills in Rutherford County, specifically Henrietta Mill 1 in Henrietta, NC and Henrietta Mill 2 in Caroleen, NC.
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Interview with Carolyn Frederick
Carolyn Essig Frederick
OH 059
IN PROCESSING
Civic leader and member of the South Carolina State Legislature for Greenville County (1967-1976), Frederick discusses her college days at Agnes Scott College, her career in advertising, her marriage, the role of the ERA movement in South Carolina and home life.
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Interview with Wil Lou Gray - OH 047
Wil Lou Gray
OH 047
Wil Lou Gray (1883-1984) was born in Laurens County, SC in 1883. Dr. Gray dedicated her life to fighting illiteracy. After graduating from Columbia College in 1903 she taught in a one-room school in Greenwood County. In 1918 she urged the creation of the State Literacy Commission and was appointed its first chair. In 1921 she founded the South Carolina Opportunity School where anyone could receive a second chance at education. The Opportunity School would eventually be known as the Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School. She would be inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 1974. Dr. Gray died in 1984 at 100 years old. In this interview, Dr. Gray discusses her parents, her early childhood, her father’s illness and death, her experience at Columbia College, her time at Winthrop, her work as a night school instructor for adults, illiteracy in adults, her honorary degree from Wofford University, some illiterate adults’ resistance to learning, her early career options, methods of fostering an interest in education, and the state of South Carolina education at the time of the interview. Dr. Gray also discusses the contribution of Daughters of the American Revolution to the school and success stories from the Opportunity School.
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Interview with Rosa B. Guess and W. W. Fennell
Rosa B. Guess and W. W. Fennell
OH 052
Mrs. Guess was a retired music teacher who was 86 years of age at the time of interview and Dr. Fennell is an orthopedic surgeon, who was 73 years of age at the time of the interview. Subjects include their family histories, memories of Winthrop College, including the Fennell Infirmary and reminiscences of Rock Hill.
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Interview with Edwin Jeter
Edwin Jeter
OH 045
IN PROCESSING
Remembrance of Colonel Elliott Springs (1896-1959) who was a South Carolina businessman and an American flying ace during World War I, credited with shooting down 16 enemy aircraft.
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Interview with Elizabeth F. Johnson
Elizabeth F. Johnson
OH 053
IN PROCESSING
Professor of Modern Languages at Winthrop College from 1922-1955, Dr. Johnson discusses her background, honors in school, how the Great Depression affected Winthrop, teaching at Winthrop, American Association of University Women (AAUW) involvement, “adoption” of foster children, travel in Europe, the Rock Hill Planning Commission and other teaching positions after retirement.
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Interview with Francis Murray Mack
Francis Murrary Mack
OH 051
IN PROCESSING
York County historian and civic leader. Colonel Mack discusses his paternal ancestry, siblings, children, early life, education, military service (National Guard and World War I) and additional history of the Fort Mill area.
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Interview with Charles B. Notess - OH 145
Charles B. Notess
OH 145
These are interviews done by Debbie Mollycheck for articles for the Johnsonian (student newspaper). In this interview, Charles Notess (1928-2008) discusses the differences in between the Dinkins Program Board, the Dinkins Policy Board, and the Dinkins Student Center Officers. The differences are makeup and the duties of the committees. Dr. Notess also discusses the change in social atmosphere that has occurred at Winthrop around 1978 with the admission of men as students. Dr. Notess also talks about the different types of Winthrop students, and the effect that their living situation has on their attendance of Winthrop events.
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Interview with Charles "Pug" Ravenel
Charles Dufort Ravenel
OH 064
IN PROCESSING
Businessman and politician from Charleston, South Carolina, Pug Ravenel gives a speech while campaigning against Senator Strom Thurmond in the 1978 Senatorial race.
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Interview with James H. Scales
James H. Scales
OH 055
IN PROCESSING
A discussion of Scales life and work as a secret service agent for President Harry S. Truman. This interview focuses on Mr. Scales’ life in Tennessee in the early 1900s followed by his duty with the Secret Service.
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Interview with Mina Surasky Tropp
Mina Surasky Tropp
OH 056
IN PROCESSING
Artist and resident of Aiken, South Carolina, Tropp discusses her floral painting and life as a Jew in South Carolina.
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Come-See-Me Festival Interview
David Vipperman, Phil Pierce, Dennis Parlow, Bob Hope, Charlie McConnell, Vernon Grant, C. H. Albright, and Emmett Jerome
OH 048
In this April 21, 1978 interview, the origins and history of the Come-See-Me Festival are discussed. Included is an overview of the events for the 1978 event. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program
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Interview with Carrie Jerome Anderson
Carrie Jerome Anderson
OH 034
IN PROCESSING
Ms. Anderson discusses her early childhood and upbringing, education and life in Rock Hill. Subjects include farming, family life and her education at Winthrop College as a home economics major.
