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Local figure

Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner)

Carl Smith, an investment counselor, served eight years as an Orange County commissioner and two years in the North Carolina House. In 1974 he ran in the Democratic primary for the state Senate, stressing auto insurance reform and repeal of the sales tax on food.

Source: Daily Tar Heel (DigitalNC): state Senate primary candidates, April 30, 1974, p. 8

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner). The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner)’s life and work.

Browse all 42 works on School desegregation in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, 1954–1970 Research sources View background reading ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineBlack civic clubs and the Chapel Hill town board, 1935–19561935–1956 · 6 events · From 1935 to 1956 Black civic clubs in Chapel Hill took their neighborhoods' needs to the town board and, later, the school board. In July 1935 Black representatives asked the aldermen for more police protection on West Franklin and West Rosemary streets. In 1946 Adolphus Clark asked for sewer service, drainage, street markings and a light on Sunset Drive; the board ordered the light, markings and drainage but said sewer lines had to wait. Requests for sidewalks, traffic lights and sewer pipe followed in 1950, and in 1952 the club reported 344 children crossing West Franklin Street each day. In 1956 a club petitioned for a Black member on the school board, which named druggist William L. Sloan instead. StorylineChapel Hill’s first public housing, 1961–19691961–1969 · 14 events · Chapel Hill created a housing authority in 1962 to seek federally financed low-rent housing, and the choice of sites drew objections in which race was a factor. The aldermen acted after testimony about substandard housing before the Mayor's Committee on Human Relations in 1961 and a hearing of about 100 people, all in favor. In 1964 Vivian Foushee of the Citizens Committee for Progress led a Black delegation against placing most of a 60-unit project in the all-Black Gomains Avenue area, neighbors of a North Columbia Street tract petitioned against housing there, and two commissioners said 21 businessmen opposed the project. Craig-Gomains and Lindsay Street were built in 1967, and North Columbia Street in 1968. In 1969 Mayor Howard Lee appealed for low-rent housing for 30 families in condemned houses while more units were built. StorylineFiber Industries and New Hope Creek, 19691969 · 4 events · In the summer of 1969 Fiber Industries asked Orange County to rezone 450 acres near New Hope Creek for a $100 million plant. Chapel Hill's aldermen called the site unfortunate, and UNC and Duke scientists warned of pollution, but the county planning board recommended the rezoning. The company withdrew its request in August, and commissioners chairman Carl Smith blamed its opponents, among them Mayor Howard Lee.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 28 dated events in the chronology →

