Restrictions to Access

COLLECTION IS CLOSED TO RESEARCHERS (as of 20 February 2007).

Copyright Notice

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

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Timothy B. Tyson Papers #5246, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Timothy B. Tyson, Chapel Hill, N..C. in October 2004 (Acc. 100252)and in November 2012 (Acc. 101703).

Custodial History

The Wilmington Ten trial materials in the Addition of November 2012 were given to Tim Tyson by New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African American civil rights workers.
• African Americans--History.
• African Americans--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Black power--United States--History--20th century.
• Chavis family.
• Chavis, Ben, 1948-
• Civil rights workers.
• Diaries (Blank-books)
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Frinks, Golden Asro, 1920-2004.
• McCoy, James Eddie.
• Murder--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• North Carolina--Race relations.
• Oral history.
• Oxford (N.C.)--History.
• Oxford (N.C.)--Race relations.
• Oxford (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Seale, Bobby, 1936-
• Stem, Thad.
• Thomas, Larry Reni.
• Trials--North Carolina--Wilmington.
• Tyson family.
• Tyson, Timothy B.
• Tyson, Vernon.
• Williams, Robert Franklin, 1925-
• Wilmington (N.C.)--Race relations.

• Hanover Sun issues received with the Addition of November 2012 have been transferred to the North Carolina Collection and cataloged separately.

Timothy B. Tyson was born in 1959 in North Carolina, the son of Reverend Vernon Tyson and Martha Buie Tyson. The family lived in several North Carolina cities, including Raleigh, Oxford, and Wilmington.

Timothy Tyson earned a B.A. from Emory University in 1987 and a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1994. He is professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2004 and 2005, he was Visiting Professor of American Christianity and Southern Culture at the Duke Divinity School and Senior Scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. He was also the John Hope Franklin Senior Fellow at the National Humanities Center.

Tyson's books include Blood Done Sign My Name (2004), a personal history about a racial murder in Oxford, N.C., in 1970. This book was chosen as the selection for the 2005-2006 Summer Reading Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Tyson is also the author of Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power (1999) and the co-editor of Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy (1998). Tyson has won numerous awards for his publications.

The collection consists of publication materials, personal and family materials, and audio recordings. Drafts, notes, correspondence, interviews, photographs, and other materials are related to Tyson's publications Blood Done Sign My Name (2004), a personal history about a racial murder in Oxford, N.C., in 1970; Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power (1999); and his master's thesis, Burning for Freedom (1990), also about race and Oxford, N.C. Some items relate to the Reverend Vernon Tyson, civil rights activist and Tim Tyson's father; Eddie McCoy, Oxford civil rights activist; and writer Thad Stem. Personal and family materials include correspondence, a journal, clippings, and other materials related to the Tyson family. Audio recordings are mainly of oral history interviews centering on race relations. Among those interviewed are Eddie McCoy, Ben Chavis and other Chavis family members, Golden Frinks, and Bobby Seale. Some of the interviews were conducted by Larry Thomas. The Addition of November 2012 contains notes made by prosecutor Jay Stroud relating to jury selection and other matters; motions, affadavits, indictments, and other legal documents; clippings; and printed materials relating to the trial of the members of the Wilmington Ten. There is also a draft of remarks made by Tim Tyson at a press conference concerning the trial materials in December 2012 in Chapel Hill, N.C.

• Cassettes (C-5246/1-66)
• Oversize Volumes (V-5246/S-1-2)
• Photographs (P-5246/Folder 1)