James Sulton Sr. interview recording, 1994 July 22

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Charles Houston	—please: your name, your birthdate, and birthplace.	0:01
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I'm James E. Sultan, Sr. 1316 Russell Street Southeast, Orangeburg, South Carolina 29115. I was born May 9th, 1923, two doors up from where I'm presently living, in my father's and mother's home. I am married to Ruby Clowers Sultan, who has given me five children: one girl, Cynthia Gail Sultan, who is the oldest, who is now the manager of security for the research division of Mobile Oil Company.	0:04
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My next son, who's my oldest son, is James E. Sultan, Jr., who is a graduate of Howard University, spent his first two years in college at Michigan State University. Got his degree from Howard University and his master's degree and doctorate from Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, who is fluent in Arabic and his dissertation was on the conflict resolution in Sudan, who spent a year full-time and two part-times in Cairo researching for his dissertation, which took him seven years after his master's to complete.	1:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My next son, Francis, better known as Frankie Sultan, is a graduate of the parochial school here and the local high school, who spent his first year at North Carolina State University in Raleigh School of Engineering, which he was very unhappy with because of the low enrollment of Blacks. Then went to Morehouse College, my old school, in the dual degree program with Morehouse in Georgia Tech University and finished with their five-year program with a degree from Morehouse and a degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, is married to Jacqueline Holloway Sultan, who is a pediatrician in Atlanta. They have two children, Harmon Denise, 14 years old' and Jonathan, 8 years old.	2:03
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My next son is Charles Christopher, who decided that after matriculating at least twice in a college, that college education was not his forte, and joined the Army for a short day and was discharged honorably and went to work in a local industry. Then worked for Southern Bell telephone company, at which time he somehow, we don't know exactly what the circumstances were, but we believe that maybe it was misuse of drugs that has made him permanently disabled. He is married, no children.	3:16
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My youngest is my son Thomas, who was the graduate of parochial schools here in Orangeburg: Holy Trinity Catholic School, which was then a segregated school known as Christ the King. After two years in the public school, we thought that he was not being challenged enough at the local level, and he moved to Washington, DC, to live with his sister Cynthia and enrolled in Bethesda Chevy Chase High School system. I can't remember the date that he finished there, but he then went one year at Morgan State and decided that he was not being challenged there again, so enrolled in Morehouse College in Atlanta, finished with a liberal arts degree and went to the University of Texas Law School in Austin and finished there, passed the Texas bar, and has been employed since 1982 with State Farm Insurance Company.	4:18
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I am happy to say that I have seven grandchildren, the oldest being Susan Jackson, who is 24. Then I have Harmon Denise, who is 14. I have James E. Sultan III, who is 12. I have William, who is 10. I have Patrice, who is 8; and Jonathan, who is 8.	5:50
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I think that it would be proper to say somewhat what my background has been. Having said that, I was born here in Orangeburg. My family has lived here all of my adult life, but had came originally, as I recall, from Newberry County in South Carolina.	6:34
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My early recollection of the family background is that my father, his brother, and his father were owners of JJ Sultan Lumber Company, which was then the oldest lumber company in the southeast that had operated since 1825 as JJ Sultan Lumber Company. Now, the history behind that is obvious that somewhere down the line that there were some White Sultans, which I have found that was my great-grandfather who had the mill and passed it onto his children, and it was JJ Sultan Lumber Company that was the real foundation for all of our existence. My father had six children, my uncle had three, so there were nine siblings. Of these nine, all except the girls in the family, which were four, including my uncle's one daughter, participated and worked, as a matter of course, in the lumber company.	7:02
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I guess it would be fair to try to give a little background on what our history has been as it relates to education. Until my oldest brother, Arnold Leroy, commonly known as Roy, his children went one or two years in the public schools. None of us had ever been in a public school. My sister Dorothy, who later was killed by her husband, who then committed suicide, was the oldest, who went through a private school at Claflin College here in Orangeburg and went on to matriculate at Oberlin College and was the first Black to receive a degree in public school music from that institution, who later went on to work at Tuskegee Institute, now known, I guess, as Tuskegee University and had no children.	8:42
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My brother Roy, who went to Claflin also and spent about a year in a private school somewhere in North Carolina, and returned here to graduate from South Carolina State with a degree in mechanical engineering, I guess. I don't know what the title was back then. But he was an electrician who lost a kidney in a accident. Consequently, he was never able to be eligible for any service in the military.	10:01
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I guess to try to put this in sequence, because the family was closely knit, my cousin Frederick Hume was the second oldest who went to a private school in Augusta, Georgia, called Haines Institute and was an outstanding baseball pitcher, who worked in the company a while and decided that he had enough education and moved on.	10:47
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	His brother, John Dennis Sultan, who was commonly known to us as Denny, finished South Carolina State and went on to Kansas State University to get a degree in architectural engineering and then went to Washington, where he worked under the tutelage of a famous architect there, whose name I can't remember at the moment, and worked for the government and subsequently went into business for himself, who had a partner, and the firm was Sultan Campbell & Associates, that designed numerous buildings at Howard University. They had an office in Baltimore, and he designed primarily hospitals and schools. He also had designed stations for the new metro in Washington, DC, and was a very successful architect who employed on part-time and full-time Black architects from Howard University, recently died in March of 1994.	11:30
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	He had one daughter, Linda, who is a graduate of Wellesley, married a Nigerian who is a physician who practiced medicine in various fields and got certified in various specialty schools as internal medicine, OB/GYN, and surgery, who left then and went to Nigeria with the purpose of opening a hospital and a teaching facility to help his people progress health-wise. He has four children. Because of the political turmoil in Nigeria, he decided to come back to the States, and he's now a four professor at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine at Johnson City, Tennessee.	13:12
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Then my sister, Maxine Sultan Crawford, who is, what, fourth in line as far as age is concerned, who was the graduate of Claflin and South Carolina State, who married TJ Crawford, who was the professor of chemistry and other positions that he held at South Carolina State, and they are the parents of one girl, Donna Helene Moores. She retired as principal of the Felton Training School, which was a training facility owned and operated by South Carolina State.	14:24
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My sister Florence, who finished South Carolina State with a degree in music and taught for many years in the public school system here and who is retired and who presently is disabled.	15:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My next is my brother Charles, who went to Claflin, finished high school at Claflin in class of 1940, which was the last class that Claflin had in the high school department whose teachers were the same teachers that taught in the college. We had a lot of teachers from the New England area, and we went to school from eight o'clock in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon and went on the schedule the same as the college, where we would have off periods, had time off for lunch.	15:40
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I think it's important to say that education had been stressed as the ticket to prosperity and progress throughout my life. My mother, who was orphaned at birth, whose father, my grandfather, that she refused to talk about for many, many, many years until someone came through a family member that was tracing the family history on both the maternal and paternal side of our family, who revealed the fact that her father was Jewish, who never took responsibility for her, and she put herself through school with great determination and met my father at Claflin, where they were married after she finished school there.	16:24
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	At one time, she was the oldest living alumnus of Claflin College, a very, very great lady who always conducted herself, and not one in bitterness. She accepted her plight; she accepted the circumstances of her birth and never complained. However, she always thought that her children should have the best that was offered, wherever it was offered, as far as education was concerned.	17:37
