A Mind To Stay Interviews and Transcripts, 1965-2018

Scope and content:

The A Mind to Stay Interviews and Transcripts series relates to Nathans' research on the descendants of families forced to migrate from North Carolina to plantations in Greensboro, Alabama, and Tunica, Mississippi, in 1844, and the communities those families formed in the following years, used to write his 2017 book, A Mind to Stay. The series contains: recordings of interviews with residents of the two towns, conducted between 1978 and 1988, primarily relating to family and local history with particular reference to the Emancipation and the Civil Rights Movement periods; Nathans' transcripts and extensive notes of those interviews; photos of interviewees and local landmarks; background material and research regarding the history of the Greensboro, Alabama, region, including 1964-1965 clippings from local paper the Greensboro Watchman and notes on Nathan Bedford Forrest, the plantations on which the families worked, and local political history; the text of speeches and eulogies related to this research; and Nathans' personal correspondence with historians, editors, and Greensboro, Alabama, residents.

Nathans arranged the majority of the transcripts and supplementary material alphabetically by person interviewed, including supplementary material pertaining to voting rights struggles and other materials. Audiocassette titles were transcribed as closely as possible and are integrated into alphabetical order as much as possible, but many tapes include interviews with more than one person.

Sydney Nathans' description of the materials and original inventory are included in Box 4 (Box 1 in Nathans' inventory).

Contents

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Collection restrictions:

Use of audiotapes and videotapes from this collection requires the creation of reference copies. Reference copies for some materials may have been made, and if a reference copy exists, it is noted in this finding aid. To arrange for the creation of reference copies of other items, please contact University Archives staff. Although these recordings are now stored in a stable environment, their condition and playback quality is unknown.

Use & permissions:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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