Inventory of the James A. Felton and Annie Vaughan Felton Papers, 1938-2003

Collection Number 5161

Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Descriptive Summary

Repository

Southern Historical Collection

Creator

Felton, James A. (James Andrew), 1919-1994.
Felton, Annie Vaughan.

Title

James A. Felton and Annie Vaughan Felton Papers, 1938-2003

Call Number

5161

Language of Materials

Materials in English

Extent

Items: About 300

Linear Feet: 0.5

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access

No restrictions.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Annie Vaughan Felton of Winton, N.C., in May 2004 (Acc. 99798).

Processing Information

Processed by: Elise Allison, March 2005

Encoded by: Elise Allison, March 2005

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the James A. Felton and Annie Vaughan Felton Papers #5161, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

African American civic leaders--North Carolina.

African American families--North Carolina.

African American teachers--North Carolina.

African Americans--North Carolina--Hertford County.

African Americans--Photographs.

C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum.

Felton, Annie Vaughan.

Felton, James A. (James Andrew), 1919-1994.

Hertford County (N.C.)--History.

Hertford County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Association (U.S.).

North Carolina--Intellectual life.

People's Program on Poverty.

Poverty--North Carolina.

Winton (N.C.)--History.

Winton (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

Biographical Note

James Andrew Felton was born on 6 July 1919 in Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. After spending almost three years in the United States Marine Corps, he earned his B.S. from Elizabeth City State Teachers College (now Elizabeth City State University) and his M.A. from North Carolina College at Durham (now North Carolina Central University). He taught in the Greene and Hertford County school systems for 20 years, and, in 1965 he published Fruits of Enduring Faith, a story that dramatizes the human issues behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the mid-1960s, Felton and Reverend John L. Scott of New Ahoskie Baptist Church formed the People's Program on Poverty, an African American organization created to study and fight poverty on the grass-roots level. Through his work in this program, Felton founded the first Family Training Center in the United States. During this time, he was also actively involved in organizations such as the President's Commission on Rural Poverty, the North Carolina Family Life Council, and a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

In 1980, Felton established the C. S. Brown School Auditorium Restoration Association to restore Brown Hall, a building that had been part of the campus of Chowan Academy, an African American school founded in 1886 by Calvin Scott Brown. The C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum in Winton, N.C., opened in 1986.

James A. Felton married Annie Vaughan on 3 August 1947. They had six children: James Andrew, Jr., Keith, Maria, Sharon, Michele, and Camilla. James A. Felton died in Winton, N.C., on 6 October 1994.

For additional information about James A. Felton, see Who's Who Among Black Americans, 1st edition, 1975-1976.

Collection Overview

The collection consists of materials documenting teacher and community activist James A. Felton's life, focusing on his civic activities and achievements, especially those related to the C. S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum and the People's Program on Poverty. It includes correspondence; programs for meetings and events held by educational, religious, and civic organizations; and newspaper clippings describing Felton's civic contributions in Hertford County, N.C. 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.

Arrangement of Collection

1. Papers
2. Pictures

Items Separated

Oversize papers (OP-5161)
Videotapes (VT-5161)
Photographs (P-5161)

Detailed Description of the Collection