- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Robert Giles, September 10, 1987
- Creator:
- Giles, Robert E.
- Contributor to Resource:
- Jenkins, James Lineberry, 1919-2003
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1987-09-10
- Subject:
- North Carolina--Officials and employees
School integration--North Carolina
Education and state--North Carolina
North Carolina--Politics and government--1951- - People:
- Giles, Robert E.
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, 35.50069, -80.00032
- Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Robert Giles discusses the public and political reaction to the Supreme Court's Brown ruling, explaining the heavy pressure the Brown order placed on North Carolina politicians, who hoped to prevent alienating the white population. Giles asserts that state politicians adopted a moderate stance and moderate policies which yielded minimal racial desegregation. The Pupil Assignment Act of 1955 and the Pearsall Plan, he says, assuaged whites fears by keeping the public schools open and projecting the perception that the public controlled school assignments. He lauds the effectiveness of the gubernatorial leadership of William Umstead and Luther Hodges in the early to mid-1950s. Giles also touches on segregationist I. Beverly Lake, who attempted to stoke racial tensions and drum up support for his personal political ambitions.
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/C-0063/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Duration: 01:11:37
- Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
