- Collection:
- Southern Journey Oral History Collection
- Title:
- South Carolina - Orangeburg: James Sulton, Sr. Interviewee
- Contributor to Resource:
- Dent, Thomas C.
- Date of Original:
- 1991-04-16
- Subject:
- African Americans
Businesspeople
Civil rights
Education
Hospitals
Labor unions
Law
Medical personnel
Segregation
Violence - Location:
- United States, South Carolina, Orangeburg County, Orangeburg, 33.49182, -80.85565
- Medium:
- sound recordings
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Tom Dent interviews former businessman James Sulton, Sr. in Orangeburg, South Carolina. They discuss Sulton's acquaintances in New Orleans. They discuss the Southern Journey project and the importance of telling the stories of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement. Many people lost their jobs over the movement, but we do not know their names. Dent talks about his recent interview with Mary A. Moultrie, who was instrumental in the Charleston Hospital Strike of 1969. As a teenager, she had worked for Esau Jenkins. They talk about the impact of Jenkins and Septima Clark, who both went to Highlander Folk School. They talk about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s role as a spokesperson for the movement. Sulton talks about the poverty in that area of the country, which contrasts the beauty of the area. Orangeburg has more lifetime memberships per capita in the NAACP than any city in the state. Sulton talks about the need to contribute to the movement, whether physically or financially. He and his brother were always involved in business, having run a service station, garage, and fuel oil company. He explains his family history and work in the lumber business, showing Dent photographs of his family. He talks about how he and his brother opened their electrician business and the family property on which they all live. His father was a self-made engineer who built homes. Sulton was in the last high school class at Claflin University in 1940. He did not finish at Morehouse College, but came back to Orangeburg to live. He talks about segregation in Orangeburg. "Things are better now," but they are not "right." White teachers in the public school system do not have dedication to individual students with potential. He stresses the importance of communication between teachers and parents, which is currently lacking. African Americans live throughout Orangeburg now. Sulton describes the NAACP's role in activism in Orangeburg in the 1950s. He was able to register to vote, but Black voters were not allowed en masse. They discuss the effect of Judge [Julius Waties] Waring's judgement on equalization of teachers' pay. Sulton and his brother signed a petition that the Brown v. Board of Education be implemented. The names of the people who signed the petition were printed in the newspaper. People lost their jobs and businesses. The Sultons lost their credit and suppliers.
- Metadata URL:
- https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:54142
- Contributing Institution:
- Amistad Research Center
- Rights:
-
