Learn about upcoming major facilities work in Wilson Library.

Collection Number: 04339

Collection Title: Thomas Augustus Fraser Papers, 1945-1990

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


expand/collapse Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size 5.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 3000 items)
Abstract Thomas Augustus Fraser Jr. (1915-1989) was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1941 and served the ministry until 1982 when he retired as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of North Carolina. The collection contains papers of Thomas Augustus Fraser Jr. chiefly generated during the years of his ministry. Included are letters and other materials concerning his election and consecration as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of North Carolina; his later activities as bishop of the Diocese; personal and family matters; a 1975 controversy involving the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte, N.C.; and other topics. Also included are materials, 1969-1974, relating to a grant from the General Convention Special Program to Malcolm X Liberation University in Durham, N.C.
Creator Fraser, Thomas Augustus, 1915-1989.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Thomas Augustus Fraser Papers #4339, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Original deposit received from Thomas Augustus Fraser Jr. in December 1982 (Acc. 82158). Addition of 2002 received from Lyons Gray in March 2002 (Acc. 99195).
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Jennifer Thompson, January 2010

Encoded by: Jennifer Thompson, January 2010

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Thomas Augustus Fraser Jr., son of Thomas Augustus Fraser and Lena Lee Connell Fraser, was born in 1915 in Atlanta, Ga. He earned a B.A. from Hobart College in 1938 and a B.D. from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1941, at which time he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church. In 1942, Fraser entered the priesthood and became a missionary in the Diocese of Long Island, later serving as secretary and chaplain to the Long Island bishop. In 1943, he married Marjorie Louise Rimbach with whom he had two children, Thomas III and Constance. From 1944 to 1951, Fraser served as rector for Saint Paul's Church in Alexandria, Va., and, in 1951, he began a nine-year posting as rector of Saint Paul's Church in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was elected bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of North Carolina in 1960 and began his tenure as bishop in July 1966. Fraser retired in 1982 and died in 1989.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection contains papers of Thomas Augustus Fraser Jr. chiefly generated during the years of his ministry. Included are letters and other materials concerning his election and consecration as bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of North Carolina; his later activities as bishop of the Diocese; personal and family matters; a 1972 controversy involving the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte, N.C.; and other topics. Also included are materials, 1969-1974, relating to a grant from the General Convention Special Program to Malcolm X Liberation University in Durham, N.C.

Back to Top

Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series Quick Links

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Papers, 1945-1990.

About 2000 items.

Original file folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.

Folder 1-7

Folder 1

Folder 2

Folder 3

Folder 4

Folder 5

Folder 6

Folder 7

Bishop Coadjutor: Congratulations, 1960

Folder 8-10

Folder 8

Folder 9

Folder 10

Bishop Coadjutor: Consecration, 1960

Folder 11

Bishop Coadjutor: Consecration: Clippings, 1960

Folder 12

Bishop Coadjutor: Insurance, 1960-1962

Folder 13-16

Folder 13

Folder 14

Folder 15

Folder 16

Bishop: Installation, 1966

Folder 17-21

Folder 17

Folder 18

Folder 19

Folder 20

Folder 21

Bishop: New Bishop Coadjutor: Election, 1977-1980

Folder 22

Bishop: Twenty-year commemoration, 1980

Folder 23-24

Folder 23

Folder 24

Bishop: Retirement, 1982

Folder 25

Caldwell, R. Martin, 1975

Folder 26

Christmas, 1973

Folder 27

Correspondence, 1948-1949

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 28

Correspondence, 1955-1959

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 29

Correspondence, 1960

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 30

Correspondence, 1960-1961

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 31

Correspondence, 1965

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 32

Correspondence, 1967

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 33

Correspondence, 1970-1971

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 34

Correspondence, 1972

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 35

Correspondence, 1973

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 36

Correspondence, 1974-1976

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 37

Correspondence, 1977

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 38

Correspondence, 1980-1982

Mixture of personal and professional letters.

Folder 39-40

Folder 39

Folder 40

Correspondence, 1987-1989

Chiefly letters to Fraser about his ill health (addition of 2002).

Folder 41-42

Folder 41

Folder 42

Correspondence, 1989-1990

Chiefly letters to Fraser's family after his death in 1989 (addition of 2002).

Folder 43

Hospitalization, 1977

Folder 44

Miscellaneous

Includes event programs, notes, clippings, and a few photographs.

Folder 45

Morrison, Paul, 1978-1981

Folder 46

Piedmont Crescent Commission, 1964-1965

Folder 47

Pike, James, 1961

Bishop of California.