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I grew up with her. During the Depression, I'm a Depression baby, she taught school and they were paid then in what was called script. Script, which was nothing but an IOU from the county that guaranteed that you would be paid when the treasurer collected funds. These could be traded at local stores, food or whatever, and the stores would accept them, then they would collect on them. I used to drive her to school at a very rural area, that she had a one room school and a church. Stayed out there all the week with no running water, no plumbing, and taught to help my father get over the very, very crushing Depression that devastated their business.	18:19
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	At the time, prior to the Depression, my grandfather, my father, and his brother had maybe between 75 and 100 employees, ironically some of whom were White. They had a growing lumber business and they produced from raw timber to finished products through a dry kiln that finished lumber. Mainly, they had their main outlet for a while was supplying the railroad with cross ties and also shipped huge timbers for bridges and et cetera to foreign markets. Their integrity and honesty was so great that the companies usually had inspectors to inspect lumber before it was shipped to make sure it met the specifications that they desired, trusted my father's firm so much that they accepted what they said and, to my knowledge, never was anything ever rejected.	19:33
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	The devastating thing about the Depression was, for instance, they shipped a big shipment of lumber by railroad to New Jersey port to be shipped overseas, which was caught in the Depression, and this lumber was not able to be shipped because the buyer had no money to do it. The people then told my folks that if they wanted the lumber back, which was large timbers, that they could have it for free if they'd pay the shipping to come back. So, that was of no use, so that was just lost. A timberland that they had bought, they could not harvest and it really wiped them out financially.	21:05
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	However, my grandfather and my father and his brother, being men of very high character, did not claim bankruptcy, although all their funds had been frozen in the closing of all the financial institutions, who struggled to pay off their debts, still with the maintaining a sound family structure.	22:08
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My grandfather, who lived next door to where I built my home at, and his wife was a Cherokee Indian, was a very talented, self-taught timberman, so much so that he was what we call and still call a timber cruiser, who could walk through a big forest and, within a few thousand feet, be able to project how many board feet could be harvested and what to pay for this timber, so much so that he did timber cruising for other companies.	22:46
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My father was the engineer in the family who designed and made various machines that produced the finished products that we had. My uncle was the mathematician in the family who was a math wiz who could add a figure of numbers faster than we could put them on the old adding machines where you had the crank to pull down, had to make every transaction, so it was a collaborative effort by everybody in the family to understand that education was paramount in any successful venture that we might entertain.	23:49
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I guess a good example is that, as I said before, that none of us ever went to public school and we got a good education. To say that my father or my uncle, and certainly my grandfather, were strong advocates against the system of segregation would not be true. They operated within the system and used it to their advantage, and I guess was satisfied with the standard of living that they were able to maintain with, I guess, the theory would be go along to get along and were respected very much in the White community, but not accepted, socially, politically, or otherwise, which did not seem to have an adverse effect on their thinking.	24:52
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Their children knew that the masses of our race were being subjected to inhumane treatment, and they not only knew that education was the key for them, that they had to reach back and try to change the system to enhance the living standards of everybody, they would not be happy. It took the combined efforts of many, many people in our family to understand that, and I think that my mother played a very pivotal part in this, that we had to understand that we were very privileged, no matter how hard conditions were, that we owed something back to society in which we lived in that our living standards were far above the masses. I never considered myself poor. I certainly didn't consider myself rich, but I think all of us considered ourselves fortunate in that we never were without food, clothing, and shelter, and education, in spite of all encumbrances that had been put in our path.	26:05
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I guess I would say in trying to, and I might be a little disjointed in trying to recall this history, so—	27:37
Charles Houston	This is very clear.	27:47
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	—and I might jump from one issue to the other, so you have to bear with me.	27:50
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I guess I am the youngest of the siblings. Early on, I guess I was somewhat rebellious as far as the standards that my family set, that I was not what you would call now a at-risk kid, but I certainly had a sense of adventure, breaking the rules, how to get by and yet maintain the standards that my folks set without making me be an outcast. They were naive in a lot of things that I was doing in my youth, and I think I was able to balance that with realizing, of course, that the main purpose in life was to, really, serve God, serve your family, and serve your community, and I think I absorbed most of this from my mother who always, always helped the less fortunate students that went to Claflin College.	27:54
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	The President emeritus of Claflin College, Dr. Manning, who served many years as president, never lets me forget the fact that he never would've been able to make it through school had it not been for my mother feeding him and clothing and all of these basic things that he had. Any number of people have come up through the years that remember what she did, sometimes using funds that could have been better used for her own family, that she thought this dedication, and I guess this is a result of her life, that she understood that she did not get where she was by herself, that many people helped her during the years.	29:26
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Being born, orphaned, her mother died in childbirth; and father who deserted her, that she made it on her own perseverance, but not by herself, that people along the way helped her. So, she thought then that she had to reach back and help, and her whole life was dedicated first, I think, to God. She was a very religious person. Next, I think, to her family, her dedication to her children and her grandchildren without exception.	30:20
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	It makes me emotional just to talk about it.	31:06
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Out of the six children, I have the most; I have five. My brother has two, and my sister has one. My younger sister and my other brother had no children. My oldest sister, Dorothy, had no children. So, the grandchildren were a delight to her and she was the impetus, I believe, for them, understanding that no matter how many obstacles were put in that path, if they kept their eye on what they wanted to achieve, that they could. As a result of me having the most children, needed the most help.	31:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My father was determined that all of his children would have homes. My oldest sister, who married at Tuskegee Institute then, a doctor, was pretty well-sufficient as far as having a home and all of the good things in life, I guess. My brother, he, I think, had the first home. Yes. Then my sister Florence had a home. He helped me build my home. All the lumber and stuff was furnished by him, the lumber that you see in this den, he especially made. Then my other sister, Maxine, who lives right across the compound, as we call it here, when he built her house, he was ready to close his business.	32:13
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	A lot of people have asked me and my brother, too, why we did not go in to try to continue the business for my cousin Denny, why we didn't get together and keep it going? It was because my father and my uncle and my grandfather all did business with a handshake, and they never wanted to put anything, I guess, in writing, or even thought about the continuation of a business that had survived so long.	33:24
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I came back here to live in 1947 after having getting married in Atlanta, after spending some time back at my school, Morehouse College in Atlanta, with the prime objective that I was coming back with the help of a GI loan, was going to join the firm, expand it into a building construction materials outlet and had grandiose plans that, despite of how the size of it had been cut down because of all the losses that they had through the Depression and two fires, and my brother laughed. My brother Roy laughed. He said, "Why do you think that you going to be able to come back here and come in this business and I've been here all this time while you've been away in school and in the Army, and they won't let me in it?" They just won't put anything in writing, and there were too many siblings to really do that. No rancor as far as on our part, just the fact of life.	34:07
