Oral History Interview with Julia Virginia Jones, October 6, 1997. Interview J-0072. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
Julia Virginia Jones was born in rural Shelby County, North Carolina, in 1948. The civic and professional activism of her mother and grandmother weighed heavily on Jones's definition of femininity, and she points to her father's abrupt death as forming a defining moment in her perception of gender roles. Rather than assuming married life would offer her lifelong security, Jones came to realize that she needed to be able to support herself independently. Religion played a significant role in her family, as did Democratic politics. The religious lessons Jones learned included tolerance and the omnipresence of God. Given the changing racial climate of the 1960s rural South, Jones admits her disenchantment with her church. Jones purposefully chose an all-women's college, Queens College, to develop her academic and leadership skills. She married her husband immediately after her college graduation and decided to follow him along his career path. She worked as a teacher, which resulted in unhappiness, so she applied to law school, accepting a full scholarship at Wake Forest. After clerking two years for Judge Woodrow Wilson, she obtained an associate position with the Moore & Van Allen law firm. In 1990, she was elected district court judge. She was undergoing cancer treatment at the time of this interview: she affectionately labels her supportive friends and family as "Fighting Okra" because of okra's raw strength and tenacity, characteristics she sees in her supporters.
Excerpts
Family legacy of rejecting conventional gender roles and supporting civic activism
Death of father demonstrates that marriage provided no economic security for women
Religious hypocrisy on social issues frustrates Jones
Even female-centered educational institutions harbor gender and racial biases
Working women violate traditional gender norms
Early career choices, considerations, and working relationships
Law firm observes gendered work relations despite attempts at rejecting gender norms
Decisive role in mentoring young female lawyers
Women attorneys forge informal alliances with each other
New technologies alter the way lawyers worked
Differences between smaller and larger legal communities determines the degree of legal cooperation
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Subjects
Judges--North Carolina--History--20th century
Lawyers--North Carolina--History--20th century
North Carolina--Race relations--20th century
Women judges--North Carolina
Women lawyers--North Carolina
Judges--North Carolina
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs
Cancer--Patients--Biography
Jones, Julia Virginia
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