Folder 48-50

Folder 48

Folder 49

Folder 50

Sabbatical, 1972

Folder 51-53

Folder 51

Folder 52

Folder 53

Speeches, addresses, sermons

Folder 54

Stuart Sailfish Club, 1955

Folder 55

Thomas, Henry, 1967-1969

Folder 56-63

Folder 56

Folder 57

Folder 58

Folder 59

Folder 60

Folder 61

Folder 62

Folder 63

Waller, Harcourt, 1972

Materials relating to controversy about dissolution of the pastoral relationship between the Charlotte, N.C., Christ Church parish and Waller, who served as rector.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Malcolm X Liberation University, 1969-1974.

About 1000 items.

Arrangement: Roughly sorted.

Malcolm X Liberation University opened in Durham, N.C., on a part-time basis in April 1969 under the guidance of a group of Duke University students and other educators and activists who wanted to create a Black studies program that connected with the Black community of Durham outside of the white power structures of traditional universities. They intended to teach history courses that spoke to the Black experience and instill pride and strength for self-determination. The curriculum would cover existing structures of state and local government, shared histories of oppression, the relationship between capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy, and how to organize for change. Malcolm X Liberation University would not be accredited and it would not confer degrees.

Later that year Malcolm X Liberation University sought funding for full-time operation from the national Episcopal Church General Convention Special Program, whose mission was to support disenfranchised communities seeking a voice in decisions which affected their lives. After review by the national screening committee and the North Carolina Episcopal Diocese's Urban Crisis Advisory Committee, led by Rev. E. N. Porter, an initial emergency grant of $15,000 was awarded, with a recommendation for an additional $30,000.

Howard Fuller, at one time a community organizer for the North Carolina Fund and the Foundation for Community Development, served as director of Malcolm X Liberation University. When the second grant was announced, Fuller described the goal of Malcolm X Liberation University in the Daily Southerner (17 October 1969) as "nation-building," developing leaders for a future independent nation in Africa. The curriculum would cover ideology in the first year and technical training in farming, house construction, auto repair, and other trades in the second year.

In October 1970, Malcolm X Liberation University moved to Greensboro, N.C., although apparently it still held land for farming near Durham. In November 1970, the Betty Shabazz Early Education Center, funded originally in November 1969 by the United Organization for Community Improvement and operating alongside Malcolm X Liberation University, also got a grant from the Episcopal Church General Convention Special Program to re-open in Greensboro.

By 1972 the Episcopal Church had grown increasingly uneasy with Howard Fuller (at that time Fuller went by Owusu Sadaukai). His open support for Black separatism and his rejection of white society and values was not new, but Church political tolerance for Fuller's positions had diminished. After struggling to arrange a meeting with Fuller to review the status of the program, the General Convention Special Program communicated that it would deny future grant funding, including $75,000 earmarked for Malcolm X Liberation University in a $300,000 grant request from the Federation of Pan-African Institutions. Malcolm X Liberation University withdrew its last grant request in the summer of 1972. A year later, Malcolm X Liberation University closed. Fuller reflected in The Greensboro Record (27 June 1973) that financial constraints and an overemphasis on the African continent doomed the revolutionary institution bent on Black separatism.

Records in this series consist of proposal materials; clippings, chiefly from 1969 and 1972 when Malcolm X Liberation University was in the news for its establishment and later for the loss of support from the General Convention Special Program; internal church correspondence concerning the grant award process, especially national versus local influence over which programs get funded, and the content of the grant made to Malcolm X Liberation University; and protest letters from inside and outside the Episcopal church.

Folder 64

Malcolm X Liberation University: Application and field appraisal, 1972

Also includes Proposal for Funding Black Early Learning Materials produced by the Pan African Early Education Center, Inc.

Folder 65-67

Folder 65

Folder 66

Folder 67

Malcolm X Liberation University: Clippings

  • Folder 65a: 1969: September-October 21
  • Folder 65b: 1969: October 22-26
  • Folder 65c: 1969: October 27-31
  • Folder 66: 1969: November-December
  • Folder 67: 1970, 1972-1973, and undated
Folder 68

Malcolm X Liberation University: General correspondence and reports, 1969: May-October

Folder 69

Malcolm X Liberation University: General correspondence and reports, 1969: November-December

Folder 70

Malcolm X Liberation University: General correspondence and reports, 1970: January-March

Folder 71

Malcolm X Liberation University: General correspondence and reports, 1970: April-September

Folder 72

Malcolm X Liberation University: General correspondence and reports, November 1970-1971

Folder 73

Malcolm X Liberation University: General correspondence and reports, 1972-1974

Folder 74-79

Folder 74

Folder 75

Folder 76

Folder 77

Folder 78

Folder 79

Malcolm X Liberation University: Letters of protest, 1969-1970

Folder 80

Malcolm X Liberation University: Notes and telephone numbers

Folder 81

Malcolm X Liberation University: Report of local committee, 1972

Folder 82

Malcolm X Liberation University: Vestry resolutions

Back to Top