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A. L. Stanback

Albert Leon Stanback (1911–1964), a native of Chester, South Carolina, came to Hillsborough's high school for Black students as athletic coach and mathematics teacher and became its principal. Under him Central High grew to about 1,200 students, and his funeral was held in the school's auditorium in 1964.

Source: DigitalNC: The Carolinian, April 11, 1964, p. 16

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to A. L. Stanback. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about A. L. Stanback’s life and work.

Life and Orange County connections

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

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 32 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

  1. Hillsborough's new high school for Black students is built Hillsborough's new school for Black students was built in 1936 with Public Works Administration aid on land the county board bought from Louis Wilson and George Mayo. When the Chapel Hill Weekly toured it in May it had eight rooms and an auditorium, with completion expected in about six weeks. It opened as Hillsboro High School for Negroes under principal E. C. Hester. A. L. Stanback became principal in 1942, and in 1943 the school became Central High School. From 1948 the PTA staffed the school library three times a week so it could be opened to the Black community. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Hillsborough · Also named: C. E. Hester, E. C. Hester, George Mayo, Louis Wilson · Also mentions: Central High School, Hillsboro High SchoolNC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination (OR3044), p. 25 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 22, 1936, p. 1; DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 18, 1935, p. 1; Open Orange: Central High School
  2. A. L. Stanback succeeds E. C. Hester as principal of Hillsborough's high school for Black students Albert Leon Stanback, a teacher at the Hillsboro High School for Negroes, replaced its first principal, E. C. Hester, in 1942. The school took the name Central High School the next year, and Stanback later pushed for the Cedar Grove consolidated school to take the lower grades. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School (now Hillsborough Elementary), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough · Also named: E. C. Hester · Also mentions: Hillsboro High SchoolNC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination (OR3044), p. 25
  3. The Hillsborough High School for Negroes takes the name Central High School Under principal A. L. Stanback, the school for Black students in Hillsborough changed its name to Central High School in 1943. People: A. L. Stanback Place: West Union and North Nash streets, HillsboroughNational Register: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation (2014), p. 215
  4. Hillsboro's Black Boy Scout troop is reorganized Hillsboro's Black Boy Scouts were reorganized as Troop 116 of the Occoneechee Council, sponsored by Mount Bright Baptist Church, with A. L. Stanback as scoutmaster, M. C. Burt as assistant, and H. W. Jones Sr., G. C. Fairbault and N. H. Walker as the troop committee. Three patrols were active, with a fourth planned to make a troop of 32. People: A. L. Stanback, Moses Cimuel Burt Place: Mount Bright Baptist Church, Hillsboro · Also named: H. W. Jones Sr., G. C. Fairbault, N. H. WalkerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 23, 1944, p. 1
  5. Black rural school districts more than double their Red Cross gifts A Red Cross drive among the county's rural Black residents, run through the rural schools by A. L. Stanback and county agent M. C. Burt, closed with $472.55 from 428 people, against $224 the year before. Ridge Road district, with Mrs. A. A. Burt as principal, gave $36.32. People: Alethea Anne Arrington Burt, A. L. Stanback, Joe Bethel Brooks, Moses Cimuel Burt Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 29, 1945, p. 6
  6. University of Virginia researchers study Hillsboro's Black health club for a book Dr. and Mrs. Jesse Ogden of the University of Virginia extension service spent July 25 in Hillsboro gathering material on its Black Health Club, one of some sixty community programs they were studying for a book to be published by Harpers. They toured the club's districts, talked with public health nurse Evelyn Burke and health educator Helen Wilson, and met the club's planning committee at the library for Black readers. Dr. Ogden said Hillsboro's was the only program they had seen in the region with such deep roots and long planning. People: Roosevelt Warner, A. L. Stanback Place: Hillsboro · Also named: Jesse Ogden, Evelyn BurkeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 2, 1945, p. 1
  7. Central High School adds a twelfth grade Central High School, the county's high school for Black students in Hillsborough, added a twelfth grade for the 1946-47 school year. By 1949-50 it served 443 elementary and 206 high school students. People: A. L. Stanback Place: West Union and North Nash streets, HillsboroughNational Register: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation (2014), p. 215
  8. Hillsboro's Health Club honors returning Black veterans with a banquet Roosevelt Warner's Health Club gave a banquet for returning Black servicemen and their mothers at the Odd Fellows Hall, decorated by its Youth Club and served by Boy Scouts under A. L. Stanback. Ticket sales, backed by Hillsboro merchants, doctors and the sheriff, went toward remodeling the old Odd Fellows Hall for supervised recreation. People: Roosevelt Warner, A. L. Stanback Place: Odd Fellows Hall (Community Center), HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 28, 1946, p. 5
  9. Hillsboro's Black Boy Scout Troop 116 is named the best troop at its summer camp Boy Scout Troop 116 of Mt. Bright Baptist Church, led by A. L. Stanback, spent a week at Camp Whispering Pines near Cary, where the camp directors voted it the most outstanding troop of the week and gave it a bicycle; six of its scouts passed first class. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Camp Whispering Pines, Cary (troop of Mt. Bright Baptist Church, Hillsborough)Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 8, 1946, p. 7
  10. Black farm families hold their Farm and Home Achievement Day at the Hillsboro Negro high school Adult farmers and 4-H members put on a corn show, A. L. Stanback crowned two 4-H members king and queen of health, and county champions were named in corn, milk, swine and calf showmanship. County agent M. C. Burt reported the day for The News. People: Moses Cimuel Burt, A. L. Stanback Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 27, 1947, p. 1 (Achievement Day Is Held Negro School, by M. C. Burt)
  11. Orange County organizes a unit of the American Cancer Society Twenty-five people meeting at the health department in Chapel Hill organized the Orange County unit of the American Cancer Society, electing Dr. E. G. Patterson of Chapel Hill president, Beth Forrest of Hillsboro vice president, Mrs. C. H. Pender of Cedar Grove secretary and Gilbert W. Ray treasurer. Its committee included Black members M. C. Burt, Hubert Robinson and A. L. Stanback. People: Hubert Robinson, A. L. Stanback, Gilbert W. Ray, Moses Cimuel Burt Place: Orange County health department, Chapel Hill · Also named: E. G. Patterson, Beth Forrest, Mrs. C. H. PenderSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 12, 1948, p. 1
  12. Black library committee moves to reopen the county's library for Black readers in the Hillsboro Community Center The Orange County library committee of the Black community, with Marinda McPherson presiding as library director, met in the principal's office at the Hillsboro school and decided to reestablish its library in the upstairs room of the Community Center once repairs were done. It also laid plans to raise money for a library building. People: A. L. Stanback, Moses Cimuel Burt Place: Hillsboro Community Center, Hillsboro · Also named: Marinda McPherson · Also mentions: Hillsboro school, Orange County libraryThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 4, 1948, p. 7
Show all 30 dated events
  1. The Negro Library Committee accepts a school lot for a library building for Black residents The Negro Library Committee formally accepted a lot given by the Orange County Board of Education at the northeast corner of the Hillsboro Negro High School playground, set aside solely for a library building for the county's Black residents. The committee also set up a temporary library upstairs in the Community Center, to be in use by February 1. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Hillsboro Negro High School grounds, HillsboroThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 20, 1949, p. 9
  2. Hillsboro's high school for Black students opens a vocational agriculture department After years of asking, Black citizens won state and county approval for a vocational agriculture department at the Hillsboro high school, and volunteers tore down an Army building at Camp Butner bought by the Board of Education and hauled it back to rebuild on the school grounds at no labor cost to the county. The department opened July 1 under teacher J. M. Murfree, and its building was going up in time for the school opening. People: A. L. Stanback, Roosevelt Warner Place: High school for Black students, Hillsborough · Also named: J. M. Murfree · Also mentions: Hillsboro high schoolThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 11, 1949, p. 1
  3. Hillsboro's high school for Black students officially becomes Central High School The county's high school for Black students in Hillsboro took the official name Central High School on September 1, 1949, and opened the year under principal A. L. Stanback with eight new teachers. First-day enrollment was 518. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School, North Nash and West Union streets, HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 8, 1949, p. 10
  4. Cedar Grove parents ask that Black educators help plan their new school A delegation from the Cedar Grove Parent-Teacher Association asked the county board to let Central High principal A. L. Stanback and M. C. Burt, the county's agricultural agent for Black farmers, take part in planning the new Cedar Grove school. People: A. L. Stanback, Moses Cimuel Burt Place: Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar GroveNC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination (OR3044), p. 17
  5. Black residents opened a fund drive to build the Orange County Negro Public Library a building of its own The library then held 2,254 books in a single room with shelves full and volumes stacked on the floor, and had circulated 2,015 books in the year. A committee including Mrs. Marinda D. McPherson, A. L. Stanback and Mrs. M. C. Burt asked for donations, naming $100 for outside sheeting and $70 for a roof. People: Marinda D. McPherson, A. L. Stanback Place: HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 29, 1950, p. 5
  6. Orange County's Black 4-H council wins first place with its State Fair exhibit An exhibit titled "4-H Pledge Into Practice," built by the Orange County Negro 4-H Council for the 17-county Western District, won first place and a $300 prize at the State Fair. Adult leaders included A. L. Stanback and J. M. Murfree; the exhibit was to be shown at Eno Chevrolet in Hillsboro in November. People: A. L. Stanback Place: State Fair, Raleigh · Also named: J. M. MurfreeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 25, 1951, p. 1
  7. Orange County schools join a four-year UNC and Kellogg Foundation improvement program Orange was one of eight North Carolina counties chosen in 1952 for a four-year school improvement and leadership program run by the UNC School of Education on a $45,000 Kellogg Foundation grant, and by September the county board of education had named two advisory committees, one for the white schools and one for the Black schools. The committees, drawn from teachers, parents, churches, business, labor and the farm agencies, began meeting late that month to recommend improvements, starting with instruction. People: G. Paul Carr, A. L. Stanback Place: Orange County schoolsSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 11, 1952, p. 1
  8. A Central High School drive pays off the school's lunchroom debts Faculty and students of Central High School, Hillsborough's high school for Black students, raised $1,099.65 in seven sections of the county to pay off the school lunchroom's outstanding debts, with teachers Mrs. V. K. Speller and Miss Margaret Bizzell bringing in the most. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School, Hillsborough · Also named: V. K. Speller, Margaret BizzellThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 10, 1953, p. 10
  9. Scouting in Orange County grows, with new Black troops and packs at three schools Opening its fund drive, the Scout council reported a 25 percent rise in Orange County membership that year and four new units, among them a West Hillsboro PTA Cub pack. It noted the growth of Black scouting, led by principal A. L. Stanback, with a Cub pack and a troop at Central School and troops at Efland and Cedar Grove led by their principals. People: A. L. Stanback, Ira Ward Place: Central School, Hillsborough; Efland; Cedar GroveSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 29, 1955, p. 1
  10. Orange County unit of the Black teachers' association holds a March of Dimes benefit game The Orange County unit of the North Carolina Teachers Association, the Black teachers' group, staged a benefit basketball game in the Hillsboro gymnasium with Central High, Cedar Grove and Efland teachers, students and alumni, netting $104.49 for the March of Dimes. The association called it its first charitable project. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Gymnasium, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 9, 1956, p. 8
  11. Principal A. L. Stanback tells the county school board that Central School needs twelve more classrooms Central School, Hillsboro's twelve-grade school for Black pupils, had 937 pupils, 84 more than a year before, many of them children who had gone to Durham schools until Durham began charging out-of-county pupils $50 tuition. The board asked the state's school buildings division to survey the county's Black schools, had its architect begin studies, and approved buying 1.13 acres next to Central. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central School, HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 4, 1956, p. 1
  12. Central School's new activity bus arrives after a community fund drive A new activity bus for the athletic teams, band and glee club arrived at Central School, two years after the Hillsborough school for Black pupils had begun using a retired school bus for the purpose. Students, parents and teachers had raised $2,509 by the November 30, 1956 harvest festival that closed a two-month drive led by principal A. L. Stanback and J. M. Murfree, and on January 7 the county board approved borrowing the balance of about $1,800. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central School, Hillsborough · Also named: J. M. MurfreeThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 17, 1957, p. 1
  13. Central High School's enrollment reaches 1,000 Central High School in Hillsboro, which taught Black pupils in grades one through twelve, enrolled 1,000 students in 1956-57, 500 girls and 500 boys, a mark the News called a first in the school's history. About 80 of them came from the eastern edge of the county after Durham began charging tuition to out-of-county pupils, and the school asked for room for four more teachers. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School, HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 23, 1957, p. 1
  14. Black parents petition the school board against the Odd Fellows Hall annex to Central School A delegation of 14 Black citizens, carrying a petition said to bear 300 names, protested to the county Board of Education against putting Central School classes in the old Odd Fellows Hall on Wake Street, against ice cream sales on the school grounds and against the school's hiring policy. The board compromised by keeping one whole fifth-grade section at the main building and two fifth-grade and one sixth-grade classes in the hall, and declined to act on the other complaints. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Board of Education meeting, Hillsboro; Odd Fellows Hall, Wake Street · Also mentions: Central SchoolThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 10, 1957, p. 1
  15. A. L. Stanback receives the Silver Beaver for his scouting work Albert Leon Stanback, principal of Central High School, received the Silver Beaver, the Occoneechee Council's highest award for a volunteer scouter, during the Boy Scout Sunday service at Dickerson Chapel A.M.E. Church in Hillsborough. The citation listed his years as scoutmaster of Troop 116 from 1942 to 1953, as a divisional commissioner and Explorer adviser, and as a leader of the council's troop at the 1957 National Jamboree. Place: Dickerson Chapel A.M.E. Church, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Central High SchoolSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 13, 1958, p. 1
  16. Central High School runs an experimental adult education program Hillsboro's Central High School held an experimental adult school in the spring of 1960, enrolling 42 adults in reading and writing, algebra, typing, driving and high school history, English and mathematics, without credit. Principal A. L. Stanback asked the county board to make it a regular program, noting that Central's enrollment of 1,096 put it among the state's largest Black union schools. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School, HillsboroThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 14, 1960, p. 4
  17. Black parent-teacher groups form an Orange County PTA council The newly formed Orange County P.T.A. Council, joining the associations of Central High, Cedar Grove and Efland-Cheeks schools, installed officers at Central High School with Clarence Loftin as president; Mrs. A. B. Amiker, head of the district congress of Black parent-teacher associations, installed them. Central High principal A. L. Stanback had proposed the council a few months before. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School, Hillsborough · Also named: Clarence Loftin, Mrs. A. B. AmikerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 5, 1962, p. 17
  18. Central High principal A. L. Stanback dies Albert Leon Stanback, who came to Central as a coach and mathematics teacher in 1938 and was its principal from 1942, died after a short illness on March 20, 1964. His funeral was held in the school's auditorium on Monday, March 23, before an estimated 2,000 people, white and Black. Under him the school grew to about 1,200 students. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School, HillsboroughDigitalNC: The Carolinian, April 11, 1964, p. 16 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 21, 1964, p. 25; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 26, 1964, p. 11; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 26, 1964, p. 1

After their death in 1964

Later events: estates and burials, and the buildings, honors and histories that remember them.

  1. Central High School becomes A. L. Stanback School After Central High's last high school class graduated in 1968 and its older students moved to Orange High School, the school was renamed for its longtime principal A. L. Stanback and became an elementary school. People: A. L. Stanback Place: Central High School (A. L. Stanback School), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Orange High SchoolNC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), Education Context
  2. A new A. L. Stanback Middle School opens south of Hillsborough Orange County opened a new A. L. Stanback Middle School just south of town, carrying the name of the old Central High principal to a new building. People: A. L. Stanback Place: A. L. Stanback Middle School, south of HillsboroughSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation, National Register (OR0077ad, 2014), Education Context

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 4 with a known location.

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 A. L. Stanback, 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.

Background on Orange County’s Black high schools: the Training School, Lincoln and Central

Background reading on Orange County’s Black high schools: the Training School, Lincoln and Central. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss A. L. Stanback. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Show 6 more

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.

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.

Oral history interview with Sheila Florence, January 20, 2001: interview K-0544, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Florence, Sheila · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Sheila Florence (born 1947) was one of the first African American students to enter Chapel Hill High School when it desegregated. In this January 2001 interview with Bob Gilgor she describes growing up in segregated Chapel Hill, the poor state of the town's Black schools, including Lincoln High School, the harassment she faced at the formerly white school, and the civil rights demonstrations of the era. About an hour and forty minutes; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.

Oral history interview with Stella Nickerson, January 20, 2001: interview K-0554, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Nickerson, Stella · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Stella Nickerson describes her girlhood in Chapel Hill's Black community during the years of school integration. Interviewed by Bob Gilgor in January 2001, she remembers a close neighborhood in which work, school and church were bound together, the disciplined atmosphere of the all-Black schools, and the changes integration brought as students moved from Lincoln High School to Chapel Hill High School. Runs about seventy-two minutes; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.

Oral history interview with Thurman Couch, February 12, 2001: interview K-0537, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Couch, Thurman · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Thurman Couch went from Lincoln High School into the first group of African American students at Chapel Hill High School. Interviewed by Bob Gilgor in February 2001, he compares the two schools, speaks as a former athlete about sports before and after desegregation, and argues that integration cost the Black community its school traditions and weakened the bond between school and neighborhood. The town's civil rights demonstrations also come up. About an hour; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.

Oral history interview with Walter Durham, January 19 and 26, 2001: interview K-0540, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Durham, Walter · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Walter Durham, born about 1948 into a landowning Black family, grew up between Carrboro and Chapel Hill and attended Carrboro's all-Black schools until Lincoln High School merged into Chapel Hill High School in 1966. Over two sessions with Bob Gilgor in January 2001 he describes neighborhood life, church and school, what students lost and gained in the merger, and the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s. About two hours and ten minutes; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2006, through Documenting the American South.

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