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	So the business, after my sister had her home, my brother and I worked for him. He was a electrical contractor, and I worked for him for a year with the idea that since we could not continue in the business with the lumber business, that we would open a business of our own, which would be a service station, not a filling station: a service station where full service would be a available to the Blacks in this community. We built our own building on property that he owned that had to be transferred into my name so that I was able to get a GI loan of the great sum of $3,500.	35:21
Charles Houston	What year was that?	36:22
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	1948. To build our business. For the first year of the operation of the business—Oh, I guess I should say, my brother went to what was then the Standard Oil Company to try to get a franchise with them, in the company. If you could get that, it would furnish the underground tanks and your pumps and et cetera. The local field representative then told my brother, said, "Yeah, well, we'll get you one pump." And my brother was outraged and told him, he says, "Listen, you are not Standard Oil Company. I want everything that they have to offer that you offer anybody else, and don't you think that I'm going to take your answer to me about what you going to give me." He said, "I know where Standard Oil is headquartered." And the answer he got from the fellow, "We'll see."	36:25
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	So, my brother contacted Standard Oil Company in New York City and told him the story of what we were trying to do and that there was no Black service station in this town, the background of my family as it pertained to successful operation of a business, his successful operation of a electrical contracting company, which lit up the sky. Two weeks later, we had all of the things that we wanted that the company was able to supply that they supplied to any other dealer.	37:39
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	The field representative came in, of course, like it was all his idea: "I've decided to do what I thought was right," and my brother said, "Bullshit," and those are the words. I'm not being—	38:26
Charles Houston	No, that's fine.	38:39
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I'm not trying to gloss it over. Those are the words he used. "You had absolutely nothing to do with it. Nothing. But I do expect you to give us everything that we've asked for." As a result of that, we got what we wanted. We started small, and we grew.	38:44
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	In 1960, we added, through a loan from the oil company, to build a full service garage and a fuel oil company. We opened a fuel oil company without having our own storage, and we were buying from a local White Exxon supplier who was a distributor who, by no stretch of the imagination, was an integrationist, but was a very fair person, who understand that business and social issues did not mix as far as his bank account was concerned. We had a growing business because we didn't have natural gas here at the time, and fuel oil was the main mode of heat. And—	39:11
Charles Houston	He sold to you. You were were a customer of—	40:07
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Of his.	40:11
Charles Houston	—his?	40:12
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	We bought—	40:13
Charles Houston	He was a jobber?	40:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes. Well, you say jobber, distributor is what they call it.	40:16
Charles Houston	Distributor. Okay.	40:20
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yeah. He had the franchise here and there, but he also did not have a whole lot of storage then at all. So, the Exxon Company Standard, then had a storage facility here where we picked up all the gasoline and stuff was shipped right here locally, because as the company expanded, that all went down to Charleston and the area up in upstate. But beginning, we had to get fuel oil from the company and from him in that sometimes their supplies were low.	40:20
Charles Houston	But he had other retailers and he supplied retailers—	41:09
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	41:13
Charles Houston	—like you.	41:13
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	41:13
Charles Houston	And he simply refused to discriminate against you even though he was prejudiced because he saw you as another money cash payment?	41:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And had respect for my family prior to that. I'll tell you how that came. I guess for 17 years, I never took a vacation, other than maybe a weekend, couple of days here. But a sustained week, two days? But I'd been away for a couple of days when all this turmoil started about signing the petition after the 1954 school—	41:20
Charles Houston	Desegregation.	41:47
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	—desegregation. I have a copy of that here somewhere where all the people who signed that petition. As a result, the formation of the White Citizens Council that was going to put economic pressure on all the people who signed this petition asking the school board to implement the 1954 decision.	41:48
Charles Houston	This was before you became a fuel oil retailer? [indistinct 00:42:19]	42:12
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes. Before I became—	42:19
Charles Houston	A fuel oil—	42:21
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	But we had to buy our supplies from CM Duke's Oil Company. They're like tires, batteries—	42:22
Charles Houston	Accessories or—	42:28
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yeah. All those things.	42:29
Charles Houston	[indistinct 00:42:31].	42:30
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	He was the Atlas dealer. I'm a distributor. So, we had to buy that through him. We had a pretty large account with him, and we had credit.	42:30
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	After we signed the petition, they had someone who sat right across the street here from our business and took the names of oil supplies down there and demanded they refuse to deliver. So, when I went off, I think for a weekend, when I came back, my brother told me that Mr. Dukes wanted to see me.	42:40
Charles Houston	Dukes.	43:05
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Dukes.	43:05
Charles Houston	Dukes.	43:06
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	D-U-K-E-S. It was CM Dukes, who was the owner of CM Dukes Oil Company. I said, "What about it?" He said, "I don't know. It must be something about all this Citizens Council stuff and trying to get people to quit delivering to us." So, I went down to see him.	43:07
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Ironically, when I walked in the place, the main honcho with the White Citizen Council, Debussy T. Bates, a local insurance man with the New York Life Insurance Company, who headed up the Citizen Council, was in the place when I came in, delivering copies of the White Citizens Council paper that they passed up. When he saw me, he left hurriedly.	43:32
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	My conversation began with Mr. Dukes in this manner: I said, "Mr. Dukes, I heard you sent for me." I said, "Before we discuss that," I said, "Let's go over a few things. First," I said, "how much money have we been spending with you?" "Good bit." I said, "Have we ever missed a payment?" My brother and I, I guess the success of our business had been we never failed to discount a bill. That meant that if you're paid by the 10th, you got a extra 2%, and if you spent enough money, that became a pretty good percentage that you could consider as profit.	44:04
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	So, I went on to him, "Have we ever failed to pay you?" "No." "Do you still want our business?" "Yes, of course." I said, "Will the terms be the same?" "Absolutely." I said, "Nothing else to discuss, really." I said, "What did you really want?" In essence, said, "I'll be damned if I know." He says, "But I want you to know that nothing has changed," when all these other people stopped delivering, and he was in a financial position, in a pivotal position as far as the supply. There was nothing, no retribution they could put on him as far as what he did, and he never stopped.	44:49
Charles Houston	So by your paying on time, he was able to turn around and pay his Atlas on time, and Atlas then gave him a 2% discount?	45:33
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Well, he gave us the 2% discount. I don't know what Atlas gave him. But he bought in bulk. So, he got his stuff, in paying his bills about how much he could—It's just like your Walmarts and Kmarts, now you're buying bulk. You get better prices.	45:44
Charles Houston	Sure. No, I understand.	46:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Right. But he was also an astute businessman. We had, I think, possibly, except he furnished the oil and stuff to a lot of farmers, but I think that as far as a business account, ours was the largest. Being an astute businessman that wanted to make money, and he—	46:01
Charles Houston	He didn't let that racial politics get in the way of—	46:26
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Of business.	46:28
Charles Houston	—of business.	46:29
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	He was not. In defense of Exxon, the field representative from Exxon—can't remember his name.	46:29
Charles Houston	Different than when you started?	46:39
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Oh, yes. This is many years after we started. We started '48, and this was—	46:41
Charles Houston	[indistinct 00:46:48].	46:47
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	—in '54, '55, who lived up the street was a very, very—	46:49

