Bates, Miriam, 1926-

Dortch, LaDrea

Charlotte, North Carolina

J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

2006-11-18

1 audio file (1:01:55) : digital, MP3

sound recording-nonmusical

spoken word

eng

Miriam Bates was an 80-year-old woman at the time of interview.  She was born in Prairie View, Texas, on October 25, 1926. She was educated at West Charlotte High School, Johnson C. Smith University, and Hampton University; and was employed as a teacher.

Miriam Bates recounts her life growing up in Charlotte, her college experience at Hampton University in Virginia, and her return to Charlotte in 1978. Mrs. Bates recalls growing up in the Biddleville neighborhood in Charlotte, where she lived through high school. Her father was the principal of Second Ward High School, but she attended rival West Charlotte High School in the 1940s (both schools were segregated at the time). Mrs. Bates describes her neighborhood growing up as close-knit and safe, but she resented that her school received hand-me-down textbooks and band uniforms from the local white schools. After college she moved to New Haven, Connecticut, worked as a teacher, and had children in public schools. She describes the inequality in integrated schools there during the early 1960s and compares it with her experience when she was a student in a segregated high school in Charlotte. Mrs. Bates then recollects her time at Hampton University in Virginia, which she enjoyed, and participation as a charter member in the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She moved back to Charlotte when she was in her 50s, and talks about her membership in the First United Presbyterian Church in uptown Charlotte and charitable activities of her church. She also discusses urban renewal and its impact on the African American community in Charlotte. Mrs. Bates concludes her interview by comparing the segregation of her childhood and adolescence with the civil rights movement of the 1960s when her children were growing up. She expresses her belief that the old physical barriers between whites and blacks are gone but subtle barriers still exist, and that people can fight this subtle inequality through education.

MP3 access copy created on ingest from WAV preservation master file. Interview originally recorded on minidisc and digitized using Digidesign 003 rack.

Teachers

Bates, Miriam, 1926-

West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Hampton University (Va.)
Johnson C. Smith University
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
First United Presbyterian Church (Charlotte, N.C.)

Segregation
Segregation in education
Civil rights movements
African American neighborhoods
African American Greek letter societies
Presbyterian Church
Education
Urban renewal

North Carolina--Charlotte
North Carolina--Charlotte--Biddleville
Virginia--Hampton
Connecticut--New Haven

Interviews
Oral histories

1930-2010

Student project on the Charlotte African American community

Living Charlotte : the postwar development of a New South city

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Digitization made possible by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

audio/mpeg

OH-BA0491