Oral history interview with William Hamlin, May 29, 1998
Subtitle: interview K-0169, 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; West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Other titles: Interview with William Hamlin, May 29, 1998, interview K-0169, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview K-0169, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: William Hamlin, who attended West Charlotte High School before integration and who observed the integration process from a distance, offers his thoughts on the effects of integration on West Charlotte and Charlotte itself. Like many former West Charlotte students, Hamlin describes the school's magnetism and its glowing reputation. But he tells a darker story, too, about a violent integration process that he believes will never be completed. Hamlin feels conflicted about integration and its legacy. While he thinks that the process was largely successful, he does not think it can eliminate racism or break down the barriers between African Americans and success in America. Over time, Hamlin confesses, he has come to believe in the wisdom of a degree of cultural separatism, in part because he worries that total integration might spur the erosion of cultural traditions.
Notes: Interview participants: William Hamlin, interviewee; Pamela Grundy, interviewer

Title from menu page (viewed on Sept. 14, 2007).

Duration: 01:34:12

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 : 84.6 kilobytes, ca. 172.5 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, interview K-0169. Southern Communities. Southern Oral History Program Collection (K-0169) Originals are in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 34 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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