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Use of audio or video materials may require production of listening or viewing copies.

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 Joseph W. Straley Papers #5252, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from David Straley of Durham, N.C., in December 2005 (Acc. 100307).

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.

Processed by: Jodi Berkowitz, July 2006

Encoded by: Jodi Berkowitz, July 2006

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.

• Academic freedom--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• African American politicians--North Carolina.
• Central America--Social conditions.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--History.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Race relations.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social conditions.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Civic leaders--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Civil disobedience--North Carolina.
• Civil rights movements--North Carolina.
• Civil rights workers--North Carolina.
• Civil rights--North Carolina.
• Communism--North Carolina.
• Community Church of Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• Diaries.
• Energy conservation--North Carolina.
• Freedom of speech--North Carolina.
• Jones, Charles Miles, 1906-1993.
• Lee, Howard, 1934-
• North Carolina--Race relations--20th century.
• North Carolina. Speaker Ban Law.
• Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity.
• Segregation--North Carolina.
• Straley, Joseph W., 1914-
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Faculty--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Faculty--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--History.

• John B. Dunne Papers (#4391)
• Charles Miles Jones Papers (#5168)

Physics professor and activist Joseph Ward Straley was born 6 October 1914 in Paulding, Ohio. Upon earning his Ph.D. in physics from the Ohio State University in 1941, Straley taught briefly at the University of Toledo before joining the faculty of the University of North Carolina in 1945. He retired from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980.

Straley was dedicated to a wide range of social justice issues, including desegregation, civil rights, freedom of speech, academic freedom, and injustice in Central America. He, along with the Reverend Charles Jones, helped start the racially integrated Community Church of Chapel Hill in 1953; served as chair of the Committee of Concerned Citizens, a group of Chapel Hill residents dedicated to civil rights, 1964-1965; was co-chair of the Orange County Energy Conservation Task Force, 1975; and was active in the Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America, 1987-2002. Straley was also an elected member of the Chapel Hill Town Council, 1980-1984.

Straley and his wife Lucy had a daughter, Lesley, and two sons, Joseph Jr. and David. Straley died in September 2005 at the age of 90.

Papers of physics professor Joseph W. Straley, who taught at the University of North Carolina, 1945-1980, include essays, correspondence, pamphlets, newsletters, clippings, audiotapes, a videotape, photographs, Straley's FBI file, and other items relating to Straley's education, causes in which he was interested, and other topics. There are materials relating to the North Carolina Speaker Ban law, to which Straley was opposed; clippings of opinion and other pieces Straley wrote chiefly about Central America; materials on communism, including a 1949 letter to University of North Carolina Chancellor R. B. House from Straley about his not being a Communist; sermons by Charles Jones and materials relating to him and to the Community Church in Chapel Hill, N.C.; materials relating to African American politician Howard Lee's unsuccessful 1976 North Carolina lieutenant governor bid; and notebooks from Straley's 1984-1985 trip to Central America that contain detailed information on meetings Straley had with local activists and other residents.

• Audiocassettes (C-5252/1-4)
• Museum Items (MU-5252)
• Oversize Image (OP-P-5252)
• Photographs (P-5252)
• Videotape (VT-5252/1)