Charles Houston	He was White, but he [indistinct 00:00:04]	0:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Oh, yes.	0:01
Charles Houston	I thought you meant he was Black with fair skin.	0:01
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And as far as you—No, no. He was very, and not only that, we had a very good personal relationship with him. He lived a block and a half up the street from us. He had a wife and a daughter. And when he would have to leave town to go to various meetings with the Exxon company, he always told his wife, who did not drive, that she got in any situation that she needed help, to call us. My brother in particular. So, our relationship with Exxon, he came down, and he made it very, very clear that the company in no way would change its practices as it related to us. And they did not. We had no problems with Exxon.	0:03
Charles Houston	During the time that the Citizens Council was cutting off other people's supplies, your two primary suppliers did not take retributive action against you?	0:58
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Correct. Did not. And I guess I'm the bulldog in my family, because I had no qualms at all about, and came back here after having served three years and 11 months in the Army. I thought it was just ludicrous as far as I was concerned. If somebody tell me that here I'm fighting Germans, and you telling me. And the thing that really, the pivotal part of that was that the first thing I did really when I came back here, I was angry. I'd been angry serving in the Army. And was so pleased when President Truman with just one stroke of the pen said, "It's over."	1:08
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And all the chaos and stuff that people projected would happen did not happen because he said, "We don't need any plans to—A period where we going to ease this in. It's going be done now, today."	2:08
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And if you can read the history of him, he had no real love for Black people, but he understood what it took to run this country. God knows we need a president like him now. Anyway, the business survived in that my brother and I had to, because of all our credit being cut off with our other suppliers, with the exception of Duke's and the oil Company, but the parts houses and stuff were required then that we pay cash for all our parts, and then we had to pick them up.	2:27
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	So I said when I came back in, my first thing to do was to join NAACP. And our first project, I think in NAACP was voter registration and to fight the unequal pay that public schools teachers received in the state. And I say there was the late judge—Jay Waites wearing of Charleston, a district judge who ruled it unconstitutional, who then made sure that this was done promptly. He was a very, he was a blue blood of Charleston, of the so-called society there who, because of his strict interpretation of the Constitution, was ostracized, and had no effect on him.	3:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Well, then our next project was with the Democratic Party, which had the Democratic Primary set up as a club, the Democratic Club. But once the candidates won the primary, it was—	4:24
Charles Houston	That was the election.	4:43
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	That was the election. The general election was just a farce, but they claimed it was a club, a private club, and Judge Waites overruled that. And that then opened us up for real progress, and that we were able to do mass registration of people to vote. And it was kind of ironic to me. When I came back here to register to vote, I had absolutely no trouble. When I registered here. My brother had already registered to vote. Masses couldn't do it. Now—	4:47
Charles Houston	You mean when you came back from the military before the NAACP's initiative against the lily-white Primary, you were able to register?	5:35
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	5:42
Charles Houston	To vote in the, without opposition?	5:43
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Without reading the Constitution of having to interpret it and all the—	5:46
Charles Houston	Stand on your head and drink water.	5:48
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yeah, yeah, uh-huh. Drink water and pee at the same time. I didn't have to go through that.	5:49
Charles Houston	Right.	5:55
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I saw there no encumbrance put in my path, but the masses of people of course could not. So, I guess what that said to me at the point, at that time in my life was then, "You are the exception." What about the masses? I couldn't sit and say, "Well, I'm registered to vote. Too bad about you."	5:56
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	But what could my vote do without getting the masses registered so that they then would be, we then would be a political force. And that's the beginning of the political power that's now exercised in this county and city, and state to some extent.	6:25
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I have gone through all these, trying to run a business, married, trying to raise a family, five children, trying to educate them, which played a very physical toll on me. My brother was not the one to stand out in front like this. I guess he was, and he was supportive, but meant that I had to spend a lot of time away from the business that put a lot of time on, a lot of pressure on him to operate with him. And he was somewhat angry that I was putting more time in the civil rights than I was in the business.	6:53
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And it resulted in me having two also ulcer operations, and was not conducive to good health as far as my family was concerned. But it was something I take pride in and I don't understand, I can't explain it to you why being the youngest, why I am considered the one who represented this family and this community in a forthright manner, very positive manner, and one that I never accepted, that somehow because I was Black of African American ancestry, that I was inferior.	7:34
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And my brother supported me. My cousin Denny, who I mentioned earlier, was an architect in Washington DC, was in the forefront of all of the movement in Washington DC to integrate the restaurants and the political processes as it related especially to fair housing, who had a friend at that time who moved into a White neighborhood, and when all the people in that neighborhood were going to try to run him out by burning crosses on his lawn.	8:37
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And my cousin Denny went over and to this fellow, who was a very jovial fellow, he has Alzheimer's now. He's still living in Washington, but he just thought it was a big joke, all these people. And he'd go out and try to talk to them and stuff, but he was afraid at night for his family and stuff.	9:28
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	So, my cousin Denny went over there with him, and told him. He says, "Now, Otis, you can be non-violent as you want to be, but I brought my shotgun with me." And he made it very plain, said, "The first son-of-a-bitch that steps up under this lawn is going, and I want to know who wants to be first get his butt blasted off."	9:45
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And it made all the papers in Washington and all, but they got the message to leave him alone. And of course, we know what happened, just as it progressed, as more Blacks moved, the Whites moved out. And that is the beginning, I think, the housing change, which now makes Washington a Black city.	10:07
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	But I keep vacillating, I guess, between one to the other, but I'm trying to tie in as in my thoughts, and I'm going way back, and I'm 71 now. It's kind of hard sometimes to keep on an even keel. But what I did maintain in this city, and my brother too, was respect from the establishment. I remember soon after we signed the petition, the publisher of the local paper, rest his soul, he's dead now, sent for me. Wanted to talk to me about why I was challenging the system.	10:31
