- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Mabel Williams, August 20, 1999
- Creator:
- Williams, Mabel R.
- Contributor to Resource:
- Cecelski, David S.
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1999-08-20
- Subject:
- African American women civil rights workers--North Carolina--Monroe
African American women political activists--North Carolina--Monroe
African American radicals--North Carolina--Monroe
Civil rights movements--North Carolina--Monroe
Direct action--North Carolina--Monroe
African Americans--Segregation--North Carolina--Monroe
African Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina--Monroe
Monroe (N.C.)--Race relations - People:
- Williams, Mabel R.
Williams, Robert F. (Robert Franklin), 1925-1996 - Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Union County, 34.98837, -80.53073
United States, North Carolina, Union County, Monroe, 34.98543, -80.54951 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- 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 nonviolent protest.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. - Metadata URL:
- http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/K-0266/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on Oct. 31, 2008).
Interview participants: Mabel Williams, interviewee; David Cecelski, interviewer.
Duration: 03:07:53.
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.
Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers. - Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