  1. The Carl Smith Building is completed on North Columbia Street Carl Smith's commercial building on North Columbia Street was completed in 1949; Gooch's Cafe moved in, and the area office of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis took rooms on the second floor. Place: North Columbia Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly: Gooch's Cafe history, December 21, 1956, p. 1
  2. A Chapel Hill delegation urges a Colonial design and Archie Davis for the new courthouse Chapel Hill mayor Edwin S. Lanier, Carl Smith and Creighton Humphries asked the county commissioners to build the new courthouse in the Colonial style, in keeping with the traditions of the county and of Hillsboro, and to give the design to architect Archie Davis. The board also took under advisement the school board's request that it buy the former Latta Dairy building on Court Square for school offices. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsboro · Also named: Creighton Humphries, Archie DavisThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 9, 1950, p. 1
  3. Carrboro school committeemen oppose putting Carrboro and White Cross in the Chapel Hill school tax district Dwight Ray of the district committee and E. T. Hearn and Raymond Andrews of the Carrboro school committee told the county board of education that Carrboro preferred to stay in the county school unit and opposed a proposal, raised in September by Chapel Hill school board member Carl Smith, to enlarge the special Chapel Hill school tax district to take in Carrboro and White Cross. The county board said it was not sponsoring the idea. People: Dwight Ray, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Carrboro; White Cross · Also named: E. T. Hearn, Raymond Andrews · Also mentions: Carrboro school, Chapel Hill school board, Chapel Hill schoolSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 14, 1950, p. 1
  4. Brown v. Board places local school segregation under constitutional challenge On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregated public schools unconstitutional, putting Orange County's separate schools for Black and white children under legal challenge. Four days later Chapel Hill Mayor Edwin Lanier urged gradual adjustment, and school board chairman Carl Smith predicted little trouble in complying but expected high schools to be affected most. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Countywide · Also named: Edwin LanierChapel Hill Weekly (May 21, 1954): Leaders Here Ask for Calm Evaluation of Court Ruling
  5. The Chapel Hill PTA asks for a countywide vote on ABC liquor stores Looking for money for school buildings, the Chapel Hill Parent-Teacher Association voted by about three to two, with more than 100 present, to ask the county commissioners to call a countywide referendum on ABC liquor stores, whose profits would go mostly to schools. The Chapel Hill Jaycees backed the request, while several churches and Commissioner Edwin S. Lanier opposed it. People: James L. Godfrey, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Edwin Sidney Lanier Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 17, 1955, p. 1
  6. Chapel Hill's Citizens' Committee for Better Schools asks for a 20-cent school supplement tax Carrying a petition with more than 1,100 legible names, against 1,588 registered voters in the district, the Chapel Hill Citizens' Committee for Better Schools asked the county commissioners to levy a school supplement tax of 20 cents per $100 in the Chapel Hill school district so its schools could run above the state standard. No one spoke against it, and chairman R. J. M. Hobbs said the board would take it under consideration; in July the board set the supplement at 15 cents. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Collier Cobb Jr., Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Charles S. Hubbard Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill school districtSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 9, 1955, p. 1
  7. County commissioners clash with the Chapel Hill school board over a Lincoln School gymtorium At a budget hearing commissioner Edwin S. Lanier, a former Chapel Hill mayor, opposed the Chapel Hill board's request for $100,000 to build a gymtorium at Lincoln, the town's Black high school, and to raise the district school supplement from 12 to 20 cents, urging a year's delay until the integration question was clearer, while board chairman Carl Smith and Superintendent C. W. Davis insisted the gymtorium came first. In a statement the next day Lanier said he did not favor the Supreme Court's order to combine Black and white schools and would not vote to raise taxes for new school buildings while the system's future was uncertain. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: C. W. DavisThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 30, 1955, p. 1
  8. County commissioners hold the 62-cent tax rate and find money for the Lincoln gymtorium The commissioners tentatively approved a 1955-56 budget of $869,720.50 at an unchanged 62-cent rate, denied all salary raises until a job classification system was adopted, set the Chapel Hill district supplement at 15 cents, and voted $34,000 in bonds, issued without a public vote and split evenly between the county and Chapel Hill school units. The Chapel Hill share brought the long-delayed gymtorium addition at Lincoln within reach of a call for bids, with commissioner Edwin S. Lanier, who days earlier had fought it, leading the fight for Chapel Hill's request. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Dwight Ray, Sim Efland, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 7, 1955, p. 1
  9. Chapel Hill school board pledges to comply with Brown "to the best of our ability" Under chairman Carl Smith, the Chapel Hill school board unanimously resolved to comply with the Supreme Court's integration ruling to the best of its ability while operating its schools under the state's school laws, keeping existing assignment practices for 1955-56. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill school boardSearch the index · Chapel Hill News Leader (DigitalNC): Racial Stand Is Taken In School Board Policy, August 18, 1955, p. 6