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And he said to me in his office uptown, and had to go at night because had to work, that my family had always been a leader in this community. I said, "Led what?" I said, "My father has never been mayor. He's never been sheriff. He's never been to elective office. The only thing I know he has ever led is his church and chairman of trustee board at Claflin College."	11:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I said, "He ain't led a damn thing." I said, "You talk like a wayfaring fool." I told him just like that. He started making an analogy to me between the lady that worked for him and her daughter, who came to study every afternoon because this lady didn't have anybody to keep her child while she's washing and cooking for him, that she came and studied with his daughter.	11:47
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I said, "And then the next morning they went to separate schools, huh?" I said, "Isn't that a fine education for that young child?"	12:10
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And I was determined that I wouldn't let him go. He was ready after I blasted him the first time to let me go. I would not leave. I sat, and I carried him all the way back through the slavery, everything and up until where we were then. And I lashed at him. He never wanted to have anything else to do with me. And he wanted people, "If you don't want to get your ear pierced, don't fool with Jim."	12:21
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And that's what I've always maintained. And I laugh now at some of the things that have been accomplished in this town. I'm on the board of directors of the local bank, has 17 branches throughout the state here in the area in which we are able to have banks, but I'm the only Black on this thing. So, I know when I sit up there in a meeting with 20 people on the board, and I'm only Black, that there's very little I can do as far policy is concerned that the other 19 don't agree with. There's really no win.	12:55
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	But I'm also able by virtue of the fact that the federal regulators that have decreed that the minutes of the meeting have to be kept. So, I'm able to say some of the things that I want to say regardless of whether they're implemented or not. And as a result of that, I have great respect on that board. And they know that the schools, the colleges, the university here, and the public schools, biggest industry in this town. And if you turn these people against a particular organization, financial or otherwise, it's dead. It'll die. The biggest payroll from South Carolina State University in the city. They understand that.	13:52
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And they reluctantly understand that Black depositors and financial institutions around here are economically way up there. And they understand now reluctantly that they were passing up good money by not making loans. The bank, which I'm on the board of directors, I would say is the most conservative bank probably in the state. It don't take many chances, but I'm trying to turn that around in a way.	14:57
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	In a way, working through the system, I guess. Time is not a commodity that I think we have right now. If we going to survive as a society, as I watch all the things that I have tried to do, now to watch that Black-on-Black crime has just permeated this whole fabric of the Black family. And on a personal basis and talking to some other people associated, not with this bank, but all the banks in town now, I tell them that, "If you not safe, I'm not safe. And you can keep sticking your head in the sand and not understand that the social problems have to be solved."	15:50
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And we've too long believed that the schools or the family, the family is no longer the cohesive unit, that probably, Charles, you and I have had the privilege of being born into. We have to accept the fact that these people, that their family thing has disintegrated. And while I might not get on a platform and say it, but I still believe that it's true, and this integration as far as the school's are concerned, the worst thing to happen to Black people in this town, in this county and in this state.	16:44
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Because the Black teachers at that time were part of a family unit. They cared. And the students, wherever they met, had to meet certain standards, conduct. But when the schools became integrated, and you've got White teachers there now that not really teaching but keep order. They're scared. Some of them are intimidated, and I guess rightfully so. Some of these kids that have, we had an instance in the public school system, a 14-year-old girl was a problem. And then the superintendent in trying to resolve it and all. Her mother is 28. Her grandmother is in her late 40s. Where is the family structure there?	17:26
Charles Houston	Can't be it. It's not possible.	18:24
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	No father, grandfather, anything, anywhere around. So, how can a 28-year-old be a parent to a 14-year-old that's probably next year going to be having a baby too?	18:27
Charles Houston	Right.	18:39
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And it just disturbs me that here I am living almost in the turn of the century, and what I thought would be a utopia where we were, it's disintegrating, and I can't seem to be able to do anything but keep trying. And I refuse to give up. I believe it can be turned around. And I, along with the editor of the local paper are co-chairpersons of a project here we call Project Hope that grew out of the Palmetto Project, which is a statewide thing, to get people to talk on a social level without an agenda to get Whites and Blacks to begin to understand on a social level what we're all about.	18:41
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	If we have an agenda, then you try to say, we are going to say in this program Project Hope that we are going to resolve this problem like that. Can't be done that way, but when we get people from all, the diversity that exists in this town economically and socially, and we get all these people together, and again begin to meet. And you get people to get up and talk about what their plight is, where we have young, Black, single parents who get up and say, "My child is going to have it better than me. I need your help. And this is what I'm doing. I'm not a drug user. I'm doing this."	19:47
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And it does make a difference. And I'm proudly to say I'm part of that. And I guess in your research and in your life, I don't know what your background is, that you understand that there's a lot of class distinction in the African-American society. A lot of class distinction.	20:26
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And sometimes it just kills me. I just say, "What are these people talking about? And you doing some of the same things that you have been accusing Whites of all these years of doing. You're doing it." We going to read Rush Limbaugh and listen to that crap he puts on there, and you'd be surprised at some of these people that say about the plight of drug use and Black-on-Black crime, that they want to learn like White folks. They don't want to try to do something that, why is it happening? What can I do to stop it? But it's coming home to roost right here in this town, now with Whites.	20:55
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Ruby.	21:42
Ruby Clowers Sulton	Yeah?	21:42
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Excuse me. Can you cut that off just a minute? Before we cut that, you got it on?	21:44
Charles Houston	Yeah. This form is important for the project of course, because it creates a context for you. And your middle name, please?	21:51
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	James Emile. E-M-I-L-E.	22:01
Charles Houston	And your address, please?	22:07
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	1316 Russell Southeast. Orangeburg, South Carolina, 29115.	22:09
Charles Houston	29115. And your date of birth, you gave me, but I'd have to look it up.	22:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	May 9th, 1923. 5/9.	22:23
Charles Houston	Your place of birth is Orangeburg, Orangeburg?	22:28
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	22:28
