Oral history interview with Arthur Griffin, May 7, 1999
Subtitle: interview K-0168, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Grundy, Pamela, 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; African Americans; Attitudes; Race relations; School integration; Second Ward High School (Charlotte, N.C.); West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Other titles: Interview K-0168, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Interview with Arthur Griffin, May 7, 1999, interview K-0168, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Arthur Griffin, an African American man who attended segregated schools in Charlotte, NC, and later became involved in school politics there, reflects on the legacies of desegregation and the nature of racism in Charlotte and elsewhere. Griffin fondly remembers Second Ward High School (which closed in 1969) and its teachers, who struggled to provide their students with a stellar education despite vastly inadequate resources. While he mourns the loss of Second Ward during desegregation, he thinks the process improved Charlotte by teaching white and black people to work together. But desegregation was not a panacea: Griffin believes that race-related problems like low academic achievement among African Americans persist.
Notes: Interview participants: Arthur Griffin, interviewee; Pamela Grundy, interviewer.

Title from electronic title page of transcript (viewed on Sept. 14, 2007).

Duration: 01:33:14

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 Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Steve Weiss and Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files : 102 kilobytes, ca. 170.7 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern Communities, interview K-0168, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcription: 41 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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