  10. County commissioners ask both school boards to plan for a school bond election Chairman R. J. M. Hobbs called the county and Chapel Hill school boards before the commissioners and asked them to study the county's school needs with a view to calling an election on a large bond issue. Chapel Hill chairman Carl Smith agreed at once and put his district's need at about a million dollars over five years; the county board, reluctant, agreed only to meet the Chapel Hill board on November 7. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Charles W. Stanford Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Chapel Hill schoolSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 6, 1955, p. 1
  11. East Franklin Street merchants open a customer parking lot at Columbia and Rosemary streets An association of 28 businesses and individuals in the East Franklin Street section opened the lot at 25 cents an hour, with the first hour free on a member's validated ticket; the News called it Chapel Hill's first customer parking lot. Monthly parking went on a second lot on Rosemary Street, the former American Legion Hut site, owned by five of the members. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Harvey Bennett, Collier Cobb Jr., Vic Huggins Place: North Columbia and East Rosemary streets, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: American Legion Hut, East Franklin Street, Rosemary StreetSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 7, 1956, p. 8
  12. The Negro Men's Civic Club asks for a Black member on the Chapel Hill school board As the board took up a successor to chairman Carl Smith, who had resigned effective July 1, the club presented a petition with several hundred signatures asking it to name either the pastor of St. Paul's A.M.E. Church or C. F. Williams of the Negro schools advisory committee to serve until the spring election. The board instead named druggist William L. Sloan to the seat. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Chapel Hill school board, Chapel Hill · Also named: C. F. Williams, William L. SloanSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 19, 1956, p. 8
Show all 28 dated events
  1. Commissioners approve an auction of the downtown Chapel Hill school property In a special meeting the county commissioners approved the Chapel Hill School Board's calling of an auction on its 10-acre downtown school property, after an undisclosed buyer, presented first by Carl Smith and then by realtor Sion Jennings, offered to start bidding at $1 million. The school board had set a $1.2 million minimum, its estimate of the cost of replacing the buildings. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Downtown school property (Chapel Hill High School), West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Sion JenningsSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 12, 1962, p. 4
  2. Carl Smith leads the Democratic primary for Orange County commissioner Carl Smith of Chapel Hill topped the six-man Democratic primary for three county commissioner seats with 3,783 votes, ahead of Gordon Cleveland and Donald McDade; nomination usually amounted to election in the county. Place: Orange County · Also named: Gordon Cleveland, Donald McDadeSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly: Carl Smith Leads Race For Board, May 28, 1962, p. 1
  3. Democrats carry Orange County's general election as Republicans gain ground Official returns showed Democrats Gordon Cleveland, Donald McDade and Carl Smith elected county commissioners with about 4,000 votes each, while Republicans Lawrence Newman and Josephine Barbour drew about 1,900. Horace Kornegay carried the county for Congress, 3,688 to 2,084 over Blackwell Robinson, and 6,007 people voted. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County · Also named: Gordon Cleveland, Donald McDade, Lawrence Newman, Josephine Barbour, Horace Kornegay, Blackwell RobinsonSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 15, 1962, p. 9
  4. County commissioners table a request to endorse Community Action, Inc. The Orange County commissioners put off endorsing and naming members to Community Action, Inc., a proposed privately financed biracial corporation meant to work on Chapel Hill's racial and economic problems. Every commissioner said he favored its aims, but objections to the makeup of its 18-member board, including two seats for the Chapel Hill Ministerial Association, stalled the vote. People: E. M (Elie Maynard) Adams, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Harvey Bennett Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 9, 1964, p. 5
  5. Orange, Durham and Wake commissioners approve a regional health planning council In separate meetings the three boards of county commissioners approved the Health Planning Council for Central North Carolina, which the News called the first areawide health planning council in the state. Orange's nominees, among them Commissioner Carl Smith and banker George Watts Hill, were approved with a $750 grant; the council was to plan hospital and nursing home needs and review major health building projects. People: George Watts Hill, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 4, 1964, p. 12
  6. The county school board lets contracts for a new elementary school for Black pupils near Central After the commissioners added $68,800 to the $200,000 set aside a year earlier, the Orange County Board of Education let $271,415.63 in contracts for a ten-classroom elementary school for Black pupils across the road from Central School. Bids opened July 2 had run about $80,000 over the money on hand; the News recounted that the school had been delayed a year while a site acceptable to an integration-minded Black group was sought. People: G. Paul Carr, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Archie Royal Davis Place: across from Central School, West HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 30, 1964, p. 12
  7. A businessmen's group comes forward against Chapel Hill's public housing project County commissioners Harvey Bennett and Carl Smith told Housing Authority chairman Sidney Chipman that a group of 21 businessmen opposed the planned 62-unit project and that race was a factor, particularly at the Abernethy site, according to Chipman's report to the Authority on December 7. The Authority went ahead with site plans for the $890,000 project and began condemnation of parcels it still needed. People: Harvey Bennett, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Sidney ChipmanSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 10, 1964, p. 4
