Oral history interview with I. Beverly Lake, September 8, 1987

I. Beverly Lake, Sr., describes growing up in the small town Wake Forest, North Carolina, in the early twentieth century. He discusses the centrality to residents of the local church and Wake Forest College, which were intertwined entities. Lake describes how the church provided a social outlet for students and inculcated Wake Forest students with Christian values. The college influenced Lake's academic, religious, and social education greatly, and his rural background wed him to North Carolina for the rest of his life. After attending Harvard Law School, Lake was offered a high-paying job in New York. He chose instead to return to his home state to work at a Raleigh law firm doing utilities litigation. His early legal work earned him the image of a charming populist. Because of his professional success, Lake was asked to teach at Wake Forest Law School. In 1950, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General of North Carolina. In this position, Lake served on the prosecution for the Brown case. In 1965, Governor Dan Moore appointed Lake as a North Carolina Superior Court judge. Lake voices somewhat unfavorable views of female attorneys and judges and reveals his racial views throughout the rest of the interview. Lake blames the decline of society on racial integration. He also views North Carolina's future negatively, criticizing the population growth of cities and the lack of white political solidarity.