Bill Hull describes the social environment for gay men in Chapel Hill from the 1960s to the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Martha Cooley describes her childhood in rural Granville County, North Carolina, during the early part of the twentieth century.

John Wesley Snipes recalls his childhood in rural Chatham County, North Carolina, in the early twentieth century.

Jane Squires describes building a career as a tobacco auctioneer, a male-dominated profession.

Harvey E. Beech describes his journey to becoming a lawyer fighting for legal justice. In 1951, he was one of five students who made up the first group of African Americans to attend the University of North Carolina School of Law. Beech assesses the racial changes since the mid-twentieth century and discusses racism in contemporary America.

Julia Virginia Jones traces the development of her professional career, which culminated in a federal judgeship. She illuminates the impact her gender had on her growth in the legal field.

Clay East was a founding member of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. In this interview, he describes life in Tyronza, Arkansas, during the 1920s and 1930s; his conversion to socialism; his observation of the problems of tenant farmers and sharecroppers; and his role in the formation of the union during the early 1930s.

In this interview, Jonathan Daniels discusses his father's role as a newspaper editor and Secretary of the Navy, as well as his father's racial and religious views. Daniels also describes how race and the University of North Carolina shaped his own life.