Brown, Banita W. (Banita White), 1960-

Johnson, Melissa

Charlotte, North Carolina

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

2006-12-02

1 audio file (49:18) : digital, MP3 + 1 transcript (22 pages)

sound recording-nonmusical

spoken word

eng

Banita White Brown was a 46-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in a coffee shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1960. She graduated from Furman University with a B.S. in chemistry and from the University of Miami with a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, and was employed as a professor at UNC Charlotte and as director of the McNair Scholars program.

In her interview, Dr. Banita Brown, an associate chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, reflects on her upbringing, education, and career. Dr. Brown recollects her formative years and early education in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and her educational journey from junior high school to earning her PhD. She discusses the academic challenges and the social environments she encountered, explaining that her ability to handle and grow from difficult situations stemmed from her family and faith. In regard to racial integration, Dr. Brown discusses how her family became the first African American family to join their local YMCA in the 1970s. She describes her participation in swimming and dance classes, and how some of the white children had never interacted with African Americans as peers before they had met her. As she concludes, Dr. Brown discusses how attitudes towards higher education have changed and how this has affected her as a professor.

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

College administrators
College teachers
Chemists

Brown, Banita W. (Banita White), 1960-

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

College teachers
Education
Women scientists
African American scientists
Science--Social aspects
Social integration
Race relations

North Carolina--Charlotte
South Carolina--Rock Hill

Interviews
Oral histories

1960-2010

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-BR0450

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/uncc:256