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Interview with Mary Ursula Blackwell Baker
Mary Ursula Blackwell Baker
OH 030
IN PROCESSING
Mary Ursula Blackwell Baker (1921-1995), formerly the executive secretary of the AFL-CIO Building Trades Council and a field representative for the Urban League, shares her recollections about Southern cotton mill town life and her trade union work activities since the mid-1940s including her involvement with strikes and lockouts. Also, she discusses her parents and grandparents, her childhood during the Great Depression, religion, political views, divorce, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), traveling and those who made an impression on her life.
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Interview with Carol Bocan
Carol Bocan
OH 049
IN PROCESSING
Dr. Bocan was an associate professor in the Home Economics Department at Winthrop College. This interview focuses on divorce, it’s after effects and some of the things that can be done to prepare for the aftermath.
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Interview with Robert O'Neil Bristow - OH 595
Robert O'Neil Bristow
OH 595
Robert O’Neil Bristow (1926-2018) was an accomplished writer, author, and professor of journalism at Winthrop College from 1962-1987. In this interview, Bristow discusses his total number of published books, the suppression of one of his novels, his experience with publishing his works, his childhood, his first forays into writing during his service in the Navy, his experience dealing with authority in the Navy, the creative process in general as well as his personal creative process, his past alcoholism, his parenting style and relationship with his son, teaching at Winthrop, the students’ use of casual profanity, his writing process, his advice for aspiring authors, and the definition of creativity.
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Interview with Frontis Brooks
Frontis Brooks
OH 041
Former band director at Emmett Scott School (1941-1971) and former principal at Sunset Park Elementary, Frontis Brooks (1919-1989) discusses his childhood, family, educational experiences at South Carolina State College, new instruments that he learned, his years in the U.S. Army, work at Emmett Scott in Rock Hill, teaching band, working with the Senior Citizen Band, integration, religion, and his definition of creativity and life’s philosophy.
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Interview with Emma Cooper Cockfield
Emma Cooper Cockfield
OH 010
In her 1977 interview with Ann Yarborough Evans, Emma Cockfield describes her time as a student at Winthrop from 1910-1914. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.
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Interview with Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
OH 033
IN PROCESSING
Feminist, Marxist theoretician and secretary to Leon Trotsky for a short period during Trotsky’s exile in Mexico, Dunayevskaya discusses her upbringing, political philosophy (Marxism), relationship with Trotsky, male chauvinism, views on women’s rights, labor union activities, membership in the Socialist Workers Party, and translations of books on economics.
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Interview with Alice Anderson Gill
Alice Anderson Gill
OH 043
IN PROCESSING
Ms. Gill discusses her education at Winthrop and recollections of her father, John Gary Anderson, owner of the Rock Hill Buggy Company and founder of the Anderson Motor Car Company. Subjects include recollections about Mr. Anderson’s childhood, his Rock Hill Plan for raising the price of cotton in South Carolina and his founding, development and closing of the Anderson Motor Car Company. Mr. Anderson also wrote his autobiography and another book about Rock Hill titled City without Cobwebs.
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Interview with Vernon Grant
Vernon Grant
OH 040
Vernon Simeon Plemion Grant (1902-1990) was an American illustrator known for his whimsical gnome characters and fairy tale drawings. He was the creator of the Snap, Crackle and Pop advertisement for Kellogg Brothers, Inc., Vernon Grant describes his childhood and education, becoming an artist, his first magazine cover, the development of the Snap, Crackle, and Pop characters his work in advertising and as the Rock Hill Chamber of Commerce executive director.
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Interview with William Ivy Long - OH 39
William Ivy Long
OH 039
Professor of Drama at Winthrop College (1954-1976), William Ivey Long (1911-1998), Sr. discusses his early interest in drama as a child, his family, his education at the University of North Carolina, his service as a company clerk in the army during World War II, his work in North Carolina as a drama director, his work in developing the drama department at Winthrop, some of his first Winthrop Productions, the creation of Winthrop’s annual One Act Play Festival as a result of his experience at the University of North Carolina, his interest in playwriting, the benefit of theatre on children’s mental and social development, his work with the Children’s Little Theatre in Rock Hill, Winthrop Theatre department’s role in the Rock Hill community, his experience with The Lost Colony outdoor drama, the changes in theatre students over the course of his career, his advice for young people, and his thoughts on creativity and creatives.
*The Interviewer Mary Wood Long (1919-1998) was the wife of William Ivey Long, Sr.