Oral history interview with Thurman Couch, February 12, 2001
Subtitle: interview K-0537, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Gilgor, Bob, interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2006
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Race relations; School integration; African Americans; African American students; Education (Secondary); Civil rights; High school athletes; Segregation in education; Civil rights demonstrations; Lincoln High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.); Chapel Hill High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Other titles: Interview K-0537, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Thurman Couch, February 12, 2001; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Thurman Couch, a student at Lincoln high school, and among the first African American students to enter Chapel Hill High School, describes his experiences in segregated and desegregated schools. To Couch, the story of integration is a story of the decline of black tradition and the erosion of ties between schools and communities. A stand-out athlete, Couch complains that the sports programs and the marching band, programs which gave Lincoln High its identity and served as essential conduits between black schools and black neighborhoods, lost some of their character under integration. Couch speaks passionately about the traditions of the pre-integration black community and places all-black schools at the center; he speaks equally passionately about the damage to the black community brought about by integration, in particular the loss of African American economic independence. This interview radiates with pride and frustration, spirituality and indignation.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on March 20, 2007).

Interview participants: Thurman Couch, interviewee; Bob Gilgor, interviewer.

Duration: 01:02:34.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Natalia Smith.  Sound recordings digitized by Steve Weiss and Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files : 93 kilobytes, 114.6 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0537, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by L. Altizer. Original transcript: 27 p.

Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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