ARC-OH. Avery Research Center Oral History Collections

Abstract The William Smyth audio collection, 1985-1994, contains ten oral histories, conducted by William Smyth, and eight music recordings. The oral history participants discuss life in the Charleston area during the 1950s with specific focus given to the Civil Rights Movement and segregation. The music recordings include Gullah Geechee artists from the Lowcountry such as Ron and Natalie Diase (Beaufort), the Brotherhood Gospel Singers (Mt. Pleasant), unidentified "Sea Island Singers," and a...

Abstract

The Guy and Candie Carawan Sea Island recordings, 1960-1969, collection contains field recordings and oral history interviews documenting Gullah Geechee life and culture in rural Johns Island. The recordings were created, first, during the Carawan's time assisting the Island's Citizenship School and, later, when they lived on the Island from 1963 to 1965. The collection consists of reel-to-reel tapes, audiocassettes, and transcripts.

Abstract The Avery Research Center Lowcountry oral histories collection brings together individual oral history interviews mostly conducted by Avery Research Center employees with people who are from the South Carolina Lowcountry or lived and worked in the Lowcountry while adults. A handful of oral histories that were donated to the Avery Research Center, but not conducted by Avery Research Center employees, are also included in this collection. A wide range of topics are discussed in these oral...

Abstract The South Carolina Civil and Human Rights Anthology is an oral history project containing 18 interviews conducted by the Avery Research Center in 2004 and 2007. Participants discuss their family history and their involvement in organizing and activism work in South Carolina. Topics discussed include labor organizing and labor strikes, demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement such as sit-ins and marches, voter registration and voter turnout efforts, the Orangeburg Massacre, and the...

Abstract The Director's Cut Oral History Project is a series of six video oral history interviews recorded in 2025 with current and former living directors of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Participants discuss a wide variety of topics including their professional lives, what brought them to Avery, accomplishments and challenges from their tenure, the role the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture and Averyites from the Avery Normal Institute played...