- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with Johnny A. Freeman, December 27, 1990
- Creator:
- Freeman, Johnny A.
- Contributor to Resource:
- Wells, Goldie F. (Goldie Frinks)
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 1990-12-27
- Subject:
- African American school principals--North Carolina--Burlington
School principals--North Carolina
African American schools--North Carolina--Burlington
High schools--North Carolina--Burlington--Administration
African Americans--Education (Secondary)--North Carolina--Burlington
School integration--North Carolina--Burlington
Race relations in school management--North Carolina--Burlington - People:
- Freeman, Johnny A.
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Alamance County, Alamance, 36.03514, -79.48585
United States, North Carolina, Alamance County, Burlington, 36.09569, -79.4378 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- Johnny A. Freeman became principal of Marie McIver High School in Littleton, North Carolina, in 1964 and stayed there for three years before moving to Burlington, North Carolina, eventually taking a position at Hugh M. Cummings High School, where he stayed for two decades. Freeman dealt with the turbulence of desegregation and its effects in Burlington, and while he maintained discipline during the desegregation process, he encountered some difficulties in its aftermath. He remembers an unequal black school system that relied on fundraisers to provide basic services to its students, but he also recalls a close-knit community that looked to educators as leaders and cheered for successful sports teams and a rousing band. Desegregation equalized facilities to some extent, Freeman recalls, but black educational traditions eroded. This interview reveals some of the complexities of the black community's response to desegregation through the eyes of one educator.
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/M-0011/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on November 21, 2008).
Interview participants: Johnny A. Freeman, interviewee; Goldie F. Wells, interviewer.
Duration: 01:25:34.
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:
-