  8. Orange County commissioners hold the public hearing on rezoning land for Fiber Industries The county commissioners heard the public on rezoning a 450-acre tract near New Hope Creek, about three miles from Chapel Hill, for a $100 million Fiber Industries plant. Chairman Carl Smith turned down a petition to put the hearing off to October; civic groups spoke for the jobs and tax base, and UNC and Duke scientists who had visited Fiber's other North Carolina plants warned of pollution in the creek and Duke Forest, according to a Daily Tar Heel column. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County (hearing place not stated) · Also mentions: Duke ForestSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, July 24, 1969, p. 7
  9. County planning board recommends rezoning the Blackwood Station tract for Fiber Industries The Orange County Planning Board unanimously recommended rezoning the 450-acre Blackwood Station tract from residential to industrial for a $100 million Fiber Industries plant promising 1,500 jobs. Board member Mark Burnham pressed for stricter performance standards, and commissioners Carl Smith, Ira Ward and Harvey Bennett had backed the Chamber of Commerce's pro-Fiber campaign. People: Ira Ward, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), Harvey Bennett Place: Orange County · Also named: Mark BurnhamSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, July 24, 1969, p. 1
  10. The Chapel Hill Telephone Company opens its Campus exchange on Manning Drive The University-owned Chapel Hill Telephone Company moved its 9,000 University lines to a new Campus exchange in a $2.3 million building on Manning Drive, built to grow to 20,000 lines, leaving the Rosemary Street exchange to serve the town alone. At a ceremony on July 25, Vice Chancellor J. C. Eagles placed the first call, to Governor Bob Scott, with mayors Howard Lee of Chapel Hill and Hughes Lloyd of Carrboro and commissioners chairman Carl Smith on hand. People: Howard N. Lee, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Manning Drive, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. C. Eagles, Hughes Lloyd, Bob Scott · Also mentions: Rosemary StreetSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, July 31, 1969, p. 1
  11. County commissioners hold a public hearing on creating an Orange County Housing Authority The Orange County commissioners held a public hearing in Hillsborough on establishing a county housing authority, the same day they learned that Fiber Industries had withdrawn its rezoning request. Chairman Carl Smith used the hearing to say the plant could still come to the county if more of its supporters spoke out. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, August 7, 1969, p. 1
  12. Fiber Industries withdraws its New Hope Creek rezoning request; commissioners chairman Carl Smith blames opponents The county commissioners learned two hours before their Monday meeting that Fiber Industries had withdrawn its request to rezone 450 acres near New Hope Creek for a plant, after opposition from UNC, Duke and Mayor Howard Lee. At a public hearing in Hillsborough that day, county commissioners chairman Carl Smith blamed 'unintelligent intellectuals' and a town political 'machine', and said Lee, the town's Black mayor, was not serving Black residents by opposing the plant. People: Howard N. Lee Place: New Hope Creek, Orange CountySearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel: Fiber Industries withdraws request, August 7, 1969, p. 1
  13. The old Methodist parsonage, later the Kappa Psi house, is torn down for a parking lot A contractor demolished the brick house on West Rosemary Street that had been the Methodist parsonage and then the Kappa Psi house, turning down a $10,000 offer to move and restore it. Its owner, county commissioner Carl Smith, planned to lease the lot to the town for parking. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: 117 West Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: West Rosemary StreetSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 2, 1970, p. 6 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 22, 1961, p. 1
  14. A voter registration rally at the Chapel Hill Municipal Building signs up a record 250 voters Several hundred people came to a rally with three rock bands in the Chapel Hill Municipal Building parking lot, where about 250 people registered to vote, more than double the previous one-day high of 120. Organized by the Campaign for Young Voters, UNC Student Government, the N.C. Veterans for Peace and the Carolina Union Current Affairs Committee, it was timed for the last day names could reach the 1972-73 jury lists; county Democratic chairman Roger Foushee and Rep. Carl Smith spoke with the crowd. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Chapel Hill Municipal Building, North Columbia Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Roger FousheeSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, November 19, 1971, p. 1
  15. UNC junior Pete Tripodi files for the 17th District seat in the state House Pete R. Tripodi II, a UNC junior, filed for the 17th District seat in the N.C. House held by Chapel Hill businessman Carl Smith, opening his campaign at a news conference at the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough with an appeal to the more than 25,000 students in the district and a call to end sex discrimination in jobs. People: Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Pete R. Tripodi IISearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, January 19, 1972, p. 1
  16. State study commission recommends that UNC sell its water, electric and telephone systems Meeting on Saturday, July 29, the State Utilities Study Commission recommended that the University give up its utilities, turning the water system over to the Town of Chapel Hill or selling it to a private company and selling the electric and telephone systems to private enterprise. Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee, Carrboro Mayor Robert Wells, county board chairman Harvey Bennett and Rep. Carl Smith sat on the commission, which the legislature created at the University's request. People: Howard N. Lee, Harvey Bennett, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: State Utilities Study Commission (University utilities, Chapel Hill and Carrboro) · Also named: Robert WellsThe Daily Tar Heel, August 3, 1972, p. 2

