Oral history interview with Barbara Lorie, February 26, 2001
Subtitle: interview K-0211, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Froemming, Melissa, 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: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Women teachers; Women civil rights workers; School integration; African Americans; Social conditions; Race relations
Other titles: Interview K-0211, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Barbara Lorie, February 26, 2001; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Barbara Lorie became radicalized. She worked at Durham Academy for a year before Chapel Hill High principal May Marshbanks hired her as a literature teacher at the newly built integrated high school. There she employed unconventional teaching methods to eliminate racial barriers within her classroom. The Chapel Hill superintendent of schools as well as white Chapel Hill parents questioned Lorie's tactics because of the uncomfortable atmosphere they felt it created for blacks and whites. Following the resultant demotion, Lorie quit and worked for Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines. There she encountered similar racial tensions between the students, leading her to conclude that racism is endemic. She argues that racism breeds violence, and she blames television for perpetuating a dominant and violent white male culture. Lorie also contends that not only blacks but whites were psychologically damaged by segregation: she maintains that whites isolate themselves from other cultures and that blacks lose their cultural identities when not integrated into the dominant society. Lorie's social justice activism continues into her old age: she joined a predominantly black church to maintain an intimate relationship with blacks, and she identifies herself as a left-wing, environmentalist radical feminist.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Nov. 10, 2008).

Interview participants: Barbara Lorie, interviewee; Melissa Froemming, interviewer.

Duration: 01:15:40.

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

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 104 kilobytes, 138 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0211, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Original transcript: 33 p.

Funding from the Institute of 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.