Charles Houston	Orangeburg City, Orangeburg County?	22:31
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm.	22:32
Charles Houston	Okay.	22:32
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Not in the city. Orangeburg County. This is not in the city limits.	22:34
Charles Houston	Oh, I didn't realize that. And your home and work numbers are?	22:37
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	534-5441. That's area 803.	22:55
Charles Houston	41, okay. That's home. And your office?	22:58
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	No office. Retired.	23:04
Charles Houston	And how would you like your name to appear in any written materials that may come out later? As James Sulton?	23:06
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Jim.	23:17
Charles Houston	Just Jim Sulton?	23:17
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm.	23:17
Charles Houston	Okay. And that's S-U-L-T-O-N.	23:24
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm.	23:25
Charles Houston	Okay.	23:25
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Senior, I guess you can put on that.	23:29
Charles Houston	Sulton Senior.	23:31
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Excuse me.	23:31
Charles Houston	Your wife's first, middle, and last name?	23:41
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Ruby Clowers Sulton.	23:46
Charles Houston	Middle name, please?	23:50
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Clowers, C-L-O-W-E-R-S.	23:52
Charles Houston	Okay. And her date of birth?	23:58
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	3/23/25.	24:01
Charles Houston	And her place of birth? City, county and state?	24:05
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Macon. Bibb County, Georgia.	24:09
Charles Houston	That's B-I-B-B?	24:15
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	24:16
Charles Houston	And her occupation?	24:16
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Retired teacher. South Carolina State University.	24:18
Charles Houston	And your mother's first, middle, and last name, and maiden name? Or [indistinct 00:24:36]	24:22
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Her maiden name is Bessie George.	24:35
Charles Houston	Okay.	24:38
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Sulton is her married name.	24:38
Charles Houston	And she didn't have a middle Christian name like Bessie May or anything?	24:47
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Bessie George.	24:51
Charles Houston	And her place of birth?	24:56
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Sumter, South Carolina.	24:58
Charles Houston	City of Sumter?	25:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	25:01
Charles Houston	And is that Sumter County?	25:04
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	County, yes.	25:06
Charles Houston	And her birthday?	25:09
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I have no idea.	25:11
Charles Houston	Do you know when she died?	25:12
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I'd have to look it up. I don't know.	25:15
Charles Houston	The year of her death? Okay.	25:17
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I'd have to call my sister and find out. I don't know.	25:22
Charles Houston	Well, there might be some other things. Maybe I could come back to that.	25:24
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Okay.	25:27
Charles Houston	Her occupation? What, housewife?	25:29
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Basically housewife, yeah. She taught some school.	25:35
Charles Houston	And your father's first, middle, and last name?	25:42
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	McDuffy Sulton.	25:45
Charles Houston	M-C-D-U-F-F-Y?	25:48
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	25:50
Charles Houston	Capital D?	25:50
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	25:51
Charles Houston	And his birth?	25:57
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	All I can tell you is he was 97, and she was 102 and she died. So, I don't—	26:00
Charles Houston	With those, once we have the years they died, we can figure it back.	26:05
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Okay.	26:05
Charles Houston	His place of birth?	26:09
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I'd have to find that out for you. I don't remember.	26:13
Charles Houston	Okay. And his occupation was businessman?	26:16
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm.	26:18
Charles Houston	Brothers and sisters? In order of birth, your brothers and sisters.	26:29
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	The names?	26:33
Charles Houston	Yes.	26:34
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Dorothy.	26:39
Charles Houston	Okay. Are there more than nine?	26:41
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	No, there's just six of us.	26:44
Charles Houston	Six, that's right.	26:45
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Dorothy Sulton [indistinct 00:26:53]. I haven't learned those dates either. Only date I can give you is me.	26:53
Charles Houston	Okay.	26:59
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I have to get the rest of those from my sister. You want the next one?	27:00
Charles Houston	Yeah. Just in order of—	27:04
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Arnold Leroy. A-R-N-O-L-D. Leroy Sulton. They were not born in Orangeburg. Close to—	27:07
Charles Houston	Where were they born?	27:19
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	St. George.	27:22
Charles Houston	South Carolina?	27:26
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm.	27:27
Charles Houston	And after Arnold?	27:30
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Marian Maxine Sulton Crawford.	27:33
Charles Houston	Marian female. Is I-A-N?	27:38
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	27:40
Charles Houston	Maxine.	27:40
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Date, I don't know the date.	27:51
Charles Houston	That's okay. But she was born in Orangeburg?	27:53
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	27:57
Charles Houston	Okay.	27:57
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Florence Sulton Puquette. P-U-Q-E, double-T-E.	27:57
Charles Houston	P-U-Q—	28:12
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Puquette.	28:13
Charles Houston	P-U-Q-U-E-T-T-E?	28:14
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	28:16
Charles Houston	Okay.	28:16
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Charles Edward Sulton.	28:16
Charles Houston	Okay.	28:16
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And me.	28:32
Charles Houston	Okay. And you are 64?	28:33
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm.	28:39
Charles Houston	And your children's names, please?	28:40
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Cynthia Gail Sulton. James E Sulton, Jr. Francis Arnold Sulton.	28:44
Charles Houston	I-S?	28:56
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	29:00
Charles Houston	Yes.	29:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Charles Christopher, Thomas Reginald.	29:06
Charles Houston	And do you have grandchildren? Number?	29:12
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Seven.	29:12
Charles Houston	Seven. And your children were all born here in Orangeburg?	29:28
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	No, my daughter, the oldest was born in Macon, Georgia. The rest were born here in Orangeburg.	29:31
Charles Houston	And do you know the birth dates of the children? Cynthia?	29:45
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Cynthia? Oh, hell no.	29:50
Charles Houston	Well, just the years, or maybe you could tell how old they are currently.	29:52
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Cindy is 44.	29:59
Charles Houston	She's 44, so she was born in '50.	30:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Uh-uh. She must be 45 then because she was born in '49.	30:05
Charles Houston	Okay. Then she's 45.	30:08
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Okay. Okay.	30:08
Charles Houston	Okay. 1949. And James E?	30:08
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I have to go back here and get that stuff. Man, I can't remember all these things, but excuse me.	30:18
Charles Houston	Oh, thank you. [indistinct 00:30:24]. Okay.	30:23