Places in this person’s story

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner), those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Background on School desegregation in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, 1954–1970

Background reading on School desegregation in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, 1954–1970. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner). Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Oral history interview with Charlene Regester, February 23, 2001: interview K-0216, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Regester, Charlene B. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Charlene Regester (born 1956) recalls being one of the first Black children to attend Chapel Hill's white elementary schools, in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded February 23, 2001, by Susan Upton. Her parents, convinced that integrated schools would give Black children better resources, petitioned for her transfer to Estes Hills Elementary, then all white, and Regester describes what those years were like for her. About 45 minutes. Published online in 2007 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Fran Jackson, March 23, 2001: interview K-0208, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Jackson, Fran · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Fran Jackson recalls school integration in Chapel Hill as a student in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded March 23, 2001, by Christa Broadnax. Jackson began at Northside Elementary and moved to Guy B. Phillips, the integrated junior high, after her parents petitioned for the transfer. She explains that Black parents backed integration because it promised their children the resources the white schools had, and describes what the change meant socially for Black students. Published online in 2007 in Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Sam Holton, March 28, 2001: interview K-0206, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Holton, Samuel M. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Samuel M. Holton (1922-2010) sat on Chapel Hill's school board during desegregation. Elected in 1968 after a term as PTA president, he took office as racial tension rose after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Talking with Jenny Matthews in March 2001, he describes the board's decisions on integrating the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the conflicts that came with them. Runs about eighty minutes; electronic edition issued by the UNC library in 2007 through Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Black Freedom and the University of North Carolina, 1793-1960

