Oral History Interview with Anne Barnes, January 30, 1989. Interview C-0049. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
Audio with Transcript
Listen Online with Text Transcript
(Requires QuickTime and JavaScript)
Transcript Only (38 p.)
HTML file
XML/TEI source file
Download Complete Audio File (MP3 format / ca. 81.0 MB, 01:28:33)
MP3
Abstract
From 1981 to 1996, Anne Barnes sat in the North Carolina House of Representatives for Orange County. While there, she focused on issues of social justice, especially poverty, education, prison reform, civil rights, and women's rights. In this 1989 interview, she gives an overview of her childhood and early adulthood before explaining how those experiences motivated her to become involved in the political arena. Before running for election herself, she worked on a variety of campaigns, including Howard Lee's Chapel Hill mayoral bid, in which he became the first African American mayor in the United States elected by a predominantly white municipality. After exploring how her various campaign positions led to her eventual candidacy, she explains the reasons for her particular political foci and how she has seen the issues change over the past several decades. Much of the second half of the interview is devoted to the position of women in politics and the reasons Barnes believes women have struggled to find equality in that arena. After listing the sociological, psychological, economic, and political reasons for the gender imbalance, she proposes ways to level the playing field for a new generation of women.
Excerpts
Beginning her political career as a Democratic Party volunteer
Learning to negotiate politics from female mentors in Howard Lee's campaigns
Challenges facing the women's rights movement in the late 1980s
Barnes lists the issues that concern her most
Probing of reasons for the dearth of female politicians
Republican women in 1980s North Carolina rose to greater influence in their party than female Democrats
Mentoring relationships are crucial to the development of capable female politicians
Learn More
Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
Subjects
North Carolina--Politics and government
Women political activists--North Carolina
Women's rights--North Carolina
The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on
Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove
transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts
held by the Southern Historical Collection.
Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.