- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Barry Nakell, October 1, 2003
- Creator:
- Maynor, Malinda M.
- Contributor to Resource:
- Nakell, Barry
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 2003-10-01
- Subject:
- Lumbee Indians--Civil rights
North Carolina--Race relations--20th century
Robeson County (N.C.)--Race relations
Civil rights--North Carolina
Lawyers--North Carolina
Civil rights movements--North Carolina--History--20th century
Civil rights movements--North Carolina--Robeson County
Indians of North America--North Carolina--Robeson County
Indians of North America--Civil rights--North Carolina--History--20th century
Robeson County (N.C.)--History--20th century
Civil rights--North Carolina--Robeson County
Lawyers--North Carolina--Robeson County
Lumbee Indians--North Carolina--Robeson County
Tuscarora Indians--North Carolina--Robeson County
Indians of North America--North Carolina--Robeson County--Ethnic identity--20th century
Indians of North America--Civil rights--North Carolina--Robeson County
African Americans--North Carolina--Robeson County--Relations with Indians--20th century - People:
- Nakell, Barry
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Robeson County, 34.64009, -79.10353
- Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- This interview offers a look at efforts by the economically and politically disenfranchised Lumbee Native Americans to assert themselves in Robeson County and, to some extent, white North Carolinians' efforts to sabotage those efforts. Barry Nakell, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, remembers traveling to Robeson County in the mid-1970s to help the Lumbees, and a splinter group, the Tuscarora, save a historic building and strike down so-called double voting. Double voting allowed city residents in Robeson County to vote for both city and county school board, giving city elites unusual control over county schools, where most Native American children studied. Nakell succeeded in defeating the system before a United States Circuit Court. He believes that once Native Americans took more control over their education system, their most prominent citizens were freed to agitate for more rights and protections. Nakell's intervention sparked an interest in legal solutions to civil rights issues, and a steady stream of Lumbee Native Americans began earning degrees at the UNC School of Law so they could return home and advocate for other Native Americans.
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/U-0012/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on June 5, 2007).
Interview participants: Barry Nakell, interviewee; Malinda Maynor, interviewer.
Duration: 01:03:57.
This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.
Text encoded by Mike Millner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers. - Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
