- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with William C. Friday, November 19, 1990
- Creator:
- Friday, William C. (William Clyde)
- Contributor to Resource:
- Link, William A.
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1990-11-19
- Subject:
- College presidents--North Carolina
University of North Carolina (System)--Administration
Higher education and state--North Carolina
University of North Carolina (System)--Presidents - People:
- Friday, William C. (William Clyde)
- 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:
- William C. Friday served as the president of the University of North Carolina system from 1957 to 1986. This interview is part of a longer, multi-part interview conducted with Friday in 1990. Here, Friday focuses primarily on his relationship with and perception of preceding presidents of the university, including Frank Porter Graham and Gordon Gray, as well as his work with other leading university administrators, including William Carmichael. Friday begins the interview by describing his first interactions with Frank Porter Graham when Friday served as the student body president of North Carolina State University during the 1930s. In 1950, Friday campaigned for Graham during his senatorial bid, and he explains how the vitriolic nature of the opposition's campaign dissuaded Friday from pursuing his own career in politics. During the 1950s, Friday worked as then-president Gordon Gray's assistant, priming himself to take over as president in 1957. Friday describes his appointment to the position, emphasizing the importance of the University of North Carolina's Board of Trustees in the relationship between state and university politics during the late 1950s and into the 1960s. In addition, Friday discusses the process of desegregation during his years of service to the University. Likening his own position to that of Frank Porter Graham's, Friday focuses on how he believed that the University needed legal precedent in order to effect change and that winning over the "hearts of people" was crucial to the success of desegregation. Friday concludes the interview by discussing the formation, structure, and function of the North Carolina Board of Higher Education, his perception of various members of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, and his professional relationship with Governor Luther Hodges.
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/L-0144/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on May 7, 2008).
Interview participants: William C. Friday, interviewee; William Link, interviewer.
Duration: 01:28:43.
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:
-
