- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Cecil W. Wooten, July 16, 2001
- Creator:
- Wooten, Cecil W., 1945-
- Contributor to Resource:
- McGinnis, Chris
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 2001-07-16
- Subject:
- Gay college teachers--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Gay activists--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Gay liberation movement--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Gay men--North Carolina--Chapel Hill--Social life and customs
Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association
Gay men--Sexual behavior--North Carolina--Chapel Hill - People:
- Wooten, Cecil W., 1945-
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Orange County, 36.0613, -79.1206
United States, North Carolina, Orange County, Chapel Hill, 35.9132, -79.05584 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Cecil W. Wooten grew up in Kinston, North Carolina, in the 1940s and 1950s. Wooten begins the interview with a discussion of his early awareness of his homosexuality. Although he did not have the terminology to describe his orientation, Wooten knew as early as age seven that he was gay. However, it was not until he was a graduate student spent at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the late 1960s and early 1970s that he found a gay community, which he describes in some detail. Fearing that his homosexuality could jeopardize his career as a classics scholar, he limited his involvement in that community. After he received his Ph.D., Wooten moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he taught for several years at the University of Indiana. During those years, Wooten began gradually to live more openly as a gay man. By the late 1970s, he had come out to his family and friends. In 1980, Wooten left the University of Indiana and returned to the University of Chapel Hill as a professor, a decision fueled in part by his desire to blend his academic and personal life in a way that would allow him to be more involved in the gay community and with gay activism. Upon his return, Wooten became faculty advisor for the Carolina Gay Association [later renamed the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association (CGLA)], a position he held for several years. He describes early tensions between the CGLA and student government, the evolution and growth of CGLA, and the process of including the matter of sexual orientation in the university's nondiscrimination policy. In addition to describing his work with campus activism, Wooten describes the various networks and organizations that were available to gays in Chapel Hill during the 1980s. Chapel Hill, he says, was comparatively tolerant of gays and lesbians during this time.
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-0849/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on November 10, 2008).
Interview participants: Cecil W. Wooten, interviewee; Chris McGinnis, interviewer.
Duration: 01:29:03.
This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel 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:
-
