Oral history interview with Lyman Johnson, July 12, 1990
Subtitle: interview A-0351, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Egerton, John, 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; Race relations; Racism; Civil rights movements; Civil rights; Teachers' unions
Other titles: Interview A-0351, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Lyman Johnson, July 12, 1990; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Lyman Johnson's views on civil rights were formed by his father, who rejected racial hierarchies. Johnson started working to achieve racial equality in Columbia, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, after he returned from naval service following World War II. The interview begins with his description of violence that flared up in Columbia, Tennessee, after a black soldier's attack on a verbally abusive white store owner. Johnson asserts that the racial integration that should have occurred immediately after World War II was delayed as a result of apathy among white Southerners, and that outside intervention was needed. Louisville was more progressive than other Southern cities, but its leaders remained reluctant to endorse full equality. That reluctance made life difficult for black and white citizens.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Dec. 21, 2007).

Interview participants: Lyman Johnson, interviewee; John Egerton, interviewer.

Duration: 01:03:17.

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 Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 120.6 kilobytes, 115 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series A, Southern politics, interview A-0351, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Jovita Flynn and Jackie Gorma. Original transcript: 36 p.

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

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.