Local figure

Fumiko Seki

Fumiko Seki, a Japanese woman, lived in Chapel Hill from 1955 to 1957 while her husband held a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship at UNC. As a mother, wife and student she watched how the town kept the color line, and she described it in her memoir Chaperu hiru monogatari (Chapel Hill Story).

Source: Sophia University, Faculty of Foreign Studies: A College Town in Black and White: The Color Line and Fumiko Seki's Days in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1955-1957

1918– · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

2 works about Fumiko Seki are indexed here.

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 1 dated event in the chronology →

1955–1957 Fumiko Seki lives in Chapel Hill and records the town's color line Fumiko Seki came to Chapel Hill when her husband received a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship to study at UNC. As a mother, wife and student she watched how residents kept the color line and met Black students, and she later described the town in her memoir Chaperu hiru monogatari.Search the index · Sophia University, Faculty of Foreign Studies: A College Town in Black and White: The Color Line and Fumiko Seki's Days in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1955-1957

Indexed works

Works about or by Fumiko Seki. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

A college town in black and white : the color line and Fumiko Seki's days in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1955-1957

Yamanaka, Mishio · 2023 · Historical Research Office, Office of Archives and History

Mishio Yamanaka's article on Fumiko Seki, a Japanese woman in Chapel Hill from 1955 to 1957, and where the color line placed her there. Published in Raleigh in 2023 by the Historical Research Office, 28 pages with illustrations, a facsimile, a map and portraits.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Seki, Fumiko, 1918-.

UNC

チャペル．ヒル物語 / Chaperu Hiru monogatari

関文子. 1918- author / Seki, Fumiko, 1918- · 1966 · Seishin Shobō

Fumiko Seki's account of Chapel Hill written in Japanese and published at Tokyo by Seishin Shobo in 1966, with ten preliminary pages and 252 pages of text and illustrations. The book covers the town's twentieth century social life and customs as well as its appearance.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Seki, Fumiko, 1918-.

UNC

Research sources

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Collections and databases

Chaperu hiru monogatari (Chapel Hill Story), by Seki Fumiko, 1966 Her memoir, digitized by the National Diet Library of Japan; the scans can be read at the library or through its library and personal transmission service.
NC LIVE: prepared search for Fumiko Seki Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
Local History Help Hours and request formOCPL Local History Liaison Meet with the Local History Liaison at the Main Library, usually Mondays from noon to 3 p.m., or send a question using the online request form

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Books about Fumiko Seki

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