Abstract: Blackwell Markham (1897-1977) was a general surgeon in Durham, N.C. He received his medical training at the University of North Carolina and at Harvard University. He served in the United States Army in World War II in North Africa and Europe. The collection contains correspondence, greeting cards, diaries, personal papers, a few business papers, and photographs relating to Blackwell Markham and his family. Topics include family matters and life during World War II. Much of the correspondence is between Markham and family members and with Mary Poteat, an English teacher at Duke University with whom he corresponded for 40 years; the bulk was written from Italy and Algeria, 1942-1945. There are also detailed diaries kept by Markham during World War II that include descriptions of specific patient cases, travel, and hospital and general military life. Also included is a diary, written in Italian, that was at least partially compiled by internees at an Italian prisoner of war camp in Algeria where Markham was stationed. There are also scrapbooks and other materials primarily relating to Markham while he attended Durham High School; the University of North Carolina; and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. There are also materials, many annotated by Markham, relating to earlier generations of Markhams, including John L. Markham Sr., who owned a general store in Durham and died circa 1900. Some materials relate to Markham and Brogden relatives, including letters of John L. Markham Jr. while serving in the United States Army in Columbia, S.C., during World War I, 1917-1919; letters of Markham’s nephew, Blackwell M. Brogden, while serving in the United States Navy, 1942-1945; and papers relating to North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Willis J. Brogden Sr. Also included are materials relating to Ritta Geer, the Markhams’ longtime African American domestic servant. Photographs are of Markham and the Markham family members, 1860s-1972, and include three tintypes, circa 1860. Photographs between about 1900 and 1930 include formal portraits and candid shots of the Markham family; posed portraits of servants, including Ritta Geer; and images of various locations around Durham. There are also World War II photographs taken by Markham in North Africa and Europe; photographer Margaret Bourke-White appears in a few of the images.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: A significant amount of Markham’s correspondence discusses being stationed as a military surgeon overseas, including North Africa (see particularly Folders 5-30; 35-72). He also describes the end of a military campaign in Tunisia in 1943 (Folder 185).

There are also letters related to Ritta Geer, the Markham’s longtime domestic servant. Folder 223 contains a 13 November 1934 receipt for Geer’s funeral expenses addressed to Blackwell Markham; an 11 October 1926 letter from Ritta Geer’s niece Cleora that discusses a family rift and Cleora’s desire to bring Geer to live with her in Pittsburgh, Pa.; and a Bible belonging to Geer, with a few handwritten annotations. There are also letters from John Markham, Jr. to Ella Markham from Camp Jackson between 1917-1919  writing about missing comforts of home including Ritta Geer’s homecooking  (Folder 218-220).

Abstract: Ernest Boyce McKissick (Mack) was born in Kelton, S.C., in 1895. His family moved to Asheville, N.C., around 1900. McKissick served in France, 1918-1919, with the African American 92nd Infantry Division during World War I. Returning to Asheville after the war, McKissick married Magnolia Thompson of Asheville. They had four children, the eldest of whom was Floyd S. McKissick, prominent North Carolina attorney, businessman, and civil rights leader, who was the first African American to attend the University of North Carolina’s Law School. The collection chiefly contains letters, 1918-1919, from Ernest B. McKissick to his future wife, Magnolia Thompson, written during his World War I service. Letters were sent from Camp Jackson, S.C.; Camp Dix, N.J.; Camp Merritt, N.J.; and France. They include jokes, romantic sentiments, and mention of fellow soldiers from Asheville and nearby Hendersonville, but offer little information about life as a soldier. Also included are a postcard, possibly from McKissick to H.E. Jones, and two letters to McKissick from Floyd S. Bixler, a wholesaler from Pennsylvania whom McKissick met while working at a hotel in Asheville.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Abstract: James A. Felton was an author, teacher, counselor, and civic leader in Hertford County, N.C. In the 1960s, he was a founder of the People’s Program on Poverty, an African American organization created to study and fight poverty on the grass-roots level in northeastern North Carolina. Felton was also instrumental in the restoration and establishment of the C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum, which opened in Winton, N.C., in 1986. In 1947, Felton married Annie Vaughan. Correspondence; programs for meetings and events held by educational, religious, and civic organizations; and newspaper clippings describing James A. Felton’s civic contributions in Hertford County, N.C. Best documented are activities related to the C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum in Winton, N.C., and the People’s Program on Poverty.Also included are a short biography of Annie Vaughan Felton and some materials that she collected after her husband’s death. Photographs show James A. Felton throughout his adult life with his family, his colleagues, and his students at the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Training Center.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: This collection includes a lot of documentation about James Felton’s activism and work in the community, particularly on the People’s Program on Poverty (Folder 9). There is also a video documenting the C.S. Brown Cultural Arts Center.

The photographs document James and Annie Felton’s family life as well as his work in the community as well as with the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Training Center. There is also a photograph of James Felton while he was a marine at Montford Point in the 1940s at Camp Lejune in North Carolina.