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Cindy is 3/13/49. James Junior is—Hey, I've got two born on the same day, two years. 11/17/51. And Frank is, oh—11/16/55. Chris is 8/17/57. And Tommy is 4/9/59.	30:45
Charles Houston	The places where, this next question, request to know the places you've lived and the dates, the approximate dates you've lived. Place include city, county and state.	31:37
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Lived in Orangeburg from 1923 to September, 1940. From 1940 to 1942, Atlanta, Georgia. From 1942 to 1945, US Army. September '46 through June of '47, Atlanta. And '47 to the present, Orangeburg.	31:46
Charles Houston	Okay. What county is Atlanta, do you know?	32:35
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Fulton.	32:35
Charles Houston	Fulton. And the names of the schools you graduated from, [indistinct 00:33:05] High School.	33:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm. I did not finish Morehouse but I went.	33:05
Charles Houston	What years were you in high school?	33:15
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	From what? '36 to '40.	33:19
Charles Houston	And Morehouse, you were there '40 to 42?	33:28
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes. And '46 through June '47.	33:34
Charles Houston	Okay. And let's see, your current, which isn't applicable since you've retired, and most important previous jobs. [indistinct 00:34:05]	33:39
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Self-employed.	34:04
Charles Houston	Okay.	34:09
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	From 1947 through December '73. From January '74 to June—Through June, 1988, South Carolina Department of Labor.	34:10
Charles Houston	And what was your position at the Department of Labor?	34:38
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I was a conciliator.	34:40
Charles Houston	And the name of your company continued to be as when you were proprietor or self-employed was JJ's [indistinct 00:34:57]?	34:51
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Uh-uh. Sultons, Exxon.	34:57
Charles Houston	That's right.	35:01
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And Sulton Oil Company. Two separate companies.	35:03
Charles Houston	Sultons, Exxon.	35:05
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	And Sulton Oil Company.	35:07
Charles Houston	This is a long one, and you may want to substitute a CV or have me copy it, but it says, "Receive, list, any awards, honors or offices held." And it says, "Please describe, including dates and places."	35:17
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I can't give you no dates and places, but I was treasurer at NAACP.	35:35
Charles Houston	Okay. Now, when you say NAACP, you mean national or local branch?	35:48
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Local branches, yes.	35:52
Ruby Clowers Sulton	Oh my goodness.	35:57
Charles Houston	That's okay. There's a—Actually, it's okay. The clip is still there.	36:00
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	But can I—	36:02
Charles Houston	I'll put this back. Okay. NAACP in Orangeburg.	36:02
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Life membership. Yeah, a life membership in the NAACP. And let's see, I was National Association of Social Workers, Public Citizen of the Year, South Carolina chapter 1979.	36:20
Charles Houston	Oh, I can stand up and try to do this. This is—	36:40
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	[indistinct 00:36:51]	36:47
Charles Houston	Orangeburg Association from [indistinct 00:36:54]. This is a Service Award 1987, so I'll say held a Service Award. Orangeburg. [indistinct 00:37:13]	36:51
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Freedom Fighters Award from Orangeburg branch NAACP 1985.	37:13
Charles Houston	Freedom Award?	37:22
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Uh-huh. Then a plaque from the South Carolina Department of Labor, labor management.	37:23
Charles Houston	Okay.	37:36
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Staff. June, 1988. That's a—	37:36
Charles Houston	Yeah. Actually, we can go ahead. Oh, is that it?	37:43
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	This?	37:50
Charles Houston	Oh no, [indistinct 00:37:51] Sure. Excuse me, I'm going to move this out of your way.	37:50
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Certificate of Appreciation from Orangeburg Regional [indistinct 00:38:04], 1981.	37:51
Charles Houston	Okay. I'm recording this, so.	38:08
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Okay. And Certificate of Appreciation from Service and Leadership in the 4H Program. December, 1981.	38:16
Charles Houston	Certificate of Appreciation 4H Program for Orangeburg?	38:21
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	County.	38:25
Charles Houston	County, 1981-	38:27
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Cooperative Extension Service of Clemson University.	38:28
Charles Houston	That's all part of the same?	38:33
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yeah.	38:35
Charles Houston	Okay. And that's 1981?	38:35
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	38:37
Charles Houston	Sorry. And—[indistinct 00:38:57] Your current religious denomination?	38:39
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Holy Catholic Trinity Church. Have you been?	39:09
Charles Houston	I went to [indistinct 00:39:24].	39:19
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mass is at 9:30 on Sunday. 6:00 on Saturday afternoon.	39:24
Charles Houston	Okay. I may try to make it tomorrow. [indistinct 00:39:36]	39:30
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	I'm the only Catholic in this family.	39:36
Charles Houston	Is that right?	39:37
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yeah. Presbyterian Methodist and Episcopalians.	39:38
Charles Houston	List below any organizations that you belong to. So, I guess I can just take the organization from the award.	39:48
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	39:52
Charles Houston	And finally it's list below any other activities or affiliations.	39:56
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Co-coordinator of Project Hope.	40:01
Charles Houston	Coordinator of Project Hope.	40:05
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Co.	40:07
Charles Houston	Co-coordinator.	40:07
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Mm-hmm.	40:07
Charles Houston	Of Project—	40:07
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Hope.	40:07
Charles Houston	Hope. Orangeburg?	40:16
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Yes.	40:18
Charles Houston	And the year for that would be?	40:25
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Started in December, 1992.	40:33
Charles Houston	To the present. Now, do you have any favorite quotations are sayings or mottos, or would you like me to record any comment about, for the purpose of this study, is there anything you'd like to tell people who consult this record?	40:33
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Just one who cares about his fellow man.	40:51
Charles Houston	The last thing is an interview agreement, which I'd like to get your signature on. This allows these recordings to be collected at Duke in the archives, and I'll read it to you, and you can of course look it over. But it says here, "The purpose of the Behind the Veil, Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South project," long title, "Is to gather and preserve historical documents by means of taped, recorded interviews.	40:55
Charles Houston	Tape recordings, and transcripts resulting from interviews will become a part of the archives of the Behind the Veil collection of Duke University. This material will be made available for historical and other academic research and public dissemination, regulated according to the restrictions placed on [indistinct 00:41:58]. Duke University is [indistinct 00:41:58] rights, title and interest [indistinct 00:41:58] specified. Participation [indistinct 00:41:58]. [indistinct 00:41:58] statement saying, "We have read the above and voluntarily [indistinct 00:41:58]." [indistinct 00:41:58] [indistinct 00:43:03].	41:43
Charles Houston	I'll fill in [indistinct 00:43:07].	41:57
James Emile Sulton, Sr.	Right here?	41:57
Charles Houston	Yeah. [indistinct 00:43:10] Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time. [indistinct 00:43:28] Thanks. I'll grab [indistinct 00:43:34]	41:57

