"You don't have to be famous for your life to be history."
These words, spoken by Nell Sigmon when she was interviewed in 1979, serve as our unofficial motto. They remind us of the extraordinary significance of ordinary lives and guide our efforts to document stories and experiences of the South.
About the Southern Oral History Program
The Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stewards one of the nation’s most significant collections of oral histories documenting the U.S. South. Since 1973, we have conducted more than 6,000 in-depth interviews capturing the lived experiences of activists, educators, artists, workers, community leaders, and everyday people whose stories shape our understanding of the region.
Our work is rooted in stewardship. Oral history is not simply about recording the past—it is about building relationships, honoring narrators, and caring responsibly for the stories entrusted to us. In partnership with the Southern Historical Collection, we preserve these interviews for long-term access while activating them through research, teaching, exhibitions, artistic practices, and public programming.
At SOHP, we believe Southern history lives in voices, in place, in bodies, and in memory. Oral history is the principled practice of attentive listening—of witnessing, questioning, and faithfully representing lived experience so that it may be heard not once, but across generations.
We train graduate and undergraduate students, collaborate with community partners, and work alongside scholars, journalists, educators, artists, and families seeking to understand their histories. By preserving, amplifying, and stewarding these stories, we help ensure they remain accessible, relevant, and transformative for generations to come.
Interview Archive
The Southern Oral History Program interview archive is available through the Southern Historical Collection in the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Research Projects
We create original research and partner with interdisciplinary collaborators in advanced initiatives and strive to make our archive useful to communities from which these stories originate.
Opportunities
We enhance oral history training and education by training, supporting, and partnering with community members, students, and faculty to conduct advanced, ethical research.
Resources
We strive to make our unparalleled archive useful to communities, scholars, and practitioners worldwide. The interviews serve as primary sources for bold and compelling research.
Answering questions with oral histories
We ask questions about the American South that can only be answered through oral histories. The SOHP is committed to being a resource for anyone looking to use this original research for their own projects. Our interview database is a rich repository of accounts ranging from politicians to activists, business owners to millworkers, educators to artists.
Interview Archive
The Southern Oral History Program interview archive is available through the Southern Historical Collection in the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Research Projects
We create original research and partner with interdisciplinary collaborators in advanced initiatives and strive to make our archive useful to communities from which these stories originate.
Opportunities
We enhance oral history training and education by training, supporting, and partnering with community members, students, and faculty to conduct advanced, ethical research.
Resources
We strive to make our unparalleled archive useful to communities, scholars, and practitioners worldwide. The interviews serve as primary sources for bold and compelling research.