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Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin was a Southern writer, academic sociologist, and social activist. Born in 1897, Lumpkin grew up in Macon, Georgia, where the "Lost Cause" was championed by her father and her intellect was fostered by her mother. Lumpkin describes what it was like to grow up in this Southern family, which later served as the basis for her autobiographical The Making of a Southerner (1947). After offering her family background as context, Lumpkin argues that she wrote her book out of her gradual realization that race was culturally constructed and that she hoped to improve race relations by raising awareness of how she herself grew to be conscious of its construction and its social functions. Central to Lumpkin's own cognizance of race relations was her work with the YWCA while a student at Bernau College and as its national student secretary for the South during the early 1920s. Speaking of her work with the YWCA, Lumpkin stresses the importance of the social gospel to the work of the YWCA. In particular, Lumpkin describes how race relations and industrial conditions were of primary concern to the YWCA. In addition to discussing the role of African American women in the YWCA, Lumpkin explains how the YWCA worked to ease tensions between women of divergent groups by developing collaborative, interracial groups and by promoting awareness of challenges working women faced by way of the Industrial Department. Lumpkin also discusses her decision to leave the YWCA in 1925 in order to pursue her doctoral degree in sociology at University of Wisconsin. Having already earned her Master's degree in the late 1910s, Lumpkin returned to academe and remained there until her retirement in 1967. In this interview, Lumpkin's discussion of her academic work is largely centered on her graduate work and her earlier career in academe. She concludes the interview by briefly describing her research on Angelina and Sarah Grimke; her relationship with her sister, proletariat novelist Grace Lumpkin, and the similarities and differences in their career trajectories; her role in the Institute of Labor Studies, and her book, South in Progress (1940).

Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection

Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews

Southern States--Race relations

Children--Employment--Laws and legislation

Young Women's Christian associations

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Institute of Labor Studies