- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Thurman Couch, February 12, 2001
- Creator:
- Couch, Thurman
- Contributor to Resource:
- Gilgor, Bob
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 2001-02-12
- Subject:
- School integration--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
African Americans--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Lincoln High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Civil rights demonstrations--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Race relations
African American students--Education (Secondary)--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
African American students--Civil rights--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
High school athletes--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Segregation in education--North Carolina--Chapel Hill - People:
- Couch, Thurman
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Orange County, 36.0613, -79.1206
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:
- Thurman Couch, a student at Lincoln High School, and among the first African American students to enter Chapel Hill High School, describes his experiences in segregated and desegregated schools. To Couch, the story of integration is a story of the decline of black tradition and the erosion of ties between schools and communities. A standout athlete, Couch complains that the sports programs and the marching band, programs which gave Lincoln High its identity and served as essential conduits between black schools and black neighborhoods, lost some of their character under integration. Couch speaks passionately about the traditions of the pre-integration black community and places all-black schools at the center; he speaks equally passionately about the damage to the black community brought about by integration, in particular the loss of African American economic independence. This interview radiates with pride and frustration, spirituality and indignation.
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-0537/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Duration: 01:02:34
- Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
