Oral history interview with Jeff Black, March 29, 1999
Subtitle: interview K-0276, 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: 2004
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; African Americans; African American students; Attitudes; Race relations; School integration; Schools; West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Other titles: Interview with Jeff Black, March 29, 1999, interview K-0276, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview K-0276, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Oral histories of the American South.
Description: African American senior Jeff Black reflects on his experiences at West Charlotte High School. Black felt West Charlotte's ties to his community well before he set foot on the school's campus, and like many of his peers, he eagerly anticipated beginning school there. He was not disappointed: at West Charlotte, Black found an intellectually stimulating, socially energizing, and racially diverse environment that allowed him to commit himself both to reaching his individual goals and strengthening his community. But Black admits that West Charlotte is not immune to the legacies of segregation: students tend to self-segregate in the cafeteria, there are few minorities in advanced classes, and the administration limited marching band routines because, surmises Black, they reflect an aspect of black culture the school does not want to associate itself with. He nonetheless believes that West Charlotte's "contagious" sense of belonging outweighs racism. Black's experiences at West Charlotte have been so positive that he tells the interviewer that "the race relations issue tends to be stressed a little bit too much." He believes that individuals have to choose to mingle with people from different backgrounds.
Notes: Interview participants: Jeff Black, interviewee; Pamela Grundy, interviewer.

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

Duration: 00:43:26

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 : 71.6 kilobytes, 79.5 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, interview K-0276, Southern Communities, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Sharon Caughill, January 2001. Original transcription: 12 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:  QuickTime and JavaScript for audio clips embedded in transcript; MP3 player for download.