Again from the Southern Historical Collection at UNC-Chapel HILL online Manuscripts Department The Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION #4300 THOMAS JENKINS PEARSALL PAPERS Inventory Abstract: Thomas J. Pearsall (1901-1981) was an attorney of Rocky Mount, N.C., who was the chief author of the 1954 Pearsall Plan for school integration in North Carolina and chair of the board of the Roanoke Island Historical Association, 1975-1981. Correspondence concerning school integration, higher education (especially the University of North Carolina), and the Roanoke Island Historical Association; committee reports; speeches; clippings; and other items documenting the public career of Thomas Jenkins Pearsall. Correspondence includes letters from North Carolinians reacting to the Supreme Court's 1954 school desegregation decision and letters from southern governors, state attorneys-general, and others about school desegregation in the 1950s. Online Catalog Terms: Education, Higher--North Carolina. Pearsall, Thomas Jenkins, 1903-1981. Roanoke Island Historical Association, Inc. School integration--Law and legislation--United States. School integration--North Carolina. Segregation in education--Law and legislation--United States. United States. Supreme Court. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History. Size: About 1500 items (2.5 feet). Provenance: Received from Mack B. Pearsall of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in March 1982. Access: No restrictions. Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. Table of Contents: Introduction Biographical Note Collection Overview Series Descriptions Series 1. Education Committees Series 2. Roanoke Island Historical Association Series 3. Miscellaneous Papers Series 4. Pictures Shelf List INTRODUCTION Biographical Note Thomas Jenkins Pearsall was born on 11 February 1903 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He married Elizabeth Braswell and lived in Rocky Mount for most of his life. The couple had two sons, Thomas J. Pearsall, Jr., and Mack B. Pearsall. Thomas Pearsall was a lawyer and businessman, and held farming interests in Nash, Edgecombe, and Halifax counties. During most of his life Pearsall was active in Democratic Party politics. He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1941 to 1947, and was Speaker of the House in 1947. After leaving the legislature in 1947, Pearsall continued an active public career. In 1954, Governor William B. Umstead appointed him chairman of the Governor's Advisory Committee on Education, whose purpose was to study school desegregation and make recommendations to the governor and the legislature. In 1955, Governor Luther Hodges appointed a similar committee, the North Carolina Advisory Committee on Education, to continue to study desegregation, and Pearsall again served as chairman. Based on the work of these two committees, Pearsall wrote the 1956 school desegregation legislation known as the Pearsall Plan. This plan shifted the responsibility for student assignments, student busing, and the power to close the public schools from the state to local school boards. The North Carolina legislature adopted the plan in 1956. Pearsall served on three other educational committees in North Carolina: the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina; the Governor's Commission on Education Beyond the High School; and the Special Committee of the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina. As chairman of the latter committee, Pearsall guided the reorganization of the consolidated UNC system and the expansion of the state's community colleges. In 1975, Pearsall became chairman of the board of the Roanoke Island Historical Association. He served in that capacity until his death on 5 May 1981. Collection Overview The collection consists primarily of files concerning Pearsall's service on various North Carolina educational committees, and his tenure as chairman of the board of the Roanoke Island Historical Association. The majority of the files consist of correspondence and reports. The papers provide no coverage of Pearsall's career in the state legislature, and contain a limited amount of material on the Pearsall Plan. The small size of this collection results at least partly from the fact that many of Pearsall's papers were destroyed in 1979. This collection contains several noteworthy items. Among them are a 1959 letter to Pearsall from Adlai Stevenson; letters expressing reactions of the people of North Carolina to the Supreme Court's 1954 decision on desegregation; a letter to Pearsall from Thurgood Marshall; letters from southern governors and attorney generals about school desegregation; and letters from North Carolinians expressing their opinions on the reorganization of the University of North Carolina system. Another item of note is a letter from I. Beverly Lake (assistant to the N. C. attorney general in 1954) to Pearsall, criticizing moderate approaches that had been suggested for school desegregation. The arrangement of the collection is as follows: Series 1. Education Committees (folders 1-29) Series 2. Roanoke Island Historical Association (folders 30-41) Series 3. Miscellaneous Papers (folders 42-45) For more detailed information, see the series descriptions which follow. SERIES DESCRIPTIONS Series 1. Education Committees 1954-1963. About 655 items. Arrangement: by committee, then alphabetical or chronological. Chiefly letters to Pearsall from North Carolina citizens and state government leaders expressing opinions relating to the work of education and UNC committees on which Pearsall served. Also included are committee reports, a few of Pearsall's speeches, and newspaper clippings. Governor's Advisory Committee on Education, 1954 Correspondence Folder 1 A-B 2 C-D 3 E 4 F-G 5 H-J 6 K-L 7 M 8 P 9 R-S 10 T-V 11 W 12 Reports North Carolina Advisory Committee on Education 13-14 1956 15 1958 16-17 1959 18 1960 19 1960-1961 20 Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of UNC, 1958 Governor's Commission on Education Beyond the High School 21 1961-1962 22 1963 Special Committee of the Board of Trustees of UNC 23-30 June-Dec. 1962 31-32 Jan.-Feb. 1963 Series 2. Roanoke Island Historical Association 1974-1979. About 870 items. Arrangement: chronological Correspondence, memoranda, reports, promotional documents, and other material relating to the management of the Roanoke Island Historical Association. Folder 33 1974 34 1975 35-35 1976 37-38 1977 39-40 1978 41-43 1979 44 Lost Colony TV Documentary, 1979 Series 3. Miscellaneous Papers 1959-1979. About 70 items. Folder 45 "An Exercise of Choice: North Carolina's Approach to the Segregation-Integration Crisis in Public Education," by Charles Dunn, M.A. theses, UNC, 1959 46 Pearsall's UNC Honorary Degree, Correspondence: 1961 47 Southern Oral History Program Notes and Correspondence: 1975-1979 48 TV interview with Pearsall, transcript, 1979 Series 4. Pictures P-4300/1. Thomas Jenkins Pearsall (with others) presenting an award on behalf of the Roanoke Island Historical Association. 4 November 1975. Photo.: 19 x 25 cm. P-4300/2. TJP as newly elected chairman of the Roanoke Island Historical Association. November 1975. (Nine proof photos on one sheet) Photo.: 19 x 25 cm. P-4300/3-6. TJP and others on the occasion of the Roanoke Island Historical Association's receiving the G. Lynn Nisbet Award for 1978. 27 February 1979. Photos.: 19 x 25 cm. P-4300/7. TJP and others. January 1963. Photo.: 19 x 25 cm. SHELF LIST Box 1. Series 1. Education Committees (folders 1-32) Box 2. Series 2. Roanoke Island Historical Association (folders 33-42) Box 3. Series 2. Roanoke Island Historical Association (folders 43-44) Series 3. Miscellaneous Papers (folders 45-48) Items separated: P-4300/1-7 Carol Pridgen Martoccia 903 East Fifth Street Greenville, NC 27858 Pridgen Discussion Group To Subscribe: [email protected] Home Page for Pridgen Family: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/6297 Pridgen Archives: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl