- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Stanford Raynold Brookshire, August 18, 1975
- Creator:
- Brookshire, Stanford R., 1905-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Moye, William T.
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1975-08-18
- Subject:
- North Carolina--Economic conditions
Charlotte (N.C.)--Politics and government
Mayors--North Carolina--Charlotte
Metropolitan government--North Carolina--Charlotte
Metropolitan government--North Carolina--Mecklenburg County
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Charter Commission - People:
- Brookshire, Stanford R., 1905-1990
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, 35.22709, -80.84313
- Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Stanford Raynold Brookshire was born on July 22, 1905, in Troutman, North Carolina. He became a member of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce in 1960, and later served as the city's mayor from 1961 to 1969. Brookshire held distinction as Charlotte's first four-term mayor. Throughout his political tenure, Brookshire espoused a moderate stance on racial conflicts. As a businessman, his political moderation developed in large part due to his interest in attracting businesses to the area. In this interview, Brookshire discusses his role and attitude toward the consolidation of the city of Charlotte with Mecklenburg County's public services. Although Charlotte and Mecklenburg consolidated their school systems in 1959, the merger of city and county services did not emerge until the late 1960s and early 1970s. Brookshire explains the objections to consolidation, including fears of overly broad representation, gerrymandering, increased county taxes, and rapid political change. To Brookshire, a broadened representation produced limitations on the administration of city services. He discusses how Charlotte differed sharply from the city-county consolidation of Jacksonville, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee. He maintains that unlike Jacksonville and Nashville, Charlotte exhibited efficient government that did not require a dramatic change in local governmental affairs. Because of these varied factors, public services in Charlotte and Mecklenburg did not consolidate. Brookshire also briefly talks about the benefits of North Carolina's statewide statute to annex heavily populated areas.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. - Metadata URL:
- http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/B-0067/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on Oct. 30, 2008).
Interview participants: Stanford Raynold Brookshire, interviewee; Bill Moye, interviewer.
Duration: 00:37:26.
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. - Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