Abstract: John H. Crowder, a 16-year-old African American lieutenant who fought in the United States Army during the Civil War, was born in 1846 in Louisville, Ky., to free parents. After being abandoned by her husband, Crowder’s mother, Martha Ann Stars, moved with her son to New Orleans, La. During the Civil War, from 1862 to 1863, Crowder served in the 1st Regiment of the Louisiana Native Guard under the command of Major General Benjamin F. Butler. The Louisiana Native Guard was one of the first regiments of people of color to serve in the Union Army. Crowder was killed in action at the battle of Port Hudson in 1863. The collection contains eleven photocopied letters, dated November 1862 to May 1863, from John H. Crowder while he was serving in the 1st Regiment of the Louisiana Native Guards in the United States Army. Ten of the letters are addressed to his mother, Martha Ann Stars, and one to his sister. Crowder wrote from positions in Louisiana including Camp Bivouac at Lafourche Crossing, Camp Lookout at Bayou Louis, Camp Houston and the headquarters of the 1st Regiment of the Lousiana Native Guards in Baton Rouge. In the letters, Crowder discussed his life as a soldier, troop movements, and his wages and expenses. He also wrote to refute rumors that he was arrested and that he had married; to request his mother to send items, such as an engineering book and a talisman, and to thank her for items already sent; and to urge her not to tell anyone of his true age for fear he would be expelled from the army for being too young. The last letter, dated 5 May 1863, contains an itemized list of the expenses he deducted from his wages and the remaining amount he sent to his mother. The collection also includes 48 photocopied pages of deposition of Martha Ann Stars and friends relating to Stars’s attempt to obtain her son’s military pension.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Abstract: Papers relating to McLendon’s public service activities, especially his membership on the State Board of Higher Education, 1955- 1962, including his involvement in plans for desegregation of the University of North Carolina. Also included are materials about McLendon’s military career with U.S. troops in Mexico, 1916, and with the 113th Field Artillery, American Expeditionary Forces, 1917-1918; his law practice in Durham and Greensboro; his political activities; and the Senate investigation of Bobby Baker, including tape recordings (some transcribed) of oral diary entries that McLendon made during the course of the hearings. There also are about 600 letters from McLendon to his wife, Mary Lily Aycock McLendon. Approximately 750 items relate to the life and career of McLendon’s father-in-law, Charles Brantley Aycock (1859-1912), governor of North Carolina, 1901-1905.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: The papers contain information pertaining to black troops in World War I. Of particular note are two letters McLendon wrote to his wife on 11 May 1918 and 26 May 1918, where describes that attitudes of African American soldiers in the military at that time (Folder 89 and 90).

Correspondence from the 1950s and 1960s discusses the desegregation of higher education in North Carolina.

Abstract: General commission merchant of Halifax, N.C., and Norfolk, Va., during the mid-19th century. Included are four account books, 1845-1861, a lettercopy book, 1844-1861, and correspondence, 1830-1856, of Michael Ferrall documenting his commission business; assorted papers, 1831-1832, relating to the mobilization of the Halifax County militia during the Nat Turner rebellion; miscellaneous volumes, including the medical account book, 1865, of Dr. M. A. Wilcox of Halifax County, and the diary of Marshall Gary as a student at St. Mary’s College, Belmont, N.C., 1903; and a history of the Jones, Eppes, Bond, Ferrall, and McMahon families, written in 1932 (7 p.).

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: In Folder 2 of Series 2 (Halifax County Papers), there are militia papers , 1831-1832, which consist of claims for payment relating to the mobilization and service of the militia in the insurrection of August 1831 in Southampton County, Va. (Nat Turner Rebellion).

Abstract: Pope family of North Carolina, including Jonas Elias Pope of Northampton County, a man of color who was free before the Civil War; his son, M.T. Pope, who was born in Northampton County and later lived in Henderson, Charlotte, and Raleigh; M.T. Pope’s wife, Delia H. Pope of Raleigh; and their daughters, Evelyn Bennett Pope and Ruth Permelia Pope.M.T. Pope graduated in the first class of the Leonard Medical School of Shaw University; served in the Third Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers in the Spanish-American War; and practiced medicine and owned businesses and real estate in Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C. In the early 1900s, he was one of seven men of color registered to vote in Raleigh; in 1919, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor.Delia H. Pope taught school and was trained in the Madame C.J. Walker method of scientific hairdressing; Evelyn Bennett Pope was a professor of library science at North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University); and Ruth Permelia Pope was a teacher of home economics in Chapel Hill, N.C. Correspondence, financial and legal papers, educational records, and other papers of the Pope family. Included are letters written during M.T. Pope’s Spanish-American War service; letters of recommendation, 1892-1899, 1910, and 1914, for M.T. Pope from lawyers, bankers, and college administrators; letters in the 1920s, mostly relating to land in Northampton County; and letters about insurance, real estate, and other financial matters.Financial and legal papers relate to Jonas Elias Pope’s land and taxes in Northampton County, N.C. Also included are his certificate of freedom, 1851, and a copy of his will. A few items relate to businesses M.T. Pope helped start or partially owned. Many papers relate to Raleigh property and real estate; income taxes; insurance; stock; bank accounts; utility payments; and hospital bills.Other papers include educational records, biographical information, diplomas and certificates, clippings, notebooks, autograph books, and other materials. There are also scattered publications of First Baptist Church in Raleigh, the National Medical Association, and the People’s Benevolent and Relief Association.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: The collection includes correspondence, financial and legal papers, educational records, and other papers of the Pope family, an African American family of North Carolina.

