- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Sam Holton, March 28, 2001
- Creator:
- Holton, Samuel M., 1922-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Matthews, Jenny Lynn
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 2001-03-28
- Subject:
- School integration--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
African Americans--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (N.C.). Board of Education
Race riots--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Segregation in education--North Carolina--Durham
Chapel Hill High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
School board members--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Race relations - People:
- Holton, Samuel M., 1922-2010
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Durham County, Durham, 35.99403, -78.89862
United States, North Carolina, Orange County, 36.0613, -79.1206
United States, North Carolina, Orange County, Carrboro, 35.91014, -79.07529
United States, North Carolina, Orange County, Chapel Hill, 35.9132, -79.05584 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Sam Holton discusses the Chapel Hill school board's efforts to desegregate its public schools. In 1968, after serving as PTA president, he was elected to the school board. There he was immediately faced with escalating racial tensions following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. --tensions that were also felt in the newly constructed and integrated Chapel Hill High School. The school failed to incorporate the traditions of the former all-black Lincoln High School, which increased blacks' feelings of marginality. The inclusion of blacks into the Chapel Hill High student culture and the high numbers of disciplinary infractions for black students eventually fueled altercations between whites and blacks, say Holton. He explains how school board members sought ways to accommodate low-income students and blacks, including curricular and extracurricular offerings. A professor of education at the University of North Carolina, Holton also provides a socioeconomic analysis of achievement gaps. He contends that students' low test achievement scores can be directly correlated to the educational level and economic class of their parents. Although a large divide exists between upper-class and low-income Chapel Hill residents, Holton is careful to argue that Chapel Hill is not racist. He insists that the local school board remains committed to the education of all students. He stresses that racial and economic balance in Chapel Hill schools is necessary to prevent middle-class whites from abandoning public schools. Without middle-class white support, Holton implies, a quality education for blacks would not exist.
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/K-0206/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on November 13, 2008).
Interview participants: Sam Holton, interviewee; Jenny Matthews, interviewer.
Duration: 01:22:28.
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:
-