Chapman, John K. · 2006 · John K. (Yonni) Chapman

John K. Chapman's 2006 study of race at UNC from 1793 to 1960, issued by the author. Chapman argues that standard university histories play down the institution's role in upholding white supremacy through slavery, Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era, and that they leave out what African Americans contributed to the campus. It also covers segregation in education and the social conditions of Black residents of Chapel Hill across two centuries. 215 pages with maps.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Burnis Hackney, February 5, 2001: interview K-0547, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Hackney, Burnis · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Burnis Hackney entered Chapel Hill High School, newly integrated, in 1966, one of the first Black students there after Lincoln High School closed. In this Southern Oral History Program interview, recorded February 5, 2001, by Bob Gilgor, Hackney weighs his conviction that integration was right against what was lost when Lincoln's traditions were set aside, and how the merger played out for students. About an hour and a half. Published online in 2006 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Fred Battle, January 3, 2001: interview K-0525, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Battle, Fred · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Fred Battle grew up in Chapel Hill under segregation and describes that world in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded January 3, 2001, by Bob Gilgor. He portrays the Black community of his youth as centered on the church and on Lincoln High School, recalls his schooling there, and tells of his college years in Greensboro and the civil rights demonstrations he joined there. Published online in 2006 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC
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Oral history interview with Gloria Register Jeter, December 23, 2000: interview K-0549, Southern Oral History Program (#4007)

Jeter, Gloria Register · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Gloria Register Jeter (born 1952) attended both segregated and integrated public schools of Chapel Hill and offers a critical view of how desegregation was carried out, in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded December 23, 2000, by Bob Gilgor. Jeter argues that the merger of Lincoln High School into Chapel Hill High School cost the Black community its school traditions and institutions, and describes the student protests that followed. Published online in 2006 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with James Atwater, February 28, 2001: interview K-0201, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Atwater, James · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

James Atwater, born in 1932 into a family that had lived in Chapel Hill for generations, talked with Jennifer Nardone in February 2001. He describes the town's Black community between the 1930s and the 1950s: how neighbors dealt with one another in church, at school and in social life, and what schooling under segregation meant at Orange County Training School and Lincoln High School. About an hour and eighteen minutes; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Joanne Peerman, February 24, 2001: interview K-0557, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Peerman, Joanne · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Joanne Peerman, a Chapel Hill native and the daughter of a well-known coach, was in one of the first classes to integrate Chapel Hill High School. In this Southern Oral History Program interview, recorded by Bob Gilgor in February 2001, she describes her schooling under segregation and after it, the last years of Lincoln High School, and the civil rights demonstrations that accompanied school integration. About an hour and a half; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Kathryn Cheeks, March 27, 2003: interview K-0203, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Cheeks, Kathryn · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

A short interview, about thirty-one minutes, with Kathryn Cheeks, a white woman from Chapel Hill who attended elementary school while the town's public schools were desegregating. Talking with Susan Upton in March 2003, she recalls what a child noticed and missed about desegregation, race relations at Chapel Hill High School, and the civil rights demonstrations of the period. Part of the Southern Oral History Program; electronic edition issued by the UNC library in 2006 through Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Raney Norwood, January 9, 2001: interview K-0556, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Norwood, Raney · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Raney Norwood was among the African American students who moved from Lincoln High School to the newly desegregated Chapel Hill High School. Interviewed by Bob Gilgor in January 2001, he recalls the traditions left behind at Lincoln, a hard first year at the new school, and the nonviolent protests students mounted to carry those traditions over. An Upward Bound math-science program also comes up. Runs about an hour and three quarters; electronic edition issued by the UNC library in 2006 through Documenting the American South.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Rebecca Clark, June 21, 2000: interview K-0536, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Clark, Rebecca · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Interview recorded June 21, 2000 with Rebecca Clark (1915-2009), a Black Chapel Hill resident, for the Southern Oral History Program at UNC. Clark, educated in Chapel Hill's segregated schools, describes working life under segregation and the economic discrimination she met in it. Topics also include Lincoln High School, school integration, and Howard Lee, elected mayor of Chapel Hill in 1969. Interview K-0536 in collection #4007.

NC Cardinal UNC

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