Included are letters written during Pope’s service in the Third Regiment of North Carolina Volunteers during the Spanish-American War (Folders 1 and 2).

The collection includes Jonas Elias Pope’s certificate of freedom from 1851. Also included is a copy of Jonas Elias Pope’s will (Folder 16).

Other papers include educational records, biographical information, diplomas and certificates, clippings, notebooks, autograph books, and other materials of Pope family members. There is a business card for Delia Pope scientific hairdresser trained in the Madame C. J. Walker method, as well as other materials relating to her life (Folders 48-50).

Abstract: Harry E. Groves (1921- ), Colorado-born African-American lawyer and professor of law, with special interests in constitutional law, particularly of newly formed nations. He served as law school dean at Texas Southern University, 1956-1960, the University of Malaya, 1962-1964, and North Carolina Central University, 1976-1981; president of Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio, 1965-1968; and Brandis Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1981-1986. Correspondence and other items, 1951-1999, relating to Groves’s work with Texas Southern University, the University of Malaya, the Asia Foundation, Central State University, North Carolina Central University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; to his interest in constitutional law, particularly relating to Malaysia; and to his law practice. Writings, 1942-1999, include articles, speeches, and lectures on affirmative action, domestic law, constitutional law, African-Americans in education, and the future of African-American institutions;unpublished book-length manuscripts, one of which is a Groves family history; and day journals containing travel descriptions, including one from 1984 with Groves’s impressions of South Africa. Personal papers include items relating to Groves’s school career and activities of family and friends, 1929-1998; military service, 1944-1946; real estate holdings in Ohio, North Carolina, and Houston, Tex.; Groves family history; and other items. There are also a few photographs of Groves engaged in various activities and of the institutions in which he served.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Writings, 1942-1999, include articles, speeches, and lectures on affirmative action, domestic law, constitutional law, African-Americans in education, and the future of African-American institutions; unpublished book-length manuscripts, one of which is a Groves family history; and day journals containing travel descriptions, including one from 1984 with Groves’s impressions of South Africa.

Abstract: Elizabeth Seawell Hairston Hairston was a Virginia genealogist. Papers of Elizabeth Seawell Hairston Hairston and of other members of the Hairston, Penn, Wilson, and related families, chiefly of Patrick and Henry counties, Va. Included are personal correspondence and genealogical data. Early letters are to and from members of the Penn family, especially Elizabeth Seawell Hairston Hairston’s mother, Elizabeth (“Eliza”) Penn Hairston (b. 1826), and describe growing and selling tobacco, the settling of new lands in Louisiana and Alabama, and student life at Washington College in Lexington, Va., the University of Virginia, the Greensboro (N.C.) Female Institute, and other institutions for women. Beginning in 1848, most letters are about family life, but a few comment on local and state politics, 1851- 1852, and on the condition of slaves, 1852. Civil War letters describe activities on the home front, the routine of camp life at various locations, chiefly in Virginia, and life in the Union prison at Point Lookout, Md. During Reconstruction, letters discuss family financial hardships and problems with freedmen. Letters in the 1880s and 1890s deal chiefly with family matters, except for a few 1898 letters that relate to George Hairston’s military service during the Spanish-American War. Hairston never left Virginia during his enlistment, and his discharge may have been connected with his company’s involvement with an affray involving a black man, 14 August 1898. After 1900, the majority of the letters are about Hairston, Penn, and Wilson genealogy, and such organizations as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Colonial Dames. Also included are clippings and scrapbooks, most relating to the Civil War.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Letters discuss the condition of slaves (17 April 1852); black Union troops (1864); anxieties over newly freed slaves (28 November and 12 December 1865- 1877); and agreements with Georgia freedmen (16 August 1865). Also included are several letters relating to George Hairston’s military discharge during the Spanish-American War, which may have been connected with his company’s involvement in an affray with an African American (1898). Partial microfilm available.

Abstract: James Alexander Boyer, an African American educator, was professor of English, dean of the College, and College president at Saint Augustine’s College of Raleigh, N.C. Documented are Boyer’s intellectual interests and honors received, his education, his service in the United States Navy during World War II, Boyer family history, and various events at Saint Augustine’s College. With the exception of speaking notes and a few lesson planners, there are no documents relating to Boyer’s official duties and responsibilities at Saint Augustine’s. Audio tapes include discussions about prominent African American political figures and a 1997 conversation involving Boyer and others about the history of college athletics at Saint Augustine’s.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection