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Oral history interview with Mabel Williams, August 20, 1999 interview K-0266, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). Cover Image E-book

Oral history interview with Mabel Williams, August 20, 1999 interview K-0266, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Interview with Mabel Williams, August 20, 1999 (portion title)
Interview K-0266, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) (other title)
Williams, Mabel R. (Author). Cecelski, David S. (interviewer). Southern Oral History Program. (Added Author). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project) (Added Author). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. (Added Author).

Summary: Abstract Mabel Williams paints a vivid picture of segregated Monroe, North Carolina, detailing the subjugation that ate away at African Americans' sense of self. Among those who resisted was Williams's husband, Robert, the descendant of a long line of assertive African Americans, who slept with a pearl-handled revolver under his pillow. Williams remembers Robert for much of this interview, describing how his militant, assertive conviction in racial equality clashed with the rigid segregationist mentality in Monroe. Unable to assimilate in the way that many African Americans did, Robert earned the ire of white city fathers, who prevented him from finding employment in a quest to injure him and his family and undermine his masculinity. The local newspaper stopped printing his letters, one of his only safety valves for expressing the frustrations that gave him migraine headaches. But these efforts at stifling Robert's activism failed; he only grew more determined to resist white supremacy, arming himself and training fellow African Americans in armed self-defense. Guns became an important part of the Williamses' lives, whether on Robert's hip or on the seat of the car next to Mabel. Thus protected, Robert organized demonstrations to desegregate an all-white swimming pool, and even ran for mayor. Williams eventually left not only Monroe, but the United States altogether. This interview is a detailed account of the life and work of one civil rights activist who believed in violent resistance in a time of non-violent protest.

Electronic resources

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Record details

  • Physical Description: electronic resource
    remote
  • Edition: Electronic edition
  • Publisher: [Chapel Hill, N.C.] : University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2007.

Content descriptions

General Note:
Duration: 03:07:53.
Interview participants: Mabel Williams, interviewee; David Cecelski, interviewer.
Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.
This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hillapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.
Title from menu page (viewed on Oct. 31, 2008).
Type of Computer File or Data Note:
Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 272 kilobytes, 344 megabytes.
Original Version Note:
Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0266, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 83 p.
Funding Information Note:
Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.
System Details Note:
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.

Search for related items by subject

Subject:
Williams, Mabel R Interviews
Williams, Robert F. (Robert Franklin) 1925-1996
African American radicals North Carolina Monroe
African American women civil rights workers North Carolina Monroe Interviews
African American women political activists North Carolina Monroe Interviews
African Americans Civil rights North Carolina Monroe
African Americans Segregation North Carolina Monroe
Civil rights movements North Carolina Monroe
Direct action North Carolina Monroe
Monroe (N.C.) Race relations
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