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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson, November 5, 1974. Interview G-0005. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

The impact of religious beliefs on interracial cooperative efforts

Anderson discusses the interracial conferences held at Camp Merriwoode. She explains how religion influenced workers' liberal ideas about race.

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Oral History Interview with Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson, November 5, 1974. Interview G-0005. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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MARY FREDERICKSON:
I'm mainly interested in what they were involved in. Did the industrial department cause most of the furor?
ELEANOR COPENHAVER ANDERSON:
Labor. Race. There are plenty of people here. . . . The thing on race I guess you'd say was more definitely related to religion. And right down through they were very active on race. We were talking about a camp, Merriwoode. You know where that is?
MARY FREDERICKSON:
Yes, I was just reading some things about one of the conferences you held there.
ELEANOR COPENHAVER ANDERSON:
This Mrs Day. . . goodness, she had a famous husband. She really risked a great deal on letting us have interracial conferences there. But you see it hasn't much point if I don't know what date it was. It was an exceedingly swanky camp and she let us do it. She really risked a lot with her prestigous clients. She was in the Richmond Y. Her husband was a very famous liberal in the city government here.
MARY FREDERICKSON:
The conference I was reading about was in 1936, and I think that was the first one where you had an interracial group. Grace Hamilton was there and Winifred Wygal . . .
ELEANOR COPENHAVER ANDERSON:
Yes. That shows you shouldn't trust me. I just told Polly Sunday it was lots earlier than that. Yes, Winifred Wygal.