Oral history interview with Arthur Griffin, May 7, 1999

Arthur Griffin, an African American man who attended segregated schools in Charlotte, NC, and later became involved in school politics there, reflects on the legacies of desegregation and the nature of racism in Charlotte and elsewhere. Griffin fondly remembers Second Ward High School (which closed in 1969) and its teachers, who struggled to provide their students with a stellar education despite vastly inadequate resources. While he mourns the loss of Second Ward during desegregation, he thinks the process improved Charlotte by teaching white and black people to work together. But desegregation was not a panacea: Griffin believes that race-related problems like low academic achievement among African Americans persist.