Item Info

Title:

James Sulton Sr. interview recording, 1994 July 22

Date:

July 22, 1994

Creator:

Sulton, James Emile, Sr.

Contributor:

Houston, Charles

Description:

Name: James Emile Sulton, Sr.; Date of birth: 1923-04-09; Place of birth: Orangeburg, SC; Occupation(s): entrepreneur; Residence: Orangeburg City, SC
Informant ID: 464; Interviewed by: Charles Houston.

Occupation:

Entrepreneur

Location:

Format:

Language:

English

Digital Collection:

Behind the Veil

Source Collection:

Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South interviews, photographs, and project records, circa 1864-2011, bulk 1990-2004

Series:

Related Resources:

See below

Provenance:

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired the Records of the Behind the Veil Oral History Project from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

Copyright for content created by the Behind the Veil project is held by Duke University and made available to the public using a Creative Commons Attribution / Non-commercial (CC-BY-NC) license.

Identifier:

RL00170-CS-1411
4e5aed7a-ea93-437f-8268-1cc40dae3e59
behindtheveil
47bdc8b5-d058-4458-b2e6-67f785893149
ark:/87924/r4959qh5t
47bdc8b5-d058-4458-b2e6-67f785893149

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4959qh5t

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James Sulton Sr. interview recording, 1994 July 22

Transcript

Item Info

1. James Sulton Sr. administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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James Sulton Sr. interview recording, 1994 July 22

Transcript

Item Info

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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