When Jacquelyn Dowd Hall started the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 40 years ago, documenting the lives of ordinary people was not part of most history departments.
Telling the stories of minority communities, particularly African-Americans and women, ran counter to the academic endeavors sanctioned by many universities. But Jacquelyn saw an importance in preserving the stories and perspectives of people from all walks of life. And she insisted the program be fully integrated into the history department at Carolina.
Her tenacity paid off and four decades later, the Southern Oral History program is one of the preeminent repositories for oral histories in the region. Host Frank Stasio talks with UNC professor emerita Jacquelyn Dowd Hall.
